History of Thikse Monastery : Ladakh, India

Oldest Buddhist Monastery : Ladakh, India

 Thikse Monastery

History of Thikse Monastery

• In the early 15th century, Tsongkhapa, the founder of the reformed Gelugpa School (the Yellow hat sect), sent six of his disciples to remote regions of Tibet to spread the teachings of the new school.
• Tsongkhapa gave one of his disciples, Sherab Sangpo, a small statue of Amitayus (Chepakmet), the Buddha of longevity who is invoked for long life, health and happiness.
• It contained bone powder and a drop of Tsongkhapa's own blood. Tsongkhapa directed him to meet the King of Ladakh with a message seeking his help in the propagation of Buddhist religion.
• The King, who was then staying in the Nubra valley near Shey, greatly liked the gift of the statue.
• After this meeting, the King directed his minister to help Sherab Sangpo to establish a monastery of the Gelugpa order in Ladakh.
• As a result, in 1433, Sangpo founded a small village monastery called Lhakhang Serpo (meaning Yellow temple) in the village of Stagmo, to the north of the Indus River. In spite of his efforts, the lamas who embraced the Gelugpa order, were initially few, although some of his disciples became eminent figures over the years.
• In the mid 15th century, Palden Sangpo continued the monastic work started by his teacher, Sherab Sangpo. He decided to build a larger monastery here that was dictated by an unusual event that occurred while choosing the site for the monastery.
• Legends narrate that Tsongkhapa had predicted that his doctrine would prosper on the right bank of the Indus River. This prediction came true when the Thiksey monastery was established first. This was followed by others such as the Spituk and Likir monasteries, which are also situated on the right bank of the Indus.
• According to another legend, Sherab Sangpo and Palden Sangpo were performing some sacred rituals near the Sangmo Lakhang. The ritual offerings (known in local language as torma (ritual cakes) made from sattu or chickpea flour) were then taken to a rock outcrop to be thrown down to the valley.
• As they were about to throw the torma into the valley, two crows appeared suddenly from somewhere and carried away the ceremonial plate with the offering of torma. They then placed the torma at a location on the other side of the hill.
• When Palden Sangpo and his disciples began looking for the torma, they reached Thiksey, where they found that the crow had placed the torma on a stone in perfect order and in an undisturbed condition. Palden took this finding as a divine directive to build the monastery here.
• The new Thiksey monastery, was located a few miles away from Stagmo, located on a sacred hill above a village of the same name. The monastery is believed to have been built on the site of an earlier Kadampa establishment, or as a 'daughter house' of the small chapel of Stagmo.
• Rinchen Zangpo, the Translator, is also known to have built a temple named Lakhang Nyerma at Thiksey, dedicated to protector goddess Dorje Chenmo. Today all that can be seen are some ruins.
• Thiksey grew in prominence in Ladakh, second only to Hemis Monastery, administering ten other monasteries in the region, such as the Diskit, Spituk, Likir and Stok. The monastery came to own or control some 1,327.3 acres (537.1 ha) of land and some 25 villages became attached to the monastery.
• In around 1770, the Lama of Hanle dictated that his elder son should inherit the throne of Ladakh, while other princes should be lamas at Thikse and Spituk. As a result princes such as Jigsmet Namgyal served as lamas at Thikse.

Tsong khapa with prayer wheel Tikshe