Lingshed Monastery
Lingshed Monastery or Lingshed Gompa is a Gelugpa Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, India. It is located near Lingshet village in the Leh district. It is 84 km north of Padum. It was founded in the 1440s by Changsems Sherabs Zangpo, disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, on a monastic site previously founded by the Translator Rinchen Zangpo. The monastery has belonged to the religious estate of Ngari Rinpoche since 1779. The Jangchub Tensung Dorje Center was founded in Lingshed by Kyabje Dagom Rinpoche in 1994. The ceremonial life of Lingshed Monastery and its monks is the subject of Identity, Ritual and State in Tibetan Buddhism (Routledge 2003) by the anthropologist Martin A. Mills. History Lingshed Village, at the heart of the Trans-Sengge-La region between Ladakh and Zanskar, has been inhabited for nearly a thousand years. It was originally reputed to be a local hunting area, which is the source of its name. The village has been the site of several Buddhist monasteries: the remnants of a cave monastery and two walls dedicated to the translator Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055). Local tradition in the region also speaks of Kadampa and Drugpa Kagyu monasteries in the valley. Lingshed Monastery (or Kumbum, meaning 'A Hundred Thousand