Samding Dorje Phagmo The Jokhang (Tibetan: ཇོ་ཁང།, Chinese: 大昭寺), or the Ra sa 'phrul snang gtsug lag khang,[1] or Qoikang Monastery, or Zuglagkang (Tibetan: གཙུག་ལག་ཁང༌།, Wylie: gtsug-lag-khang, ZYPY: Zuglagkang or Tsuklakang), is considered the "heart of Lhasa".

Located in Barkhor Square, it was built in c.640 by King Songsten Gampo to house the Jowo Mikyo Dorje,[3] a statue of Akshobhya Buddha, brought to Tibet by his Nepalese queen,[2] Bhrikuti.

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution in Tibet, the Red Guards attacked the Jokhang temple in 1966 and for a decade there was no worship.

[10] Barkhor, the market square in central Lhasa, has a walkway for pilgrims to walk around the temple (which takes about 20 minutes).

The image of Akshobhya Buddha known as Jowo Mikyo Dorje (or Mikyoba), which she had brought as part of her dowry, was deified in the Jokhang.

[25] Songsten Gampo, wishing to obtain a wife from China, sent his ambassador to Emperor Taizong (627–650) of the Tang dynasty for one of his daughters.

The temple remains the holiest shrine in Tibet and the image, known as Jowo Rinpoche, has become the country's most-revered statue.

During this time the image of Akshobya Buddha in the Jokhang temple was hidden underground, reportedly 200 people failed to locate it.

[31] During the anti-Buddhist activity of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, the Jokhang and Ramoche temples were said to be used as stables.

Pilgrimages outside the country were forbidden for Tibetans, and the Qianlong Emperor suggested that it would be equally effective to worship the Jowo Buddha at the Jokhang.

[29] During the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards attacked the Jokhang in 1966, starting on August 24,[37][38] and for a decade there was no worship in Tibetan monasteries.

[30] Two flagstone doring (inscribed pillars) outside the temple, flanking its north and south entrances, are worshiped by Tibetans.

The first monument, a March 1794 edict known as the "Forever Following Tablet" in Chinese, records advice on hygiene to prevent smallpox; some has been chiseled out by Tibetans who believed that the stone itself had curative powers.

The image was in the temple for 1300 years, and when Songtsen Gampo died his soul was believed to have entered the small wooden statue.

[43][44] The temple is listed in the first group of National Cultural Protection Relic Units, and has been categorized as a 4A-level tourist site.

[10] On February 17, 2018, the temple caught fire at 6:40 p.m. (local time), before sunset in Lhasa, with the blaze lasting until late that evening.

Although photos and videos about the fire were spread on Chinese social media, which showed the eaved roof of a section of the building lit with roaring yellow flames and emitting a haze of smoke, these images were quickly censored and disappeared.

The official newspaper Tibet Daily briefly claimed online that the fire was "quickly extinguished" with "no deaths or injuries" at the late night, while The People's Daily published the same words online and added that there had been "no damage to relics" in the temple; both of these reports contained no photos.

Changes in dynastic rule affected the Jokhang Monastery; after 1409, during the Ming dynasty, many improvements were made to the temple.

The Jokhang is aligned along an axis, beginning with an arch gate and followed by the Buddha Hall, an enclosed passage, a cloister, atriums and a hostel for the lamas (monks).

Its architecture features the Tibetan Buddhist style, with influences from China, Indian vihara design and Nepal.

The image, brought by the king's Nepalese wife and initially kept at Ramoche, was moved to Jokhang and kept in the rear center of the inner temple.

In the main hall on the ground floor is a gilded bronze statue of Jowo Sakyamuni, 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall, representing the Buddha at age twelve.

[49] On the rooftop and roof ridges are iconic statues of golden deer flanking a Dharma wheel, victory flags and monstrous fish.

[57] Pilgrims queue on both sides of the platform to place a ceremonial scarf (katak) around the Buddha's neck or touch the image's knee.

[41] The Jokhang has a sizable, significant collection of cultural artifacts, including Tang-dynasty bronze sculptures and finely-sculpted figures in different shapes from the Ming dynasty.

Among hundreds of thangkas, two notable paintings of Chakrasamvara and Yamantaka date to the reign of the Yongle Emperor; both are embroidered on silk and well-preserved.