The Jebumgang temple, with its ornamental gilt roof, was a highly visible landmark on the northern skyline of the old city of Lhasa, yet it a attracted little attention, and its story seems to have been largely unknown. This study locates its origins in an intriguing period of the city’s modern history – the reassertion of Tibetan political authority during the last decades of the Manchu empire, and the accession to power of the 13thDalai Lama – and considers the questions that this raises, about the role of Nyingmapa ritual and prophecy in the resurgence of the Ganden Potrang state, and the emergence of a sectarian controversy that has haunted it ever since.