The western temple of the protectors of the three families (nub rigs gsum mgon po'i lha khang) is one of eight protector temples that were once located around Lhasa in each of the four cardinal and four intermediate directions. It was originally located next to Yutok Bridge (g.yu thog zam pa), in an area that is today paved over by Yutok Road. That temple was demolished in the 1960s. Since 1991, the temple has been located in the courtyard of a residential unit to the southwest of the Jokhang (jo khang) temple, just off Luguo Road (Lugu lu 鲁固路). The directional temples all housed shrines to the “protectors of the three families” (rigs gsum mgon po): Mañjuśrī ('jam dpal), Vajrapāṇi (phyag na rdo rje), and Avalokiteśvara (spyan ras gzigs).