Though this small branch of Lhasa's Sera Monastery may not look like much, home to only three or four monks at a time who are sent for a year to maintain the small temple that was rebuilt in 1984 after nearly complete destruction during the Cultural Revolution, it has a long and storied history in the Gelugpa tradition.
It is said that the sixth Panchen Lama, Palden Yeshe (1738–80), and his retinue once camped along the Kyang-chu. One day a kyang (wild ass) wandered into camp and entered the tent used by him in his religious practice. The Panchen Lama tossed a sack containing sacrificial cakes on the back of the wild ass. The kyang exited the tent, wandered to the other side of the river and disappeared into a cliff. Curious, Palden Yeshe went in pursuit of the kyang and reached the cliff where it was last seen. Here he found an old monk who had covered the very spot with his cloak. The Panchen Lama demanded to know what was going on and pulled off the cloak. Immediately his nose began to bleed. Taking this as a mystic sign, he used the blood to paint an image of Palden Lhamo on the rocks. This site became the inner sanctum of Kyang-rag Monastery. As it turned out the kyang was no ordinary animal but a local deity and the mount of the great goddess Palden Lhamo. For that reason the place became known as Kyang-rag (Wild Ass Beheld).
North of Damxung look for an unmarked turn-off just north of the Hippodrome, from where the monastery is 2km.
