Lhatse Qude Monastery: A Thousand-Year-Old Gelugpa Monastery in Tsang
Nestled in a mountain valley beside National Highway 318 in Quxia Town, Lhatse County, Shigatse, stands an ancient and solemn monastery – Lhatse Qude Monastery. Located approximately 150 kilometers from Shigatse city at an altitude of 4,000 meters, this important Gelugpa monastery of Tibetan Buddhism boasts nearly 600 years of religious heritage, exquisite Tibetan architecture, and artistic treasures, making it a rare cultural gem in the Tsang region.
Founded in the 15th century by Gongga Sangpo, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, the monastery was a crucial center for the early spread of the Gelugpa school in Tsang. Through renovations and expansions during the Ming and Qing dynasties, it reached its current scale. Designated a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 2006, it serves as an important example for studying the development of the Gelugpa school and the architectural art of Tsang.
The entire monastery is laid out in a terraced style along the mountainside, with red walls and golden roofs nestled among the green trees, creating a harmonious and picturesque architectural complex. The core building, the Great Assembly Hall, faces south and features Tibetan-style fortress-like walls, up to 1.5 meters thick, to withstand the harsh winds of the high plateau. The roof is covered with gilded copper tiles, and the ridge is decorated with auspicious symbols such as the Dharma wheel and golden deer, creating a solemn and magnificent atmosphere. Inside, the beams and pillars are exquisitely carved and painted with Buddhist auspicious patterns such as lotus flowers and scrolls. Gilded statues of Shakyamuni Buddha, Master Tsongkhapa, and his disciples are enshrined. Butter lamps burn perpetually, their incense smoke filling the air, creating a solemn atmosphere.
On either side of the Assembly Hall are monks' quarters, a protector deity hall, a scripture library, and a group of stupas. The scripture library houses thousands of volumes of Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, some of which are handwritten and printed copies from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The characters are neat, the binding exquisite, and they possess extremely high documentary value. The murals in the temple's corridors are particularly precious, depicting stories of the Buddha's life and biographies of Gelugpa monks. The colors are vibrant, the brushstrokes delicate, and they incorporate traditional techniques of Tsang painting, remaining clearly legible even after a century.
As a pure and tranquil monastery, the monks of Lhatse Qude Monastery follow the teachings of Tsongkhapa, chanting scriptures and practicing meditation amidst the morning bells and evening drums, continuing a religious ritual unchanged for millennia. Every year in the first and sixth months of the Tibetan calendar, the monastery holds grand Dharma assemblies, attracting devotees from the surrounding areas to circumambulate the prayer wheels and pray for blessings. The melodious chanting of sutras and the flourishing incense demonstrate the profound faith of the Tsang region.
The surrounding scenery is magnificent. The vast Lhatse grassland stretches endlessly, a tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River meanders through the landscape, and majestic snow-capped mountains rise in the distance, creating a harmonious highland landscape with the red walls and golden roofs of the ancient monastery. Today, Lhatse Qude Monastery maintains its serene atmosphere of spiritual practice while also being open to tourists. Strolling through the monastery, touching the textures of the thousand-year-old stone walls, and listening to the distant chanting, one can experience the profoundness of Gelugpa culture and the brilliance of Tsang art in the tranquility of the plateau.