A cave monastery of Zanskar, Zongkul
stands perched on the rock face of the Ating George. There is an
interesting legend associated with the Zongkul Monastery of Ladakh. It
is said to be connected with Naropa, the famous Indian Yogi from
Vikramshila. Infact, it is believed that he even used the two caves of
the monastery for the purpose of his solitary meditation. Even today,
one can see Naropa's footprint embedded in the rock and his sacred
spring, located inside the meditation cave.
After Naropa meditated here, the monastery became the sacred place of
meditation for all the mahasiddhas of Zanskar. Enlightened people like
Dubchen Kunga Gyatso, Dubchen Nawang Tsering, Dzadpa Dorje, Karmapa,
Kunga Choslag, etc have used Zongkul for meditation purposes. The
Zongkhul Gompa of Leh Ladakh consists of a number of blessed shrines.
It also boasts of a rich compilation of precious artifacts, like ivory
image of Samvara, a crystal stupa, texts containing the spiritual songs
and biographies composed by the successive mahasiddha, etc. Not to be
missed are the splendid murals, made by Zhadpa Dorje almost 300 years
ago.
