Discover Lhasa
Zhaki Temple
扎基寺
Lhasa's wealth-god temple and the city's most purely local religious site: residents come weekly with bottles of barley spirit and white scarves to petition Dorje Shugden's protector deity. No tour group stops here, which is exactly the point.
The story
What makes this place special
Zhaki Temple, Zhaji Si, in the northern outskirts of Lhasa, is the temple of Zhaki Lhamo, a protector deity popularly treated as a goddess of wealth and described in sources as the only wealth temple in Tibet proper. It is generally reported as a branch of Sera Monastery and therefore Gelug; one scholarly note observes that the temple's own prayer texts class the deity as a mamo rather than by the popular title, and accounts of her identity differ. Two explanations circulate for the name, one that the temple began with only four monks, the other that it derives from the local topography. The distinctive practice here is offering bottled baijiu, white spirit, which attendants pour into a vessel before the image; incense, khata scarves and small notes are the other usual offerings. Wednesday is the day worshippers come in the greatest numbers.
What you’ll discover
A small, dark, very intensely used temple rather than a monument: a courtyard, a single main shrine with the fierce black-faced image of Zhaki Lhamo behind glass, and the whole interior saturated with the smell of spirit and butter. Worshippers queue with bottles of baijiu bought at the gate, hand them over to be poured, and leave notes and scarves. Business owners and taxi drivers from Lhasa make up most of the crowd, and there is almost nothing architectural to look at.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Come on a Wednesday, which is when the temple is at its fullest and the practice makes sense, and come in the morning.
- Buy the offering at the stalls by the gate: a bottle of baijiu, incense sticks and a few one-yuan notes is the standard set, and arriving empty-handed in a queue of people carrying bottles is conspicuous.
- This is a working wealth shrine used by local business people, not a sight. It is the most unusual thing on a Lhasa itinerary and it is also small and quick; twenty minutes is enough.
- Be careful with cameras. The crowd is local and personal, the shrine is a protector chapel, and photography of the image is generally not allowed. Ask.
- It is in the northern suburbs, a taxi ride from the old city, and is easily paired with Sera Monastery in the same direction on the same half day.
- Reported opening hours differ between sources. Go in the morning rather than relying on a listed closing time.
When to come
Wednesday morning, when worshippers come in numbers. Any season; the shrine is small and indoor and the visit is short, which makes it fine on a cold or wet day.
Getting around
Mixed. The approach from the road and the courtyard are broadly level, so a wheelchair user can get to the temple, but the shrine is entered up a step or two over a raised sill into a small, dark, crowded space in which turning a chair is difficult. A bad knee will have no difficulty beyond standing in a queue.
Worth knowing before you go
The custom is to bring a bottle of barley spirit as an offering, sold by the vendors outside — buy one and follow what the locals in front of you do rather than walking straight in empty-handed.
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