Palkhor Monastery


Palkhor Monastery, also named Palcho Monastery, is very different from other monasteries. It lies about 230
kilometers south of Lhasa and 100 east of Shigatse at the foot of Dzong Hill.

The monastery houses monks from the Gelugpa, Sakyapa and Kahdampa orders. 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.

Palkhor also features its "Bodhi stupa", or "Kumbum" in Tibetan, which was built in 1412 and completed 10 years
later. 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.

The Palkhor Monastery is famous for its tower, Palkhor Tower, also known as the Ten Thousand Buddha Tower.
The tower houses around 100 family halls for worshipping Buddha, one over the other. It is the calling card of Palkhor Monastery, the most
important building in this monastery. It is true that this tower adds an extraordinary charm to Palkhor Monastery. People call it “towers within
towers”, which makes for a very vivid feature in this spectacular building. The reason for its name, Ten-Thousand Buddha Tower, is that there are
altogether 10,000 figures of Buddha in the Buddhist shrine, murals, and family halls for worshipping Buddha.

The main statue in Palkhor Monastery is that of Sakyamuni with a height of about eight meters (about 26 feet). According to historical records,
14,000 kilograms of copper were needed to build it. On both sides of the main statue, hundreds of arhat
statues stand shoulder to shoulder. They are extremely vivid artworks with kind, mighty or enraged facial
expression.

Its 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.