Keutsang Hermitage, Tibetan Buddhist monastery north of Lhasa, China.
Keutsang Hermitage is a walled complex with east and west gates, centred on a two-storey main temple with an assembly hall. Behind it stands a three-storey building housing a Scripture Temple and a Maitreya Chapel with a two-storey statue overlooking the cemetery. A Dharma courtyard built in 2004 serves younger monks, and 25 monks live on site.
The original cave monastery was destroyed by landslides, leading to construction of a new complex that was destroyed in 1959 and rebuilt in 1992. These reconstructions show the long process of restoration after periods of disruption.
The site is associated with meditation by important Buddhist teachers and functions as a place for regular ritual practices. Monks perform ceremonies here throughout the year that shape the spiritual life of the community.
The rebuilt complex has an east gate and a west gate in its compound wall; the main temple stands in the centre of the enclosed courtyard, with a three-storey secondary temple behind it. A guest house is part of the complex. The site lies east of Sera above Lhasa's principal cemetery, with Rakhadrak Hermitage above it.
The Acala image near the west gate was moved from a boulder into the shrine, and the Maitreya statue on the third floor overlooks the cemetery below. Local belief holds that the dead brought to Sera's sky-burial ground need no soul-guiding rite, since the hermitage's main protector sees to them.
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