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Mt. Niser, southwest of Shigatse
. It covers an area of about 300,000 square meters with a floor space of about 30,000 square
meters. Painted in red and white, the buildings in the monastery stand closely together in terraced
rows, offering a grand and majestic view.
The monastery was founded in 1447 by Gendun Zhuba, one of the principal disciples of the Founder of the Yellow Sect Zongkaba, and was then enlarged consistently by different generations of Banchan Lama until it acquired its present
dimensions. Gendun Zhuba was first abbot of the monastery, and in 1600 at the invitation of the
monastery, the 4th Panchen lama became the 16th abbot of it,
thus made the monastery abode of the succeeding Panchen lamas ever
since.
There are many valuable and rare historical articles in the
monastery, among them are found a lot of gold and jade signets, and imperial certificates bestowed by Emperors of the Min and Ding Dynasties as well as a seal of "Daitu" of the Yuan Dynasty scribed in the new Mongolian language reformed by
Basba. They are of great value for the study of history.
The Sakya Monastery is divided into the south and the North two
parts. The construction of the monastery was started in 1073 by Kung GungQuijiepuo with the order from
Basra. It is of typical Yuan Dynasty style resembling castles. There are a lot of historical articles in the
monastery, among them are found a lot of the imperial
certificates, gold signets, crowns, costumes bestowed by the Yuan Dynasty
emperors. There are also a lot of statues of Buddha, ritual
articles, and articles of selections of handwritten scriptures in gold powder or
cinnabar. It has over 10,000 volumes of Tibetan books on astronomy, medicine, calligraphy, and
history. So the Shaja Monastery enjoys the title " the Second Dunhuang Cave".
The Xialu Monastery is situated in
Rikuozuo. The construction was started in 1000. Its architecture is of typical combination of the Tibetan and Chinese styles with the
archways, carved pillars, tiled roofs and the Song and Yuan style
murals. Besides the various sorts of statues of Buddha, it also has 4 treasures to be
enshrined. The first is a scripture printing board carved out of
sandalwood. The 2nd is a copper jar to contain holy water. It is said that the water is changed every other 12
years, but the quantity and quality of the water do not change even if it has been in the jar for 12
years. The 3 rd is a stone basin which is said to be used by Shaja
Banzhida. The 4th is a stone Board with the 6-character principle engraved on
it. On the 4 corners of the board are also engraved four claret
pagodas. It is said that when the construction first started,
the board was Unearthed.
The Kubum Monastery was built in the 15th
century, It is situated in the west of Gyantse Town With mountains enclosing from the
east, west and north 3 sides, its uniqueness is that its three Sects of
Buddhism-shaja, Ningma and Guolu are living harmoniously under one
roof. Each sect Has 6-7 courtyards in the monastery. There are various kinds of thangas, a huge bronze statue of
Jiangba, the jainrese of a Thousand Hands and a Thousand Eyes in the
monastery. There is a hall of Arhat mad during the Ming Dynasty.
The Arhats are so vivid that they look very much alive.
The 3 Monasteries of the yellow Sect Buddhism
Standing in the eastern, western, and northern suburbs of Lhasa are 3 grand monasteries, They are the 3 main monasteries of the Yellow Sect Buddhism--the Gandan, Drpung, and Sera
Monasteries.
The Gandan Monastery is situated on the slope of
Mt. Wanpur to the east of Lhasa. Looking from distance, it looks very much like a
castle. Some one says that Mt. Wanpur resembles a sitting elephant with the Gandan Monastery on its
Back. It is an auspicious symbol to the Tibetans some other one says that the view shows
Mt. Wanpir as the kind Dorlijiaing with the Gandan in her arms. In the early 15th century, Zonkaba had the Monastery
built. His tomb pagoda is in it. Under the north wall of the Tomb Pagoda Hall, there is said to be a flying rock from
India. It is also being worshipped by the Buddhists.
