Lamayuru Monastery

Lamayuru stands on a ridge above a valley of eroded, pale yellow clay and rock in western Ladakh, a landscape so bare and wrinkled that it is widely known as the "moonland". The whitewashed buildings of the gompa climb the slope at about 3,510 metres above sea level, beside the old Srinagar–Leh road, and the contrast between the terraced monastery and the crumbling earth formations around it is the first thing that holds the eye.

It counts among the oldest monasteries in Ladakh. Its roots go back to the 11th century, and before it became a Buddhist house it is said to have been a centre of Bon, the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet; its alternative name, Yungdrung, is the Bon word for the swastika, a symbol of eternity in that tradition. Local tradition of the Drikung school holds that the Indian sage Naropa (956–1041) dried up a lake that once filled the whole valley and then founded the monastery, and a cave where he is believed to have meditated is still shown to visitors. The oldest surviving building, the Seng-ge-sgang temple, is attributed to Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055), the translator and builder-monk said to have been charged by a king with building 108 monasteries. The complex once consisted of five buildings, and traces of the four at the corners can still be made out.

Over the centuries the monastery passed between Buddhist schools: it was held by the Kadampa and later claimed by the Drikung Kagyu, to whom it belongs today. Where up to 400 monks once lived, around 150 are resident now. Twice a year, in the second and fifth months of the Tibetan lunar calendar, the courtyard hosts cham, the masked dance festivals in which monks in elaborate costumes perform ritual dances before the community.

Getting there

Lamayuru lies on National Highway 1 between Srinagar and Leh, about 15 km east of the Fotu La pass and some 19 km south-west of Khalsi. Kargil, the nearest town of size, is about 67 km away in a straight line. The nearest airport is Leh Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport (IXL), about 73 km away in a straight line; the road to Leh follows the same highway east along the Indus valley.