Below the main assembly hall, the rather innocuous-looking Nyare Kangtsang houses a controversial statue of the deity Dorje Shugden, worship of which has been outlawed by the Dalai Lama for its alleged dangerous Tantric practices. The statue is in the third chapel, in the far-right corner, with a red face and a third eye, wearing a bronze hat and riding a snow lion. Your guide probably won't want to enter this chapel.
In 2006 monks stormed the building and smashed the Dorje Shugden statue, leading to the arrest of two monks. The statue was replaced in 2007 with the support of the government. The stand-off remains tense and around two dozen soldiers remain barracked in the main chapel.
