Wutun Lower Monastery is a Gelug institution sitting a few hundred metres south of the upper monastery in the same village, on the valley floor. Where the upper monastery is known for its Nyingma painting tradition, the lower monastery represents the other major tradition in this valley, producing some of the finest gilded sculpture in the region.
The two monasteries function as a connected pair and are best visited together in a half-day trip from Tongren. The workshops associated with the lower monastery specialise in butter sculpture — the elaborate three-dimensional works made from coloured yak butter, which are created for festival displays and then ritually destroyed. The artists here can explain the process to visitors, and small examples of their work are sometimes available for purchase.