Gold statue of Maitreya (the future) Buddha at Likir Monastery, in Ladakh

From the archive record

Likir monastery stand 6 km north of the main Leh -Srinagar highway, a little before the village of Saspol. From Leh itself, the distance is 62 km in the western direction. It was during the rule of the fifth king of Ladakh, Lhachen Gyalpo, that land was offered to Lama Duwang Chosje, an eminent advocate of meditation, to construct the monastery. The lama graced the land and the monastery came up in 1065 AD. The monastery was enclosed by the bodies of the two great serpent spirits or the naga- rajas, Nanda and Taksako. Because of this, the name of the monastery became Likir or the Naga encircled. Initially, the monastery was associated with the Kadampa sect, however, the year 1470 saw a conversion by a central Tibetan monk Lawang Lotos. This coversion resulted in the monastery being brought