Monastery in the morning surrounded by intense light - excellent (9)

I believe the answer is:

lamaserai

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'monastery in' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'morning surrounded by intense light excellent' is the wordplay.
'morning' becomes 'am'.
'surrounded by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'intense light' becomes 'laser' (lasers are a type of light. I am not sure about the 'intense' bit.).
'excellent' becomes 'ai' (resembles 'Al', old-fashioned term for excellent).
'am' placed inside 'laser' is 'lamaser'.
'lamaser'+'ai'='LAMASERAI'

'the' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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