Ladakh at a height of 9,800 feet surrounded by the Himalayas and Karakoram Range houses incredible monasteries in its folds. On your tour to Ladakh you can spot monks in maroon robes silently plodding their ways to the monasteries. Rizong Monastery is situated at a distance of about 73 kilometers from the Leh town.
About Rizong Monastery :
The Rizong Gompa of Ladakh was founded by the great Lama Tsultim Nima in the year 1831. It belongs to the Gelukpa Order, and is situated at a distance of approximately 73 km from the Leh town. The monastery serves as the residence of approximately 40 monks. However, they have to follow some very strict rules. The inmates of the monastery are not permitted to have anything on their person, except for religious robes and books. Rizdong Monastery of Leh Ladakh consists of a number of shrines inside its complex.
The gompa also has quite a rich collection of the painting blocks of Lama Tsultim Nima’s biography as well as a number of objects made and books composed by the first Sras Rinpoche. Serving as the incumbents of the Rizdong Monastery, are the successive reincarnations of Lama Tsultim Nima and his son, Sras Rinpoche. A nunnery, known as Chulichan (Chomoling) is located near the monastery, at a distance of approximately 2 km.
Comprising of about 20 nuns, the nunnery is under the control of the governing body of Rizong Monastery only. The nun, known as Chomos, worship at the temples of the monastery itself. They also perform a number of chores for the monastery like spinning wool, milking, extracting oil for the temple lamps, etc.
Foundation :
Lama Tsultim Nima selected a site to build a large monastery, away from the villages, at a place known as Ri-rdzong, since the place had adequate water supply and fuel availability. He launched on a donation campaign to build the monastery for which the villagers also provided voluntary labour during construction. The Monastery was built in 1831 along with many shrines within it. Basically, the monastery has three large chambers. In two of these chambers idols of Buddha have been consecrated. The third chamber houses a stupa.
The hermitage has the distinct reputation of upholding “the Vinaya rules in strict sense of the term”, so much so that the lamas of this monastery do not indulge in performances of mask dances or with undue rites and rituals.
The monastery has the distinction of having two incarnate lamas namely, Lama Tsultim Nima and his son Sras Rinpoche, the former is the head of the monastery who generally lives in Manali and the latter is the Abbot of ‘rgyud-smad Dratsang’. The Abbott will be elevated to the rank of Dga-ldan Khirpa, the chief of all Tibetan scholastics, after completing a term of two years. During the absence of the these two incarnate Lamas at the Monastery, the duties are well allocated to others; the senior most monk (Inas batan) looks after the monastic schedules while his second in command would attend to the house keeping chores such as food and providing other facilities to the monks. In the monastery, which has full control of all its economic activities, there are three groups of people. The first group is of the Lamas (monks), the second of Chomos and the third group is of ordinary folks; the duties of each group and their interrelationships are well defined.
Structure and layout :
The following are the details of the structures and idols of deities deified in the monastery’s various chambers.
Relic shrine :
A relic shrine, known as Sku–Gdung in local language, that enshrines the old relics of the founder of the monastery is at the centre. It is surrounded by several frescoes of Dharma-raja and other deities.
Assembly hall :
The assembly hall, with the statue of Shakymuni Buddha in the middle, is flanked to its right by idols of Tse-dpag-med, rje-Rin po-che, and Sras Rin Poche Esha Rab-rgyes and Lord Yamakantaka and other deities. To the left of the main deity, idols of LordAvalokiteshvara and Mahakala are defied. The main hall also has thankhas or wall paintings of Dlama-mchod-pa and Lam-rims.
Scriptures of Bka-gyurand and bstan-gyur are arranged on the sides. The central throne is reserved for the founder with the side seats (thrones) earmarked for Sras Rinpoche and mKhan-po of the monastery. Printing blocks of the biography of Lama Tsulim Nima, many objects made then and the books composed by the first Sras Rinpoche are housed here.
Sacred chamber :
In the sacred Chamber on the west, the statues of Mahakala (protectress deity of the monastery), statue of the founder of the monastery, statue of the second incarnate, Gnas-Bstan Tsual–Khrims Dorji and a Stupa are located. Each row in this chamber has the idols of the two head lamas.
Thin-Chen shrine :
In the Thin-Chen shrine, frescoes of Shakyamuni Buddha’s life history are depicted; the idols deified are the Golden Chengchub stupa, Rjo-wo-Rin-Po-cho, silver Chengchub stupa, Arya Avalokiteshwara, a sitting image of Maitreya Buddha, and a set of bka-gyhr.
Other Structures :
The chamber on the east has statues of rje-tzone-khapa, mkhas-drub-rje and rgyal-tsabrje. Their writings, in thirty volumes, are also kept there.
The Mandala shrine is the roof over the assembly hall meant for Mandala of Lord Yamakantaka and btra-shis-gyhi-skyong. The four directions of the mandala display religious statues.
Julichen Nunnery :
monastery. The 26 nuns who reside here are taken care by the Governing Body of the main Monastery. The nuns fully participate in the economic activity of the monastery and have to work whole day to fully support the economic enterprises of the monastery. It is said that the young nuns who are more educated and candid took to religious curriculum of meditation and Tibetan philosophy, while the older nuns toiled on the fields in the furtherance of the economic activity of the monastery. The nuns are also trained in spinning, oil extraction from apricot nuts and milking cows.