Qualla: Kathok Monastery https://qualla.com/kathok-monastery en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/6/kathok-monastery-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Kathok Monastery https://qualla.com/kathok-monastery Kathok Monastery: Introduction https://qualla.com/kathok-monastery/ Photo credit Made by Fanghong, CC BY-SA 3.0. Eighteen hairpin turns on a dirt road. That is what separates the valley floor from Kathok Monastery, one of the oldest and most revered Nyingma Buddhist institutions in Tibet. Founded in 1159 in the Kingdom of Derge -- present-day Baiyu County, Sichuan -- Kathok is one of the Six Mother Monasteries of the Nyingma school, the oldest lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Before the monastery existed, Padmasambhava himself is said to have spent 25 days at this site, sitting on a rock marked with a double vajra and a sacred syllable. The monastery was built on that rock, and its name means "on top of the ka" -- a reference to the syllable Guru Rinpoche left behind. It is counted among his 25 sacred sites in the Do Kham region.

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/6/kathok-monastery-wp/wjw6-kathok-monastery-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Kathok Monastery: The Prophecy of a Hundred Thousand Rainbow Bodies https://qualla.com/kathok-monastery/ Photo credit NoGhost, CC BY-SA 4.0. Kathok was founded by Kathok Kadampa Deshek, a younger brother of the influential master Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo. According to tradition, Guru Rinpoche prophesied that Deshek would be an emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal, the legendary female consort of Padmasambhava, and that 100,000...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/6/kathok-monastery-wp/wjw6-kathok-monastery-the-prophecy-of-a-hundred-thousand-rainbow-bodies.mp3 0:06 2 full Kathok Monastery: Guardians of the Oral Lineage https://qualla.com/kathok-monastery/ Photo credit NoGhost, CC BY-SA 4.0. Kathok distinguished itself as a center of the Kama lineages -- the oral transmission teachings of the Nyingma school, as opposed to the Terma or hidden treasure traditions. This specialization gave Kathok a particular scholarly gravity. The monastery's third abbot, Jampa Bum, wh...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/6/kathok-monastery-wp/wjw6-kathok-monastery-guardians-of-the-oral-lineage.mp3 0:06 3 full Kathok Monastery: Destruction, Prison, and Rebuilding https://qualla.com/kathok-monastery/ Photo credit NoGhost, CC BY-SA 4.0. The original monastery fell into disrepair and was rebuilt on the same site in 1656, driven by the energy of two treasure-revealers: Duddül Dorje and Rigdzin Longsal Nyingpo. Under Longsel Nyingpo's influence, Kathok evolved its dual emphasis on both Kama and Terma traditions. Th...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/6/kathok-monastery-wp/wjw6-kathok-monastery-destruction-prison-and-rebuilding.mp3 0:06 4 full Kathok Monastery: The Yogi Who Split a Cliff https://qualla.com/kathok-monastery/ Photo credit NoGhost, CC BY-SA 4.0. Among the more colorful figures in Kathok's history is Chopa Lugu, the 1st Chonyi Gyatso, who lived sometime between the seventeenth and mid-eighteenth centuries. He earned the title "The Chod Yogi Who Split a Cliff in China" and was remembered for his nightly bellowing of bone-t...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/w/6/kathok-monastery-wp/wjw6-kathok-monastery-the-yogi-who-split-a-cliff.mp3 0:06 5 full