Monasteries and shrines · Pemayangtse Monastery
Light a butter lamp and walk the kora
Offer a butter lamp and walk the clockwise path around Pemayangtse, turning the prayer wheels, as local families do on auspicious days.
Photo: Steve Hicks · CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Lighting butter lamps is one of the commonest offerings in Tibetan Buddhism, symbolising the dispelling of ignorance. At Pemayangtse, lamps can usually be offered at a designated place for a small donation, indicatively ₹20–100. Ask a monk or caretaker where, as open flames are kept away from the wooden halls.
Then walk the kora, the clockwise circuit around the monastery buildings, turning the prayer wheels with your right hand. Local families do this on auspicious days of the lunar month, often reciting the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. Visitors are welcome to join quietly.
Late afternoon is a good time: the light is warm on the monastery walls, the day groups have left, and the mountains sometimes clear again before sunset.
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Questions travellers ask
Before you book
Why do Buddhists light butter lamps?
A butter lamp offering symbolises wisdom dispelling the darkness of ignorance, and is made for blessings, for the dead, or for a wish. Traditionally lamps used yak or cow butter; today vegetable ghee is common. Visitors of any faith may offer one respectfully.
Which way should I walk around a monastery?
Always clockwise, keeping the monastery, chortens and prayer wheels on your right. Turn prayer wheels with your right hand. Do not walk anticlockwise or sit on chortens or mani walls. These rules apply at every Buddhist site in Sikkim.
Is there a dress code at Pemayangtse?
There is no formal code, but dress modestly: cover shoulders and knees, remove hats and sunglasses inside, and take off shoes before entering the halls. Avoid loud talk and do not touch statues or ritual objects. Warm clothes are wise; halls are cold.
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