The Thiksey Monastery, also known as Thiksey Gompa, located at an altitude of 11,800 feet (3,600 m), on the top of a hillock in the Thiksey village, around 12 miles (19 km) east of Leh in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and containing a separate set of buildings for women, is the largest monastery in the region, affiliated with the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, often called the Yellow Hats. Surrounded by snow-clad mountains and famous for its resemblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa in Tibet, the 12 storey monastery complex, apart from containing 10 temples, an assembly hall and a library, is home to 120 monks and nunnery, and also houses several stupas, statues, wall paintings and swords.

However, one of the main attractions of the monastery is the Maitreya Temple, constructed in 1970, under Guru Nawang Tsering of the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, to commemorate the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama to the monastery that contains a huge 49 feet (15 m) tall golden statue of Maitreya Buddha, which is the largest statue in Ladakh, covering two floors of the building.

History of the Thiksey Monastery dates back to the 15th century, and it is maintained by many that Jangsem Sherab Zangpo, one of the six disciples of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, initially founded a small village monastery in Stagmo, in 1433, called Lhakhang Serpo, the Yellow temple. Later, in the mid 15th century, Palden Zangpo, a disciple of Sherab Zangpo, built the new Thiksey monastery a few miles away from Stagmo, believed to be the site of an earlier Kadam establishment or a daughter house of a small chapel of Stakmo, which gradually grew in prominence. However, the Thiksey Monastery, an important centre of Tibetan Buddhist culture and education in Ladakh, was renovated and expanded over the centuries to achieve its current shape, and has played an important role to maintain the traditional heritage of Tibetan Buddhism in the region.

There is an interesting legendary tale about the selection of the site of the monastery. According to the story, when Palden Zangpo was performing sacred rituals near the Yellow Temple, the Torma offering, mostly made of flour and butter, and used in Tantric rituals as offerings in Tibetan Buddhism, was carried away by a crow at a location on the other side of the hill.

That unwanted incident compelled Palden Zangpo and his disciples to look for the lost Torma and after searching here and there, ultimately found it on the top of a hillock in Thiksey, where it was kept on a piece of stone in perfect order and in undisturbed condition. Palden took it as a divine directive to build the monastery there and acted accordingly.

Located on a hill slope, the buildings of the Thiksey Monastery are arranged in hierarchal order or in ascending order of importance, from the foot of the hill housing the dwelling units to the top of the hill enshrining the monasteries and the Potang, the official residence of the chief lama, and a stupa at the highest level of the complex. The monastery complex is protected by a chagri, a boundary wall, with a large gateway serving as the entrance to a path lined with white chortens, which is a Tibetan word derived from the Sanskrit word chaitya and known as stupa in India, and mane, or prayer walls, which leads up the hill and opens into the central courtyard, the area for public gatherings, as well as the venue of the annual Thiksey Gustor festival. The Dukhang or the main temple, one of the oldest and the most significant structures of the monastery, painted ochre and orange and the façade made of wooden loggias, is accessible by a flight of stairs from the courtyard, and is equipped with an antechamber, locally known as the tsangkhang, containing sculptures of Shakyamuni, the sage of the Shakya clan, Padmasambhava, a Tantric master in Vajrayana Buddhism, and Maitreya, the Buddha of the future.

However, it is also believed that the three storey structure of the Gonkhang, located next to the Dukhang and painted in red, is also one amongst the oldest buildings in the complex, housing the fierce protector deities.

The other important structures located with the perimeter of the monastery complex include the Lhamo Khang, serving as a storehouse of several important Buddhist scriptures, including Stangyur and Kangyu, as well as the deity, the Tara Lhakhang, also known as Jetsün Dölma, and dedicated to Tara, the Venerable Mother of Liberation, an important female Buddha in Buddhism, and containing 21 images of the Goddess cordially kept in glass-covered wooden shelves, and the Assembly Hall, with the seat of the Dalai Lama in the centre. Apart from that, the nunnery or the school for the community of nuns, currently housing 26 nuns, is located within the boundary of the monastery and is managed by the monastery administration. Today, restoration of the ancient Thiksey Monastery, enlisted as a Monument of National Importance, is being carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India.