Tholing Monastery

Meaning “to fly and never fall”, Tholing Monastery is famous through Ngari, founded by Yeshi-O, an outstanding King of Guge Kingdom at the beginning of 10th century. Although it faded after the collapse of the Guge Kingdom, Tholing Monastery still maintains an important place in Tibet after 900 years in consideration of its significance in the second transmission of Buddhism into Tibet.

Yeshi-O was a devout Buddhist, who ever sent 21 youths to learn Tantric Buddhism in Kashmir. Only Rinchen Zangpo and another survived and returned. Rinchen Zangpo, a greatest Buddhist adepter and translator, started to translate Buddhist sutras and develop Buddhism at Tholing, which was set up by Yeshi-O for that purpose. Later Yeshi-O was defeated and captured in an ambitious aggression he launched in order to plunder enough gold to invite Atisa to his Guge Kingdom to push forward Buddhism. He sacrificed his life to send his ransom to Atisa. After his arrival, the monastery gained higher reputation and once became a religious center in Tibet under the royal patron of the Guge Kingdom.