Riwo Dechen

Beneath the ruins of the Chingwa Taktse Castle on the hill above Chonggye, are the remains of Riwo Dechen monastery.  Of the 70 buildings that covered the hillside, only the walls of the main assembly hall still stand.  At the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, it was associated with Drepung monastery.  The monastery housed about 600 monks in 1959, and in 1985 the first few monks returned to start reconstruction.  There are now ninety monks living in or affiliated with the monastery (one of a maximum of 99 allowed by the state) (Batchelor 1998)