The monastery was founded in 1709 by Ngagong Tsunde (E’angzongzhe in Chinese), the first-generation Jamyang (a line of reincarnated Rinpoches or living Buddhas ranking third in importance after the Dalai and Panchen lamas), from nearby Ganjia. Through the centuries it has been near the center of many gruesome conflicts and changes in the political landscape. Many of these conflicts, which have continued well into the 1950s and beyond, have left their mark on the monastery’s legacy. Between 1917 and 1949, several riots and attacks took place against Labrang Monastery from the Chinese Muslim Ma clique, who even occupied the monastery at one point. The Assembly hall of the monastery was burned to the ground in early 1985, along with many of its religious and cultural artifacts. It was eventually replaced five years later with a new building.

The Labrang Monastery is one of the six main monasteries of the Gelugpa order (Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism). The others are Ganden, Sera, and Drepung monasteries near Lhasa; Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse; and Kumbum Monastery outside Xining in Qinghai.

Here, you will see hundreds of red-robed Buddhist monks and Tibetan lay people in traditional clothing walking the three-kilometer path around the monastery, praying, chanting, and spinning prayer wheels.

It is also reputed to be the largest monastery still in operation outside of Tibet. At its peak, Labrang housed nearly 4000 monks, but their ranks greatly declined during the Cultural Revolution. Modern Labrang is again such a popular destination for young disciples that numbers are currently capped at 1800 monks, with about 1600 currently in residence, drawn from Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Inner Mongolia.