Trandruk Monastery

Trandruk Monastery

Built in 7th century，Trandruk Monastery is located in Nêdong County, Lhoka City,China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. It is a Monastery of Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.The main building in Trandruk is the Tshomchen, in which Padmasambhava is enshrined.

Most beautiful view - Trandruk Monastery - China

Tradruk Temple (Tibetan: ཁྲ་འབྲུག་དགོན་པ།, Wylie: khra-’brug dgon-pa, Lhasa dialect IPA: [ʈʂʰaŋʈʂuk kø̃pa], referred to as Changzhu Monastery in Chinese) in the Yarlung Valley is the earliest great geomantic temple after the Jokhang and some sources say it predates that temple.[1]

Tradruk Temple is located in Nêdong County of Lhoka (Shannan) Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, about seven kilometres south of the county seat. For more info please visit

Journey to Tibet's first Palace Yumbu Lhakhang and first Monastery Samye

Three hours from Lhasa along the northern banks of the Yarlung Tsangpo river stands the Samye Monastery.

Samye was built in the mid 8th century and is the first Buddhist Temple constructed in Tibet in a formerly Bon dominated region. Samye monastery was built under the patronage of King Trisong Detsen by the great Indian Masters Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita.

The lay out of Samye Monastery is in the shape of a giant mandala, the main temple in the centre represents the legendary Mount Meru. In the corners of Samye Monastery are four stupas in the colours white, red, green and black.

One of the highlights at Samye is the Chenrezig Lhakhang, which houses a beautiful statue of Chenrezig with a eye painted on the palm of each of his thousand hands. Samye Monastery contains many precious relics like the hair of Padmasambhava and his walking stick, the skull of Shantarakshita.

The Yarlung Valley (ཡར་ཀླུང་གཞུང་ ,雅鲁流域) has a diverse history, it is considered the cradle of Tibetan civilization. According to legends the first Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo, was believed to have descended here from heaven.

Yumbulhakhang, the first palace in Tibet, is located on the Zhaxi Ceri Mountain in Tsedang, 7 miles from Nedong County in Lhoka Prefecture of Tibet. It has a history of over 2000 years.

The followers of the Bon religion believe that the Yumbulhakhang Palace was erected in the 2 century BC by the first Tibetan king of the Yarlung Dynasty, Nyatri Tsenpo, who was believed to have descended from heaven onto the sacred mountain Yarlha Shampo.

Later Yumbulhakhang Palace became the summer palace of the 33rd ruler of the Yarlung Dynasty King Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty. King Songsten Gampo built the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple in Lhasa in Central Tibet. Under the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama of the Gelug School (Yellow Hat tradition) of Tibetan Buddhism, Yumbulhakhang was converted into a monastery for the Gelug school.

On another memorable journey with Geshe Gyaltsen la and Tseyang Khangkar from the Office of His Eminence Khyungser Trichen Rinpoche.

Khyungser Trichen Rinpoche
Shangri-la Buddhist Institute