Tashilhunpo, meaning Heap of Glory, was the seat of the panchen lamas. It lies at the foot of Drolmari, or Tara's Mountain, on the west side of Shigatse and is today one of Tibet's most active monasteries.

Tashilhunpo monastery was founded in 1447 by Tsong Khapa's youngest disciple, who was the main organizer of the Yellow Hat sect. The early abbots, named the First, Second and Third panchen lamas, were learned scholars who often had to flee to the province of U from their fierce Red Hat opponents in Tsang. The enlargement of Tashilhunpo took place mostly under the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth panchen lamas, after the Yellow Hat sect had been firmly established as Tibet's official religion. But it still had troubles. When the broadminded Sixth Panchen Lama died of smallpox in Peking, his brother, the treasure of Tashilhunpo, stole his entire huge fortune. He refused to distribute it to the monastery or share it with his other brothers, and he thereafter became the governor of Tsang. Another brother, who lived Nepal, led an army of Gurkha warriors to Shigatse in 1791, where they sacked and looted Tashilhunpo. The Chinese drove out the Nepalese and at the same time strengthened their influence over Tibet.

Tashilhunpo had over 4,000 monks and was organized like Lhasa's great monasteries. It had four trantric colleges, each with its own abbot. After the death of a panchen lama, these four abbots led the search for his infant reincarnation, and one of them always acted as the prime minister of Tsang, under the control of the dalai lama in Lhasa.

Tashilhunpo was disbanded as a monastery by the Chinese army in1960, while the Tenth Panchen Lama was absent. Less physical damage was inflicted than on many other sites, and a handful of caretaker monks was allowed to remain. Today there are nearly 800 monks.

Layout
The most remarkable object on the monastery grounds is an enormous Tangka Wall nine stories high, which stands like a huge drive-in movie screen, clearly visible from the city. This structure is used most of the year for storing three gigantic banners bearing images of the Buddha, which are displayed on the wall for only three days a year during summer festivities.

The monastery itself, facing south, is one of the most spectacular in Tibet, its salmon-rose main buildings set off by the ecclesiastical red-brown of the parapets and clear black-and-white trim. The buildings form a horizontal line: the gigantic Maitreya Chapel on the west, the Panchen Lama's Palace ( containing the stupa-tomb of the Fourth) in the middle, and on the east a cluster of buildings around a large courtyard known as the Kelsang Temple.

A path runs north from the main gate between white stone buildings and courtyards that house smaller chanting halls, the Debating Garden, dormitories and workshops. Pilgrims coming to Tashilhunpo generally bring bags of Tsampa as offerings, rather than yark butter as in Lhasa.

The Maitreya Chapel ( Jamba Chyenmu), on the west side, is the tallest building of the monastery. It was erected in 1914 by the Ninth Panchen Lama to house a gigantic statue of the Maitreys Buddha, 26.2 meters ( 86 feet) high. The statue sites on a splendid lotus throne in the European posture with its hands in the symbolic teaching pose.

A single finger is 1.2 meters ( almost four feet) long. The statue contains 2799 kilograms ( 614 pounds) if gold and 150,000 kilograms ( 330,000 pounds) of copper and brass moulded on a wooden frame by Tibetan and Nepalese craftsmen. A clockwise walk around the back shows how this was done with metal sheets. Murals on either side of the door show a more active, antic style than any to be seen in Lhasa.

A lane leads east to the Panchen Lama's Palace ( Gudong), entered by a door in its east side. Within, a narrow courtyard gives access to a temple containing the Fourth Panchen Lama's tomb. The temple vestibule had very large inscriptions at either end praising the Fourth Panchen Lama. Inside, the silver and gold stupa-tomb rivals any in the Potala for the splendor of its workmanship and jewels. Measuring 11 meters ( 36 feet) in height, it contains 85 kilograms ( 187 pounds) of gold and countless semi-precious stones. On the left is a statue in a wooden enclosure representing Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light, whom the panchen lamas are thought to embody. An upper level has long chapels with embroidered silk thangkas that relate the lives and events surrounding all the panchen lamas. Most were made in Hangzhou, in the east of China, during the 1920s. Unfortunately, the living quarters of the panchen lama are no longer open to the public. The rooms are more modest and human than any in the Potala.

To the left of the Fourth Panchen Lama's stupa-tomb is a large room whose extensive murals depict the Jataka tales, stories of the Buddha's previous lives. This room has taken on great importance because it now houses the relics of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died near here on 14 January 1989. The lama's body has been preserved by a salting process, and he gazes out of a glass box, face and hands gilded, to the astonishment and adoration of pilgrims.

Outside is a huge six-story structure that will eventually house the 10th Panchen Lama. Its construction, still underway, has taken years and the building is certain to be a fantastically opulent final resting place for the lama.