Sekhar Gutok Monastery

Sekhar Gutok monastery means “The Nine-Story castle built by Prince”. It is located about 600 meters south of Se village of Shannan Prefecture Tibet in Lhozhag County, where the altitude of 3,700 meters. Sekhar Gutok was originally Kagyu Pa monastery, then converted to be one Gelug Pa monastery and being included as a national key cultural relics protection project.

Brief

Sekhar Gutok Monastery was founded by the famous Tibetan Buddhist master Marpa in AD 1080. whose’s disciple Milarepa was responsible for building this monastery.

The monastery faces to east and being surrounded by wall; it is 98 meters from east to west, and 48 meters from South to North. The assembly hall of the temple is known as the Great Buddha Karma. The 28 meters high nine-floors tower with the golden dome roof of Sekhar Gutok was constructed as a great act of penance by Milarepa on behalf of Darma Dode, the son of Marpa. In the first half of the 16^th century, Kagyu scholar “Bawa Zhu la Cheng Wa” started a massive expansion of maintenance, thus forming the present size. It is said that the expansion into Dukang hall mural is painted by “Bawa Zhu la Cheng Wa”.

The Renpoche of Samdrup Temple of Kham managed to make the last maintenance in 1944 of 20^th century. From which, Sekhar Gutok monastery converted to be one Gelug Pa monastery. For adherents of the Kagyu school, and the Tibetan population as a whole, this single building and the manner of its construction encapsulate the self-sacrifice and renunciation required for success on the Buddhist spiritual path. The tower its distinctive pagoda roof now replaced with a flat roof; and three of its seven floors contain original murals. Marpa’s chapel has some excellent old Thangkas. the adjacent two story monastery which once housed 100 monks, still contain some original images of the karmapas, and precious relics such as skull fragment of Dagmema whom was wife of Marpa

How to get to there

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This monastery is located in Se village of Lhozhag County, from which you can walk to this site within 5 minutes;

Se village is 48 kilometers from Lhozhag County, about 1.5 hours’ drive, from which it is 220 kilometers, about 5.5 hours’ drive to Gyantse County; or 260 kilometers, about 7 hours drive from Lhasa

The Four Major Sects of Tibetan Buddhism

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