This sprawling monastic complex's extensive series of buildings and stupas lie semi-hidden in rolling pine woods, halfway along the pretty, narrow lane that winds 14km between Bir and Baijnath. The large main monastery building looks outwardly rather staid but contains an inner quadrangle which reverberates cacophonously in late afternoon with the practice recitations of countless student monks. That in turn contains the main prayer hall, whose dazzling interior features a superb, two-storey golden Maitreya (future Buddha) statue.
Sherabling is the seat in exile of the Tai Situpa, one of the highest-ranking Karma Kagyu (Black Hat) lamas, whose original Palpung Monastery at Derge, Sichuan, is historically one of the most important seats of Tibetan Buddhism.
