Tibet - Shigatse The Tashilunpo Monastery from the front gate. - the home of the Panchen Lamas - revered by the Tibetians only second to the Dali Lamas, (brown clay walls and big).The city is primarily noted for its Tashilhunpo Monastery, built in 1447, a historic and culturally important monastery. Situated on a hillside in the center of the city, the Tibetan name means "all fortune and happiness gathered here". The monastery is the traditional seat of successive Panchen Lamas, the second highest ranking lineage in the Gelukpa Buddhism, the ruling sect in Tibet from the sixteenth century until Chinese occupation in 1950...This monastery was originally built by the First Dalai Lama, Gedun Drub, and was financed by donations from local nobles. The Fourth Panchen Lama made major expansions to the monastery in the seventeenth century. Since then all Panchen Lamas have resided at Tashilhunpo, and have managed to expand it gradually. It is one of the largest remaining Buddhist monasteries in Tibet today, with an estimated 4,000 monks within its walls...Lobsang Trinley Choekyi Gyaltsen, the 10th Panchen Lama died mysteriously in 1989 in Shigatse at the age of 51. He and most of the other Panchen Lamas are buried within the monastery. ..The Dali Lama traditionally searches for the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, and the Panchen Lama is likewise responsible for searching for any new Dali Lama. The Dali Lama in exile performed a search, but his selection was not recognized by the Chinese authorities. Doing their own search, they have recognized Erdini Qoigyijabu as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. He is currently studying in Beijing and the Dali Lam?s choice and his family are believed to have been under "protective custody" in Beijing since 1995...If all of this seems a little strange, I strongly recommend at 1997 firm directed by Martin Scorsese called Kundun, about the search for and rule by the current Dali Lama until his exile in 1959. ..