In the Tibetan language, ‘Tholing Monastery’ means “The monastery of hovering in the sky forever” and is reflected by the monastery’s location at an elevation of 12,400 feet (3,800 m). The complex includes three temples, the YesheÖ Temple, the Lhakhang Karpo, and the Dukhang. There are many ancient, precious, and well-preserved frescoes.
After the breakup of the Yarlung dynasty in central Tibet that followed the assassination of Langdarma in 8842, the entire country was divided into small regions under the control of one or another local prince or lord.
One of Langdarma’s sons, ÖSung, retreated from the central part of the country and established a small state in western Tibet, in the upper Sutlej valley, called Guge. Nothing much is known of the early history of Guge, but it came into prominence with the ascendency of King Korde, who is better known as YeshiÖ, the name the king took in later life as a Buddhist monk.
YeshiÖ was a key figure in the second period of the dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet. Around 970, he sent the young and gifted monk Rinchen Zangpo to India to study. As a result, Rinchen Zangpo spent seventeen years in India and became possibly the most excellent Tibetan translator of Sanskrit scriptures. After his return to Tibet in 997AD, king YeshiÖ builds the Tholing monastery and is one of the first temples built at the start of Buddhism’s “second diffusion” in Tibet.
