Tashijong

Himachal Pradesh


Founded by lamas from Tibet's important Khampagar Monastery who fled to India in the 1950s, Tashijong is a veritable monastic township, 1km north of the Palampur–Baijnath road. To the left behind the main prayer hall, it's a further five-minute climb up the concrete ramp then the red step-path to find the complex's most fascinating feature: upstairs in what appears to be a fairly normal house is a Yamantaka stupa containing the seated, mummified body of Togden Atin (died 2005).

He was one of Tashijong's 13 original 'Togden' yogis, an honorific translating as 'realised one' (www.togdens.org/information/history). People come to quietly meditate in the presence of his still-powerful aura, though his face is covered in a yellow cloth.


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