Wanla Monastery

Wanla Gompa is a historic Buddhist monastery on the ridge that crowns Wanla village in Ladakh, India. Its small but impressively preserved three-storeyed Avalokitesvara temple is one of the earliest known Drigung Kagyu prayer chambers to have survived in Ladakh. Wanla is a sub-monastery of Lamayuru which provides a caretaker monk responsible for daily rituals and for granting access to the temple.[2] The main image features Avalokitesvara in 11-headed ("Chuchigzhel") form.[3]

Wanla Monastery
Religion
Affiliation	Tibetan Buddhism
Sect	Drigung Kagyu
Location
Location	Wanla, Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India
Location within India
Geographic coordinates	34°14′58″N 76°49′52″E
Architecture
Founder	Rinchen Sangpo (disputed)[1]

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Tibetan Buddhism
Sects Nyingma Sakya Bodong Kagyu Jonang Gelug Rimé New Kadampa Tradition
Key personalities First dissemination Padmasambhava Śāntarakṣita Kamalaśīla Second dissemination Atiśa Talika Abhayakirti Niguma Sukhasiddhi Milarepa Nyingma Longchenpa Patrul Rinpoche Mipham Kagyu Rangjung Dorje Jonang Dolpopa Taranatha Sakya Sakya Pandita Gorampa Gelugpa Je Tsongkhapa 5th Dalai Lama 13th Dalai Lama 14th Dalai Lama
Teachings General Buddhist Three marks of existence Skandha Cosmology Saṃsāra Rebirth Bodhisattva Dharma Dependent origination Karma Tibetan Four Tenets system Rangtong-Shentong Svatantrika-Prasaṅgika distinction Nyingma Dzogchen Pointing-out instruction
Practices and attainment Lamrim Pāramitās Bodhicitta Avalokiteśvara Meditation Laity Vajrayana Tantra techniques Deity yoga Buddhahood
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Institutional roles Dalai Lama Panchen Lama Lama Karmapa Rinpoche Geshe Tertön Tulku
Festivals Chotrul Duchen Dajyur Galdan Namchot Losar Dosmoche Monlam Sho Dun
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Along with a 1980s side building the monastery sits within the sparse remnants of a medieval castle whose construction is mentioned in Ladakhi chronicles as being by the Ladakhi King Lhachen Ngaglug (lHa-chen Ngag-lug), i.e. probably in the 12th century. The monastery was added in the heart of the castle in the 14th century. This timing adds to academic interest in Wanla since, as some writers have described, this was "an otherwise completely obscure period of Ladakh's history between the foundation of the Alchi group of monuments, the latest of which are to be attributed to the early 13th century, and the establishment of the Ladakhi kingdom in the early 15th century".[4]

The temple is currently being restored by the Achi Association.[5]