– The ‘Pale Earth’ Religious Complex
The Sakya order is one of the four leading Buddhist schools in Tibet. Moreover, in the history of Tibet, it was from here that the whole of Tibet was governed during the time of Sakyapa (1268-1365).
Unlike other monasteries in Tibet, the building of the Sakya region was in a different colour ash grey with white and red vertical strips out the sidewall. These three colours represent the trinity of Buddhisatvas (Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, and Vajrapani).
At the centre of the city, the monastery of Sakya was in a vast red building. Sakya has two monasteries on either side of the river – The Trumchu. The enormous red-building monastery south of the river is the central part of the monastery to visit.
This vast southern monastery is Tibet’s most impressive architectural site and one of the biggest monasteries. The Sakya Monastery was built in 1268 and was designed with watchtowers on each corner of its outer wall.
The Building is a massive structure with walls 16 meters high and 3.5 meters thick. Moreover, inside the building of the main assembly hall, there are walls of Buddhist scripture along the border. It is said that the whole 48,000 volumes of Buddha’s teachings were here in the Sakya monastery.
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