Chhairo gompa

Tashi Shagagh Jyochen Chhoyokhor Ling (Chhairo, Tsérok Monastery)
Chhairo gompa courtyard, Lhakang and Padmasambhava shrine room, Chhairo, Lower Mustang, Nepal
Religion
Affiliation	Tibetan Buddhism
Sect	Nyingma
Deity	Padmasambhava
Leadership	Shashi Dhoj Tulachan
Location
Location	Nepal
Country	Nepal
Geographic coordinates	28°44′17.7″N 83°40′58.1″E / 28.738250°N 83.682806°E / 28.738250; 83.682806
Architecture
Founder	Chhawang Thinlen
Date established	16th century

Chhairo Monastery (Wylie: tshe rogs dgon pa, THL Tsérok Monastery) was the first monastery of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism founded in Upper Mustang. It was established in the 16th century and is part of present-day Mustang District, Nepal.

The village and the gompa are located on the historic salt trade route and the population of both Chhairo Monastery and Chhairo village fell into decline when China closed its border with Nepal in the 1960s to restrict movement by pro-Tibetan activists and again recently due to security concerns during the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[1][2]

The last remaining monks left the monastery in the 1970s^[3] and by 1981 only four nuns were taking care of the monastery.^[4] At some time between 1981 and the 1990s the management of Chhairo Gompa was left wholly to Chhairo village.

Since the mid-2000s efforts to reconstruct the main gompa complex have been made. This work is restricted to the monastery, shrine room to Padmasambhava and the main rooms that form a quad around these. The larger monastery complex of rooms for monks, visitors, pilgrims and their horses remain in ruins to the east.