Taer Temple (Kumbum Monastery)—known in Tibetan as "Gönbum Jampa Ling," meaning "Monastery of the 100,000 Images of Maitreya"—is located in a valley on Lotus Mountain (Lianhua Shan) in Lushar Town, Huangzhong District, Xining City, Qinghai Province, approximately 26 kilometers from downtown Xining. The origins of the temple date back to 1379 (the 12th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty), when the mother of Tsongkhapa—following her son’s instruction to "build a stupa at the place of his birth"—erected the "Lotus-Gathering Stupa" (Lianju Ta). This stupa marked the inception of the monastery; the Chinese name "Taer Temple" (literally "Stupa Temple") reflects the fact that the stupa predates the monastery itself. As one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and the birthplace of the school’s founder, Tsongkhapa, the temple holds a position of profound reverence among the faithful and serves as a vital center for religious activities and pilgrimage in Northwest China.
On March 4, 1961, Taer Temple was designated by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China as one of the first group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level. In 2007, the temple was included on the tentative list for the "Silk Roads" transnational World Heritage nomination.