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Tashiding Monastery

Tashiding Monastery

pilgrimage site · Sikkim

State
Sikkim
Type
Pilgrimage Site

Sikkimese Buddhists call this the heart of Denzong and hold it to be the holiest monastery in the state, a Nyingma gompa on a hilltop between the Rathong chu and the Rangeet. Guru Padmasambhava is said to have consecrated the land with water from a sacred vase, later concealed here as hidden treasure. That is what the Bumchu festival turns on, held on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the first month of the Tibetan lunar calendar, usually February or March, and believed to predict the year ahead for Sikkim. Non-Buddhists are welcome at it. Come then, or come for the quiet.

Tashiding Monastery is known for

Nyingma monasteryBumchu holy-water festivalHilltop above two rivers

Tashiding Monastery guide & itineraries

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Pemayangtse Monastery
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Pemayangtse Monastery

Only the monks here are entitled to be called ta-tshang, monks of pure lineage: celibate, without physical abnormality, and still drawn from among Sikkim's Bhutias. That rule has held since Lama Lhatsun Chempo founded the place in 1647, and it makes this a house with conditions rather than a photo stop. Pemayangtse means Perfect Sublime Lotus, and the monastery still governs every other Nyingma house in Sikkim; its head lama once anointed the Chogyals with holy water. Six kilometres from Gyalshing, and part of the pilgrim circuit that begins with Dubdi at Yuksom. Come early and behave as you would in someone's home.

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Gangtok is where most Sikkim trips begin, and its real value is as a base rather than a destination. The town itself is a steep ridge of concrete with one pleasant pedestrian street, MG Marg, where no vehicles and no spitting are allowed and the whole town walks in the evening. Rumtek monastery, half an hour out, is the seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage and the more worthwhile hour. Enchey, closer in, is quieter still. Tsomgo lake and Nathu La are the standard day trip. Both need permits arranged through a registered operator in Gangtok, both are high — Tsomgo is at around 3,700 metres — and Nathu La is closed to foreign nationals entirely. If you have only been in the hills a day, that altitude gain in a single drive is a lot. For actual Sikkim, keep going. Pelling for the Kanchenjunga view, Yuksom for the walking, north Sikkim for Lachung and the Yumthang valley — all of which need their own permits. March to May and October to early December. The monsoon here brings serious landslides and roads close for days at a time.

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Rumtek is the largest monastery in Sikkim and the seat-in-exile of the Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu (Black Hat) lineage. Rebuilt in the 1960s by the 16th Karmapa as a faithful copy of Tibet's Tsurphu monastery, it holds the Golden Stupa with his relics, a monastic college, and treasures of the lineage. Ritual dances, deep-horn ensembles and the view back across the valley to Gangtok make it the centrepiece of any Sikkim circuit.

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