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{{Short description|Tibetan Buddhist monastery near Shigatse, Tibet, China}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox Tibetan Buddhist monastery
|name = Narthang Monastery<br/>Nartang Monastery
|image = 
|alt = 
|caption = 
<!-- language specifics (native_name): -->
|t=སྣར་ཐང་
|w=snar thang
|s=纳塘寺
|p=nàtángsì 
|pushpin_map = Tibet
|coordinates = {{coord|29.1910842|88.7642799|type:landmark_region:CN-54|display=inline,title}}
|map_caption = Location within Tibet
|location_country = [[China]]
|location = [[Shigatse]], Tibet
|founded_by = Tumtön Lodrö Drakpa
|founded = {{start date and age|1153}}
|sect = [[Kadampa]]
|dedicated_to = 
|head_lama = 
}}
[[file:Racks of printing blocks, Natang monastery.jpg|thumb|290px|Racks of printing blocks, Narthang Monastery]]
{{Tibetan Buddhism}} 
'''Narthang Monastery''' is a [[monastery]] located {{convert|15|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of [[Shigatse]] in [[Tibet]]. Founded in 1153 by Tumtön Lodrö Drakpa,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Tumton-Lodro-Drakpa/5790|title=Tumton Lodro Drakpa|website=The Treasury of Lives|language=en|access-date=2018-12-10}}</ref> a student of Sharawa Yonten Drak. Narthang was an influential [[Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism)|Kadam]] monastery, and the fourth great monastery of [[Ü-Tsang|Tsang]], with [[Shalu Monastery]], Sakya and [[Tashilhunpo]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/2b88qc50s|title=Building Place and Shaping Lives: Nartang Monastery From the Twelfth Through Fifteenth Centuries|last=Michael|first=Schuman|date=2016|website=UVA Library {{!}} Virgo|language=en|access-date=2018-12-10}}</ref>  Narthang was first famous for its scriptural teaching and monastic discipline. After the fourteenth century it gained great eminence as the oldest of Tibet's three great printing centres (the other being the [[Potala]] and the Derge).

With help from the [[fourth Panchen Lama]], the [[fifth Dalai Lama]] alongside [[Sonam Rapten|Sönam Rapten]] and [[Güshi Khan]] assimilated the Monastery as a branch of [[Tashi Lhunpo Monastery]].<ref name=":0"/> The [[fifth Panchen Lama]] invested in restoration projects for the monastery and it continued printing the [[Buddhist]] scriptures, the [[Kangyur]] and the [[Tengyur]], until 1959. Narthang's five main buildings and large chanting hall were razed to the ground by the [[China|Chinese]] in 1966. They had contained priceless 14th century [[murals]] possibly painted by the artist scholars of nearby [[Shalu Monastery]]. Today, only the mud-brick foundations can be discerned although parts of the Mongolian styled high-fortress walls are still standing.

<blockquote>"I went on to Narthang to visit the largest of the printing establishments in Tibet.  The number of engraved wooden plates used for the printing of the various religious books was prodigious. Set up on shelves, in rows, they filled a huge building. The printers, splattered with ink up to their elbows,sat upon the floor as they worked, while in other rooms monks cut the paper according to the size required for each kind of book. There was no haste; chatting and drinking of buttered tea went on freely. What a contrast to the fevered agitation in our newspaper printing-rooms."<ref>David-Neel (2007), p. 89.</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>"The high crumbling walls of Narthang are visible behind a roadside village: a few monks have returned to the [[lamasery]] and several minor buildings have been restored."<ref>Buckley (2006)</ref></blockquote>An English-language history of Narthang between the 12th and 15th centuries is available.<ref name=":0" />

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [[Alexandra David-Neel]] (1965). ''Magic & Mystery In Tibet''. Corgi Books.London. {{ISBN|0-552-08745-9}}.
* Michael Buckley. (2006) edition. [[Bradt Travel Guides|Bradt guide]] to [[Tibet]].

==External links==
* [http://www.tibetmap.com/Go82.html Narthang Photos]

{{Buddhist monasteries in Tibet}}

[[Category:Buddhist monasteries in Tibet]]
[[Category:Buddhist temples in Tibet]]
[[Category:Kadam monasteries and temples]]


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