Lama Ling Monastery

About 30km south of Bayi is the attractive Lamaling Monastery, which was the seat of the exiled Dudjom Rinpoche (1904-87), the former head of the Nyingmaba order. It is now looked after by his son-in-law Chuni Rinpoche and is home to around 40 monks and 30 nuns.

The octagonal main Zangtok Pelri temple was wonderfully restored in the early 90s and rises through for storey’s, bringing to mind the Samye Monastery. The building is draped in long stands of cannonball-sized wooden prayer beads. The grassy courtyard in front is home to a few doleful mountain goats brought here from Tsodzong Monastery at Draksumtso.

Take your shoes off before entering the temple. The ground floor has a statue of Guru Rinpoche, with two stone footprints of the guru on the alter and puppet-like images of the protector Tseumar to the left. A passageway behind the alter leads up to a mezzanine level with four protector chapels in each corner. The chapel above this houses statues of Chenresig(Avalokiteshvara), flanked by Jampelyang(Manjushri) and Chana Dorje(Vajrapani), known collectively as the Rigsum Gonpo. The top-floor chapel contains a statue of Opagme.

The other main building, to the right, is the assembly hall, where religious services are held on the 10th, 15th and 25th days of each lunar month. The hall is dominated by a huge statue of Sakyamuni and more images of Dudjom Rinpoche wearing his characteristic sunglasses. Pilgrims circumambulate both this building and the main temple