Xia Monastery in Tibet: A spectacular forest of white stupas! Encountering the simple and honest Tibetan villagers

Xia Monastery is located in Guoji Village, Qiongga Township, Linzhou County, Tibet Autonomous Region, nestled in the Danma Mountain hollow, 25 kilometers from the county seat and 90 kilometers from Lhasa. It is a sacred place for Buddhist pilgrimage in Tibet with a history of over 700 years. There was originally a temple in Guoji Village, and legend has it that three girls came to the temple to worship Buddha. Because there was no place to stay at night, the three girls chanted spells to transform the temple into a nunnery, which is how the temple got its name. Later, to commemorate these three worshippers, three Buddhist stupas were built. Surrounding the three oldest central stupas of Xia Monastery, more than 100 stupas of various sizes have been built over time. The stupas are constructed following the undulating terrain, creating a magnificent sight. The entire stupa forest faces south from the north, and every year in the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar, devotees come to whitewash the stupas. The stupa bodies are decorated with milk, plants, and lime powder, making them pure white, resembling a palace of stupas under a blanket of snow in the mountain hollow.