Palpung Sherabling Monastery

The Palpung Sherabling Monastery, located at Keori near Bir, is a religious centre of eastern Tibet that offers Buddhist studies and other forms of living art and culture along with Periodic courses in Buddhist meditation and philosophy.

The monastery is divided into the old structure and new structure. This creates quite a confusion amongst tourists as the two lie at quite a distance from each other. It is one of the branches of Palpung Monastery of Eastern Tibet. Palpung means ‘glorious union of study and practice’. The monastery complex has a school, college and university to learn about the past, present and future of Buddha. More than 1200 monks are in the institute. Apart from Buddhist studies, people can also learn about music, dance, crafts and research on Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicines.  The structures have a modern look to them, yet retains the Tibetan art and influence in every square inch. The monastery houses an enormous stupa of Maitri Budh, the one who is yet to come. One who visits the monastery must, if possible, sit through the prayers, which are performed most grandly with chants and gongs. The Lamas perform the Mahakal Lama dance on certain days. The monastery complex is massive and has 250 monks’ quarters, 3 shrine halls, 6 shrine rooms, 4 retreat centres for monks and nuns, individual cabins for practitioners, museum, dispensary, cafe, canteen that serves traditional dishes, parking space and small shops selling assorted items, including miniatures and flags. The complex sits in the middle of the forest, at the foot of the Himalayas, surrounded by pine trees. Though isolated, owing to its location, the area is well connected to roads.