The 'Ponpori hills' are a range of hills with grey soil, southwest of
Shigatse, in South Western
Tibet. The Drum River runs through them.
They are best known as the location of the central monastery of the Sakya, one the four great traditions of Tibetan
Mahayana Buddhism. Sakya (Tibetan: ''sa skya'', grey or whitish soil) is named after a patch of white earth in the shape of a lion's face on the mountainside.