Kangtsa Monastery

Kangtsa is a small monastery about an hour from Tso, situated on the border with Zorge and Kakya. Coming from the surrounding grassland, it offers a stark contrast with its narrow valleys and juniper forests. Kangtsa is older than Labrang Tashikyil, and was founded in the late 1600’s by the 4th Panchen Lama Lobsang Chogyigyaltsen’s disciple, Ngomar Ritropa.

After the establishment of Labrang Tashikyil, Kangtsa became integrated as a branch of its Medical College, giving its monks the privilege to pursue their studies in Labrang.

Today, Kangtsa has about 80 monks. The road to access it was only built less than ten years ago, and before that, it was quite isolated. Kangtsa has always functioned as a Medical College and recently, the monks have built a larger dispensary for outpatients to serve the region.