One of the most ancient Buddhist sites in the Lhasa region, Pabonka Monastery is infrequently visited, but is only a short drive from the Sera Monastery turn-off and is worth the effort. Built on a flat-topped granite boulder said to resemble a tortoise, Pabonka's timeless chapels may even predate the Jokhang and Ramoche.
King Songtsen Gampo built the monastery in the 7th century and he, his Chinese wife Princess Wencheng, Tibetan king Trisong Detsen, Guru Rinpoche and Tibet’s first seven monks all meditated here at various times. The nine-storey tower was destroyed in 841 by the anti-Buddhist King Langdharma and rebuilt in the 11th century. The fifth Dalai Lama added an extra floor to the two-storey building. It suffered damage in the Cultural Revolution and has undergone repairs in recent years.
The first building you come across is the Rigsum Gonpo Temple, jam-packed with shrines, whose most famous relic is the blue and gold carved mantra ‘om mani padme hum’ (‘hail to the jewel in the lotus’) that faces the entrance on the far side of the hall. The central shrine contains a 1300-year-old ‘self-arising’ (not man-made) carving depicting Chenresig, Jampelyang and Chana Dorje (Vajrapani) – the Rigsum Gonpo trinity after which the chapel is named. The stone carvings were buried during the Cultural Revolution and only dug up in 1985.
Continue uphill, turn left at the row of chörtens, and follow the road clockwise around the Pabonka rock (said to represent a female tortoise) to the Palden Lhamo Cave on the west side, where King Songtsen Gampo once meditated. Images inside are of Songtsen Gampo (with a turban), his two wives, Guru Rinpoche, Trisong Detsen (in the corner) and a rock carving of the protectress Palden Lhamo.
Pabonka Podrang sits atop the ancient rock. There is nothing to see on the ground floor, but the upper floor has an intimate assembly hall with a picture of the current Pabonka Lama and a ‘self-arising’ Chenresig statue hidden behind a pillar to the right. The inner protector chapel has a statue of red-faced local protector Gonpo Dashey Marpa (second from the right). The four- pillared Kashima Lhakhang next door is lined with various lamas, three kings and their wives. The cosy rooftop quarters of the Dalai Lama have a statue of the meditational deity Demchok (Chakrasamvara), and an ancient dungkhar (conch shell) wrapped in a kathak (prayer scarf), along with fine views back towards Lhasa.
Further above the Pabonka Podrang are the remains of 108 chörtens and the yellow Gyasa Podrang, or temple of Princess Wencheng. The two ground-floor rooms are dedicated to five manifestations of Tsongkhapa and the medicine buddhas, and an upper-floor chapel has a small statue of Wencheng herself in the far right, near an image of Thonmi Sambhota (who reputedly invented the Tibetan alphabet here). Songtsen Gampo’s Nepali wife Bhrikuti is also present, as are images on the other side of the room of Green and White Drölma, of whom the two wives are thought to be emanations. Also present is Gar Tsongtsen, the Tibetan minister who travelled to the Tang Chinese court to escort Princess Wencheng back to Tibet.
