Tengboche Monastery
Interesting facts
- According to legend, the site was chosen thanks to a stone bearing the left footprint of the meditating lama Sangwa Dorje; the stone cracked in the 1989 fire.
- The fire of 19 January 1989 that gutted the main temple is attributed to an electrical short circuit.
- In Mani Rimdu, 'Mani' comes from the mantra of Chenrezig and 'Rimdu' refers to blessed red pills handed out to the people attending.
- Monks spend about four days building the festival's sand mandala, and the masked dance programme comprises sixteen separate dances.
- A statue of Shakyamuni Buddha in the main prayer hall rises through two storeys, flanked by figures of Manjushri and Maitreya.
- The original monastery was paid for by three wealthy Sherpas, chief among them Karma, a tax collector who enjoyed the patronage of Nepal's Rana rulers.
- After the 1989 fire, Sir Edmund Hillary and his Himalayan Trust were among the backers of the reconstruction.
- Tengboche is home to around 60 monks and draws some 15,000 visitors a year.
- The monastery appears in Kate Bush's song 'Wild Man' from her 2011 album 50 Words for Snow.
Why it is worth it
Tengboche Monastery stands on a rounded spur at 3,867 metres in the Khumbu, above the meeting of the Dudh Kosi and Imja Khola rivers, and few religious buildings anywhere have such a setting. From the meadow in front of its gate the view opens on a ring of Himalayan giants — Everest and the wall of Nuptse and Lhotse at the head of the valley, the fluted spire of Ama Dablam close by, Thamserku and Tawoche on either side. Next to that panorama the monastery itself is modest, and its buildings seem to serve mainly as a frame for the mountains.
It is also the spiritual centre of the Sherpa world. Tengboche was founded in 1916 by Lama Gulu, with close ties to Rongbuk Monastery on the Tibetan side of Everest, from which its lineage came, and it was the first celibate monastery of the Nyingma school in the region. Its history has been one of rebuilding. An earthquake in 1934 destroyed the first buildings, which were raised again under Lama Gulu's successor; in 1989 a fire consumed the main temple with many of its scriptures and paintings, and the present building, rebuilt with donations from around the world, was consecrated in 1993.
The monastery is best known beyond Nepal for Mani Rimdu, a festival held over nineteen days in October or November, when monks create a sand mandala and perform a cycle of masked dances in the courtyard, with the Sherpa community and passing trekkers crowding round. Ties to mountaineering run deep: after the first ascent of Everest in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, himself a man of the region, visited Tengboche, and the attention that followed helped make it a landmark of the trail to the mountain. Today it is the natural halfway stop on the trek to Everest Base Camp.
Getting there
Tengboche is reached on foot, usually in three to four days from Lukla, whose Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA), about 17 km away, receives flights from Kathmandu. It is the classic overnight stop on the trail to Everest Base Camp; trekkers need to allow time for acclimatisation on the way up.
Plan your visit
We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.
Nearby places
- Ama Dablam 10.0 km · summit
- Gokyo Lakes 18.5 km · lake
- Mount Everest 23.1 km · mountain
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Tengboche Monastery, also known as Dawa Choling Gompa, in the Tengboche village in Khumjung in the Khumbu region of eastern Nepal is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Sherpa community. Situated at 3,867 metres (12,687 ft), the monastery is the largest gompa in the Khumbu region of Nepal. It was built in 1916 by Lama Gulu with strong links to its mother monastery known as the Rongbuk Monastery in Tibet. In 1934, it was destroyed by an earthquake and was subsequently rebuilt. In 1989, it was destroyed for a second time by a fire and then rebuilt with the help of volunteers and international assistance.
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