Palkhor Monastery Travel Guide

Brief Introduction
Located 100 kilometers east of Shigatse at the foot of Dzong Hill, the Palkhor Monastery was built in 1412 and took 10 years to be completed.

Palkhor Monastery´s architecture fully represents a typical style of monasteries from thirteenth century to fifteenth century in Later Tibetan area, which is also the unique monasteries with both the temple and stupa being kept well today. So it is reputed as a monument of architecture period.
Tshomchen is the Main Assembly Hall of Palkhor Monastery. The ground floor of the three-story building is a Chanting Hall with 48 columns, which are decorated with old silk "thangkas". In total there are about 3,000 statues, so it is called "Myriad Buddhas Stupa". The monastery houses monks from the Gelugpa, Sakyapa and Kahdampa orders. Although they once quarreled and fought, the different orders eventually discovered a way to get along with each other. The monastery is the only one known to house monks from different orders in harmony. As a result, its structural style, deities enshrined and murals are very special.

Features
Palkhor Monastery is a kind of typical Tibetan Buddhism monastery architecture combined stupa and temple, with temples in the stupa, stupas in the temple.It is a huge monastery with a unique history.

The Palkhor Monastery (meaning lucky and happy monastery) has a Chinese name Baiju Monastery. It has two features: there are three classes of Buddhism (Sakys, Gedang and Gelugpa) existing harmoniously this monastery. Those three classes of Buddhism had experienced repulsion and rivalry for a long time, peaceful with each other. So both the oblation and the architecture style in the monastery embrace and adopt good points from all quarters. Palkhor also features its "Bodhi stupa", or "Kumbum" in Tibetan. Deemed as the symbol of the monastery, the spectacular "stupa" consists of hundreds of chapels in layers, housing about a hundred thousand images of various icons. These icons include Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Vajras, Dharma Kings, Arhats, Disciples, great adepts of different orders in Tibetan Buddhist history, and outstanding figures in Tibetan history such as Songtsen Gampo and Trisong Detsen. In total there are about 3,000 statues, so it is called "Myriad Buddhas Stupa"So people often call it ¡°Myriad Buddhas Stupa ", but not its formal name.