Enjoying a long history and a high prestige in Tibet, the Sera Monastery has long been hailed as one of the holiest temples among the Tibetan people.

Long Standing History of Sera Monastery

The construction of the temple dates back to the Ming Dynasty. Back then Sakya Yeshe (1355–1435) once paid an official tribute to Emperor Yongle (1360-1424), who offered to him a great number of Buddhist sutras, sculptures, cloister cloth, wands, silks and satins, gold and silver. With these treasures, Sakya Yeshe started the construction of the monastery in 1419, located at the foot of Pubuchok Mountain. After the monastery was completed in 1434, the monastery was called "Sera Monastery" because there were a large number of wild roses growing nearby. Smaller than Drepung Monastery in size, Sera Monastery once was resided by 8,000 monks at most. Today most of the treasures awarded by Emperor Yongle are still well preserved in Sera Monastery..

Architecture in Sera Monastery

Sera Monastery covers about 110,000 ㎡ and comprises three major sections. The Great Assembly Hall is the main hall as well as the activity center for the monks. There are a large number of Buddha statues and sutras inside the hall. Tratsang refers to the place where monks gather around to study sutras, and it is smaller than Lhakhang; and the monks dine and live mainly in Khangtsen.

Features of Sera Monastery
Shoton Festival: It lasts from the end of the sixth month to the beginning of the seventh month in Tibetan Calendar. During the festival, a large number of portraits of Sakyamuni will be put on the appointed stage in the monastery and a large number of pilgrims will gather around to pray. The festival has been held for hundreds of years in honor of a vajra on the 27th day of the twelfth month in Tibetan calendar. According to tradition, on the morning of this day, the vajra will be escorted to the Potala Palace for Dalai Lama, who will hold some ceremony in honor of it before it is carried back to Sera Monastery. Sutra Debate: Sera Monastery is famous for sutra debate in Tibet, if not for anything else. The debate site is situated at the northern side of the main passageway in the monastery.

Nowadays, Sera Monastery has become a popular tourist destination as well as a must-see during Tibet tour.

Come to Tibet, you will be covered with lots of sacred religious atmosphere. Visit numerous famous attractions when you come to Lhasa or other cities in Tibet could be interesting. An adventurous experience will show you different side of China. Here I would like to introduce one amazing nature landscapes that you could enjoy when visit Tibet. It called Yamdrok Yumtso Lake.

Overview of Yamdrok Yumtso Lake

Yamdrok Yumtso Lake is a freshwater lake in Tibet. It is one of the three largest sacred lakes in Tibet. Yamdrok Yumtso Lake is also said to be the female Guardian of Buddhism in Tibet. People here believe that it will bless and protect them. Every year, many devotional followers in Tibet or from other places would come here for pilgrimage. Because of that legends or story, it makes Yamdrok Yumtso Lake is famous as one three holy lakes (the others are Namtso and Manasarovar) in Tibet. All of local Tibet people are mostly come to enjoy its sacred and stunning nature landscapes of Yamdrok Yumtso Lake.

The height of Yamdrok Lake above sea level is 4410 meters, and it is 130 kilometers long from east to west, and 70 kilometers wide from south to north. It is quite a deep lake as the average depth is about 20-40 meters and the deepest point is almost 60 meters below the surface. Apart from its beauty and peaceful environment, Tibet Yamdrok Lake is also known as the largest habitat of birds in south Tibet, annually birds migrate here.

Yamdrok Yumtso Lake Surroundings

The lake is surrounded by many snow-capped mountains and is fed by numerous small streams. This lake has many short streams winding into the nearby mountains and it appears much like the coral. It has some beautiful and vivid names like Coral Lake or Green Jade Lake. The name Green Jade Lake reflects its beautiful appearance for the pure clean water of the lake is as smooth as the surface of fine jade. Surrounded by the snow-capped mountains and lying under the clear blue sky, the Yamdrok Yumtso Lake appears very holy and evokes solemnity.

Make your Tibet tour more organized and memorable by visiting Yamdrok Lake. Give you a convenience way to meet some local people who take their well-decorated yaks and Tibetan mastiff to Yamdrok Yumtso Lake. Travelers can take photos with them and at the same time amazed by its magical charming view in surroundings.

The Jokhang Temple located at center of the old city quarter of Lhasa possesses a supreme status among Tibetan Buddhist temples. According to historical record, Jokhang Temple and Ramoche Temple was proposed to be built in the middle of the 7th century by Princess Bhrikuti of Licchavi Kingdom of Nepal and Princess Wencheng of Tang Dynasty, wives of Songtsan Gampo, for enshrining and worshiping two life-size sculptures of Buddha Sakyamuni which were parts of their dowries.

Symbol Attraction in Lhasa

Being one of the existing oldest pise-and-wood buildings in Tibet, Jokhang Temple combines architectural styles of Tibet, Tang, Nepal and India, and created a new model in arrangement in Tibet. Another feature of the temple is that it is a sacred temple that has been worshiped all the time by different religious sects rather than belongs to some denomination. And, it is also the site where the grand ceremony of deciding the next Panchen Lama (the lama next in rank to the Dalai Lama) is held.

Layout of Jokhang Temple
Layout of Jokhang Temple

As the most resplendent temple in Tibet, the Jokhang Temple has a floor area of 16,700 square meters, with twenty halls. The overall arrangement of Jokhang Temple apparently distinguishes from that in other regions of China and represents the ideal universal mode in Buddhism. Today, the alliance stele carved in 823 in both Tibetan and Han still stands in front of the temple. Beside the stele there is a well-known "princess willow" which is said to be planted by Princess Wencheng.

The main body of Jokhang Temple is a magnificent four-storey structure with golden glaze-tiled roof. Now there still exist several Buddha halls, which are without exception painted and decorated and full of the smell of burning fuel made from local butter. The first floor is the main hall where lamas pray and recite sutras every day, in which there are 20 huge stakes, with amazing embossments and painting telling the stories of Princess Wencheng, Master Xuanzang, Sakyamuni, and so on. At both sides of the main hall, there are side halls in which the statues of Songtsan Gampo and his two wifves. On the second and third floors, there are 103 wooden sculptures of wild animals and creatures like Sphix, from which Nepalese and Indian styles can be seen. On the terrace on the top floor, several typical Gold Tops of Tibetan Buddhism are set up on there.