Phuktal Monastery, Buddhist monastery in Kargil district, India

Phuktal is a Gelug school monastery built around a natural cave in a cliffside of a lateral gorge of the Lungnak River in south-eastern Zanskar, Ladakh. Whitewashed buildings with reddish-brown bands at rooflines and windows are stacked in stepped tiers across the tan rock face, some tucked inside a large dark recess. A white stupa with a tall striped spire stands near the base.

The cave is believed to have been visited by sages, translators and monks about 2,550 years ago, and images of the 16 Arhats appear on its walls. The Gelug monastery was established in the early 15th century by Jangsem Sherap Zangpo, a disciple of Je Tsongkhapa. The Tibetan translator Zanskar Lotsawa Phagpa Sherab lived and worked here in the 12th century. Alexander Csoma de Kőrös stayed here in 1826–1827 while compiling the first English-Tibetan dictionary, and a stone tablet records his stay.

The name Phuktal comes from the Zangskari words phuk (cave) and tal (leisure), giving 'the cave of leisure', or phukthar, 'the cave of liberation'. Monks attend village births, deaths and weddings, performing prayer ceremonies, while villagers come to consult the on-site amchi, a traditional Tibetan physician who prepares Sowa-Rigpa medicine at the monastery. Festivals begin around late February with Smonlam Chenmo, the great prayer for world peace, followed by Chudsum Chodpa honouring thirteen deities.

Phuktal lies 52 km southeast of Padum on the Nimmu–Padum–Darcha road, which reached the monastery in 2023; before that, access was on foot, a day's walk from Chah or Khangsaar. Supplies came by horse, donkey and mule in summer and over the frozen Zanskar River in winter. Solar power was installed in 2016.

The sacred spring is said to have appeared when Jangsem Sherap Zangpo arrived; legend also holds that a tree grew above the cave and the cave itself enlarged. The spring is protected, and the monastery's main temple, prayer rooms, library of rare texts and living quarters are arranged around the original cave.