Brief information on Sakya Monastery  

Lying in Sakya County, 130km southwest of Shigatse, this monastery is set in the Sakya Basin between the Gangtis Mountains and the Himalayas. It is the first Sakyapa monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, founded in 1073 by its initiator Khon Konchog Gyalpo.

Since it was surrounded by grey soil the monastery was so named as Sakya which means "Grey Soil" in Tibetan. The walls of the monastery were painted in red, with white and grey strips, representing Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara (Kwan-yin) and Vajrapani respectively.

Reputed as the “Second Dunhuang”, Sakya monastery has a large collection of high value art pieces and sutras dating back thousands of years. There are 20,000 pieces of sutras, among which the largest one is 1.31 meters long and 1.12 meters wide. Besides them, there are also many historical records and some important official files collected throughout the monastery’s history, which have been the precious research materials of Tibetan feudal serfdom.

*You can download the bilingual note to show it to a taxi driver or someone else to find your way to Sakya Monastery if you plan to visit Sakya Monastery and have language problems.

   

Chinese Pinyin: Sa Jia Si
Opening Times: 09:00-18:00
Ticket Price: CNY 50
How to Get to: Buses: Take the bus (Shigatse-Sakya) at the Shigatse Bus Station, The bus leaves at 07:00-08:00 and takes 5~6hrs for CNY 55