Her seat, Samding (literally, 'the temple of soaring meditation') was in many ways unique in that about half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns, while the head of the monastery with all its branches was (and still is) a woman. It is a Geluk Ani gompa (or nunnery) - which also housed some monks - and was built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into the sacred lake, Yamdrok Tso. Samding gompa was destroyed after 1959 but is in the process of being restored.