Sankar Monastery, or Sankar 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 within an easy half-hour walk 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 ...
in
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 ...
, northern
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. It is a daughter-establishment of the
Spituk Monastery and the residence of the Abbot of Spituk, the Venerable Kushok Bakula, who is the senior incarnate
lama
Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...
of Ladakh due to his ancient lineage and personal authority.
Description
Sankar Monastery consists of a relatively modern, attractive cluster of buildings set amongst trees above the town, in the lee of
Khardung La, a 5,359 m (17,582 ft) pass behind Leh leading to the
Shyok and
Nubra Valleys.
Visiting hours to the monastery are limited to early morning and evening because fewer than twenty monks live there permanently. Climbing the steps one reaches the double doors leading into the dukang (''du khang'') or assembly hall. Three green drums are on the right of the door under which is the place of the ''Gyeskos''. The wall and entry door are richly painted. Upstairs is the Dukar Lhakang ("residence of the deity") or inner sanctuary, where there is a figure of
Avalokiteśvara
In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...
, or ''Chenrézik'' (
Tibetan: སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས), with 1,000 arms, all holding weapons, and 1,000 heads. The walls are painted with a
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 ...
,
mandalas and rules for the monks. Above the wooden stairs, the rooms of the Abbot, guest rooms, and the library can be seen.
A lama from Sankar Monastery visits the mid-sixteenth century fort at
Namgyal Tsemo, the peak above Leh, every morning and evening to maintain the temples associated with the fort and light the
butter-lamps.
[Rizvi (1996), p. 225.]
See also
*
List of buddhist monasteries in Ladakh
*
Geography of Ladakh
*
Tourism in Ladakh
*
World Monuments Fund
Footnotes
References
* Rizvi, Janet. 1996. ''Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia''. Second Edition. Oxford India Paperbacks. 3rd Impression 2001. .
* Schettler, Margret & Rolf. ''Kashmir, Ladakh & Zanskar''. Lonely Planet. South Yarra, Victoria, Australia.
Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh
Gelug monasteries and temples
Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in India
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