Spituk Monastery, also known as Spituk Gompa or Pethup Gompa, is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monastery in Spituk,

Leh district Leh district is a district in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Dispute, disputed Kashmir-region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:T ...

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

, 8 km from

Leh Leh () is a city in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Kashmir_dispute, disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TE ...

. The site of Spituk was blessed by the

Arhat In Buddhism, an ''Arhat'' () or ''Arahant'' (, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana (Buddhism), Nirvana'' and has been liberated from the Rebirth (Buddhism ...

Nyimagung. It was founded by Od-de, the elder brother of Lha Lama Changchub Od, when he came to Maryul in the 11th century. He introduced the monastic community. When Lotsewa (translator) Rinchen Zangpo came, he said that an exemplary religious community would arise there, and so the monastery was called ''spituk'' (exemplary). During the time of Dharma raja Gragspa Bum-Ide the monastery was restored by Lama Lhawang Lodos and the order of Tsonkhapa was introduced and it has remained intact as such till present. Founded as a

Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. (formerly Red Hat Software, Inc.) is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North ...

institution, the monastery was taken over by the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat sect) in the 15th century. The monastery is home to 100 monks and a giant statue of

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

(unveiled during the annual festival). Every year the Gustor Festival is held at Spituk from the 27th to 29th day in the eleventh month of the

Tibetan calendar The Tibetan calendar (), or the Phukpa calendar, known as the ''Tibetan lunar calendar'', is a lunisolar calendar composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three y ...

Geography

Spituk has an average elevation of 3,307 metres (10,852 feet).

References

Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh Gelug monasteries Leh district Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in India {{Ladakh-stub

Geography

See also

References