Samding Monastery

Samding Monastery

Samding Monastery is a gompa built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into Yamdrok Lake. It is located 112 kilometres (70 mi) southwest of Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,423 metres (14,511 ft), on a barren hill about 90 metres (300 ft) above the lake at the neck of a narrow peninsula jutting out into the water.

The complex resembles the Potala Palace, dividing into red palace and white palace. It is associated with the Bodong and Shangpa Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Samding is the seat of Dorje Pakmo, the consort of the wrathful deity Heruka, who was the highest female incarnation in Tibet, and the third highest-ranking person in the lamaist hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.