# Sakya Monastery (萨迦寺)

Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region · Southwest, China · Guidebook rating: 4/5
Canonical: https://cnatrip.com/en/places/sakya-monastery
Language: en

## Key facts

- **Admission:** ¥60
- **Opening hours:** 9：00—18：30
- **Time needed:** 1–3 hours
- **Address:** On Benbo Mountain, Sakya County
- **Getting there:** Shigatse Bus Station runs two buses a day to Sakya. The fare is ¥50 per person.
- **Good for:** Temples

## About Sakya Monastery

Sakya Monastery is the first monastery of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism and is known as the 'Second Dunhuang'. Its architecture is highly unusual. The complex is square in plan and enclosed by walls 10 m high, with watchtowers at the four corners and a man-made moat outside. The outer walls are painted red, black and white, the distinctive hallmark of Sakya temples in Tibetan Buddhism.
The monastery's collection of relics is exceptionally rich. It includes thousands of Sanskrit palm-leaf scriptures, over a thousand years old, which are said to have been copied by Tibet's scribes at the direction of Sakya Lama Phagpa, as well as finely crafted murals. Dunhuang has become a relic of history, but Sakya Monastery's traditions have been passed down from generation to generation and continue to thrive.
Sakya Monastery holds many ceremonies throughout the year, both large and small. The most significant and distinctive are the Summer Vajra Dance Festival, held in the seventh month of the Tibetan calendar, and the Winter Vajra Dance Festival, which begins on the 19th day of the eleventh Tibetan month.

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Source: China Self-Guided Travel 2025 (《中国自助游》, Tianjin Science & Technology Press, Aug 2024), p. 557. Prices, hours and transport details are as printed in the August 2024 edition and may have changed. Always confirm with the venue before you travel.
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