Hello All,
Hope you’re doing great!
I recently went to Manali and visited this amazing Buddhist Monastery in the heart of the town. I was looking for some nearby attractions and I decided to go there. It was a good decision as my experience was amazing.
To get here you’ll need to walk just 2 mins from Mall Road Manali to the monastery road and then you’ll see this big holding of the monastery.
Entry Gate of Monastery
If you’re in a car, there’s also some space for parking outside the monastery. There are Tibetan prayer flags everyone around this place. You’ll immediately get the vibe of being in Tibet.
Parking Space
When you get in, you are greeted with unique Tibetan architectural perfection. The place is so vibrant and full of colours.
On the left side, there is one holy stupa and the little shed next to it contains a big prayer wheel.
Holy Stupa (left)
In total there are more than 3-4 different constructions in the whole campus. We were only allowed inside the main building of the monastery.
We were greeted by the vibrant colours of prayer flags that were hanging on the top and all sides. It was an unique experience entering via such a way.
To capture the photos beyond that point, I needed to make a pass by paying a fee of 20 Rs which also acts as a little donation for the betterment of the monastery.
Receipt of photography permit
The only information they ask while making the receipt is your name and place where you live. After getting the receipt, you are free to capture as many photos as you want.
What a vibe it was!!! As soon as I entered in, I could feel the peace inside my head. The atmosphere carried an unique feeling of comfort and peace.
Gautam Buddh
Inside, there was two stories high statue of Gautam Buddha and on the ground floor, there were other important things like scriptures and also a place for chanting for monks.
Upon asking a monk about the scriptures, he told me that some of them are hundreds of years old and they are taken out only on special occasions.
Holy Scriptures that are hundreds of year old
Another thing that I got to know was there was special seats reserved for some of their gurus inside the monastery that you can see in the photos below.
Reserved places for gurus
A young monk was chanting some mantras there while we were inside the monastery. It was a very beautiful sight seeing a young boy sitting with such discipline.
A young monk chanting
After exploring the ground floor, we headed to the first floor of the monastery building. There was a staircase outside that connected both the floors.
As soon a we got on the top floor, we could see a meditation room. We wondered how peaceful it would be to meditate in a place with such a vibe.
From the first floor, we were able to see the idols right in flint of our eyes. There were two other idols of two more gurus on the first floor along with the idol of Gautam Buddha in the centre.
Guru Padma Sambhava was one of the founders of Buddhism and Hay Griva is a deity in Buddhist culture.
Guru Padma Sambhava
Hai Griva
As already mentioned, they had special places for some special gurus in the monastery. In fact they have those places in all the monasteries, here, they had a whole room for Dalai Lama reserved as he is their biggest living guru.
Reserved room of Dalai Lama
After being there for a while, we headed back down to do the Parikrama and rotate the prayer wheels that were placed around the monastery.
We also met a kid there who was really happy and exited to rotate those wheels.
After a complete rotation of the monastery, we got out in the garden to enjoy the beautiful views of the monastery with mountains in the background.
It was such a peaceful experience sitting there that we sat there for like an hour before leaving.
This place indeed had a meditative vibe to it that you could clearly feel when you go there. It is one of the must visit spot whenever you’re in Manali town.
That’s all for today.
Thanks for passing by.