MONASTERIES

Kalu Monastery, Sonada, Darjeeling

Sakya Monastery (Ghoom)

Located eight kilometres from Darjeeling at a place called Ghoom, the age old Guru Shakya Monastery captures the eyes of all the visitors.The Guru Sakya Monastery is a historic and significant monastery of the Shakya Order. The original monastery was built sometime in 1915 and has supported the monastic community over the years.
The main prayer hall can accommodate about 60 monks.

Dali Monastery

DRUK THUBTEN SANGAG CHOLING MONASTERY: The eleventh Gyalwang Drukchen Tenzin Khenrab Gelek Wangpo passed away in 1960 leavng His Ennence Kyabje Thuksey Rinpoche as regent of the Drukpa Kargyud Lineage.
Kyabje Thuksey Rinpoche's compassion, love and his fame as a concerned teacher spread. He started building Druk Thubten Sangag Choling Monastery at Dali, Darjeeling in 1971. Kyabje Thuksey Rinpoche stressed that the sole aim of this monastery was to preserve the precious Dharma, the Tibetan culture and its traditions.
The newly constructed complex of the monastery was inaugurated by His Holiness The Dalai Lama in 1993, where he gave 3 days of religious teachings.
It is the only monastery in the eastern side to have disciples and monks from the Himalayan region. At present there are 210 monks. Prayer sessions are one in the morning from 5.00 AM to 6.30 PM and the second is in the evening from 5.00 PM to 6.30 PM.

Bhutia Busty Monastery

The Bhutia Busty monastery is located just 1.5 kilometres from Chowrasta. With a long and colourful history, the monastery belongs to the Red Sect of Buddhist Lamas.The origin of name Darjeeling is linked to this monastery 'Dorjee', means thunderbolt in Tibetan and 'Ling' means resting place, thus 'Place' of the 'Thunderbolt' which was the name of the Monastery, originally located on the Observatory Hill before it was sacked by the Nepalese in the 19th century and rebuilt on the present site. The ill-fated Monastery was destroyed by the 1934 earthquake and owes its present existence to the munificence of the Late Raja of Sikkim.

Japanese Temple (Peace Pagoda)

The Shanthi Stupas in India were established by Fuji Guru, a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, for World Peace. There are six beautiful stupas in India. The Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist temple, Charlimont , Darjeeling is one of them. The Stupa was started in the year 1972. The Peace Pagoda opened on 1st November 92, commands a panaromic view of Darjeeling and the Kanchenjunga range.

Yiga-Choling Buddhist Monastery (Ghoom)

Eight kilometres from Darjeeling at an elevation of 8,000ft, the last lap of the journey before the Batasia loop, is the Yiga-Choling monastery. The monastery belongs to the Yellow Sect of Buddhists who worship a 15 ft statue of the "Coming Buddha" (Maitreya Buddha).
Built in 1875 by Lama Sherab Gyantso, it is the largest of the three monasteries and contains images of Buddha's disciples "Chenrezi" and "Tsongkapa". Among the Buddhist texts available there are the Kangyur, the Buddhist Tibetan Gospel running into 108 volumes.

Makdhog Monastery

At a distance of three kms from Chowrasta, in the village of Aloobari on the eastern incline of Jalaphar Hill, stands the Yolmowa Buddhist Makdhog Monastry. The monastry was built by Sri Sangay Lama, a highly revered religious head of the Yolmowas- a small ethnic group hailing from north-east of Nepal and later settled in Darjeeling.

The construction of this old Monastry was completed sometime in 1914 co-inciding with World War I. The Monastry was, therefore, named Makdhog or 'warding off war' alluding to the World War that was about to start. Yolmowa Buddhist Monastery, the sanctum sanctorum of the Yolmowa community, that has helped preserve their distinct social, cultural and ethnic identity