Although a small monastery was founded at the present site of Mindroling as early as the 10th century, the date usually given for the founding of Mindroling is the mid-1670s. The founding lama, Terdak Lingpa (1646–1714), was highly esteemed as a terton (treasure finder) and scholar, and counted among his students the fifth Dalai Lama. Subsequent heads of the monastery were given the title Minling Trichen, a title that passed from father to son. The monastery was razed in the Dzungar Mongol invasion of 1718 and later restored.
The central Tsuglhakhang is an elegant brown stone structure on the west side of the courtyard. As you walk clockwise, the first chapel is the Zheye Lhakhang, with statues of Guru Rinpoche and Terdak Lingpa (with a white beard and excellent hat). The bare main hall itself has another statue of Terdak Lingpa, along with Dorje Chang and a row of seven Kadam-style chörtens – the monastery originally belonged to the Kadampa school. The inner chapel has a large Sakyamuni statue. Only the statue’s head is original; the body was ripped apart by Chinese troops for its relics.
Upstairs, the Tresor Lhakhang houses several treasures, including a stone hoofprint, a mirror that takes away disease and a famed old thangka with the gold footprints and handprints of Terdak Lingpa, which was given to the fifth Dalai Lama.
The top floor holds the Lama Lhakhang, with some fine ancient murals of the Nyingma lineages, plus a central statue of Kuntu Zangpo (Samantabhadri). The Dalai Lama’s quarters remain empty.
The other main building, to the right, is the Sangok Podrang, used for Tantric practices. To the left of the main entrance is a famous ‘speaking’ mural of Guru Rinpoche. Flanking the left wall is a huge thangka that is unfurled once a year on the 18th day of the fourth lunar month.
The new white chörten just outside the monastery, the Kumbum Tongdrol Chenmo, was constructed in 2000 with Taiwanese funds. It replaces an original 13-storey chörten destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. It’s possible to climb past the ground-floor statue of Jampa to its upper floors.
Nice walks lead off from the kora around the Tsuglhakhang, west up the valley through the village to the ruins of what used to be a nunnery.
Mindroling has cham dancing on the 10th day of the fifth Tibetan lunar month and the fourth day of the fourth lunar month. The latter festival features the creation of a sand mandala nine days later.
