Korzok Monastery

Korzok Monastery belongs to the Drukpa lineage and stands in Korzok village on the north-western shore of Tso Moriri in Leh district, Ladakh, at 4,560 metres. It was founded about 300 years ago by the third Korzok Rinpoche, Kunga Lodro Ningpo, after a nomad king sent to Tibet for a lama, and the present buildings are said to be a 19th-century rebuilding. It is independent, under the Korzok Rinpoche, and some seventy monks live here. Unlike most Ladakhi monasteries perched on hilltops, it sits on a gentle slope, with chortens around it.

Inside are a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha and images of other deities. Korzok was once the headquarters of the Rupshu Valley and lay on a Central Asian trade route until 1947, and Changpa herders still pitch yak-hair tents here in summer. Local people hold the lake below sacred and, through the efforts of WWF-India, named it a 'Sacred Gift for a Living Planet', a step that opened the area to visitors.