Gossul Monastery

Located further south along the shore of Lake Manasarovar, Gossul Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhism Stupa. This charming 16th-century monastery has been part of the Manasarovar kora for a long time. Now, you can reach it by road.

Gossul Monastery means “Start Monastery” in Tibetan. It is said that Atisha spent seven days at this site when he visited Lake Manasarovar. Then Gyalwa Gotsangpa also practiced here for 3 months and founded Gossul Monastery. This monastery was the first branch of the Drukpa Kagyu in Western Tibet, so it named “Start Monastery”. In the middle of the 19th century, the Gelug Sect Lama, Gelong Jinpa Norbu, came to Gossul Monastery and greatly enlarged the monastery. From that time on, the Monastery became the Gelug Monastery. Unfortunately, Gossul Monastery was destroyed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the last century and later partly rebuilt.

With excellent scenery, Gossul Monastery is on a small hill, near the mountain and the water. At here, you can not only clearly see Naimona'nyi Peak but also enjoy the breathtaking scenery of Lake Mansarovar. At the same time, it is worth visiting the upstairs chapel, where there are painted stone sculptures depicting Bardo. What’s more, the monks in the monastery will show you the meditation cave of Gotsangpa (the 13th-century ascetic who opened up the Kailash kora) and its sacred stone conch shell. Many pilgrims come to this monastery every year, and they often buy some amulets of holy Mansarovar sand, incense and salt from the monastery and take them home.