The Trepung Monastery is the biggest of the 3 monasteries, situated on the slope of
Mt. Guopei, it is 10 km to the west of Lhasa. The Monastery is so big that it resembles a
town. It was built by Zongkaba's disciple Jiangyang Qujie in
1416. The Monastery consists of a number of grand halls chambers, and the Dalai
Lamas'palaces. 190 huge pillars are standing in the Grand Hall of Guoqin which could sit as many as 10,000
lamas. The statue of Buddha Jiangba, said to be unearthed by Zongkaba, is enshrined on the second
floor. Also enshrined in the Monastery is the white conch with counter-clockwise spiral believed to be buried by Buddha Sakyamuni's disciple
Mujianlianzang. It was later on unearthed by Zongkaba and passed on to Jiangyang
Qujie. Muslim poems are written on the walls of the Hall. Before he moved to the Potala Palace, the 5th Dalai Lama lived
here. The Drepung Monastery used to nourish a lot of scholars of Buddhism in
Tibet.
The Sera Monastery nestles at the foot of the Wu Du Hill in the northern suburbs of the Lhasa
city. It got its name from the sera flowers (wild rose) on the
hill. The Monastery was built under the supervision of Zongkaba's disciple Xiajia
Yixi. Enshrined in the Monastery are the 16 Arharts carved out of sandalwood from the Ming Emperor, over 10,000 golden copper Buddhist statues, the holy prayer scripture ganzhuer written in cinnabar
etc.
Besides the monastery is the world famous 9-story 10,000-Buddha
Pagoda. It stands 32m, has 108 Doors, 77 Buddhist chambers and countless
shrines. Enshrine in the Pagoda are 10,000 statues of Buddha.
The Pagoda opens 8 doors which are decorated with relief sculptures of lively flying
dragons, running lions and walking elephants. It is a masterpiece of the joint efforts of the
Nepalese, Tibetan and Chinese.
Yungbulakang is the palace for the 1st Tubo King Niechi in the Yalong River
Valley. It is also called "the Mosher and Song Holy Hall". Yungbulakang is standing on the top of a hill on the east bank of the Yalung River in the southeast of Naidong
county. The castle can be divided into front and vack 2 parts.
the front part is a 3-story building, while the back part is a castle like tall
building. Enshrined in the shrine are the statues of Thiesung Sangjie
Buddha, King Niechi, King Srontsan Gampo and the Tobu Kings after
them.
The legend goes that the "mysterious object" was on the roof of the castle, so Buddhists regard here as the
Holland.
The Sangsu Monastery is at the foot of
Mot. Haibusi on the north bank of the Yaluzangbu ribbed in Jialang
county. Being the 1st monastery, it was built in 761. The 5th TobuKing Chisong Duosan sent envoys to Kashmir and India to invite famous lamas to teach Buddhism in
Tibet. The monastery had been combined the Chinese, Tibetan and Indian styles,
in the center of the Monastery is a big square 3-store hall with a floor space of over 8,900 square
meters. the first floor Is of Tibetan style, the 2nd Chinese and 3rd
Indian. To the direction of the 4 corners of the hall, 4 towers were built respectively in
red, white, green and black colors.
The Sangsu Monastery is a typical Buddhist building,
it deserves its place in the history of architecture.
The Changzhu Monastery on the east bank of the Yalong River in the district of
Shannan. there is a legend behind the Monastery. It is said that once upon a
time, the site of the Monastery was an extremely deep lake. In the lake there is a five-head
dragon. After Srontsan Gampo got the control of Tibet, he wanted to drain the lake and build a castle
there. So he invited two Masters to lure a big bird to attack the
dragon. the two Masters first of all imitated the sound of the bird and lured the dragon
out, then they imitated the sound of the dragon to lure the bird
out. So the dragon and the bird started a fight. The bird at last chopped off two of the dragon's heads with its
wings. Seven days later, the lake disappeared. Some pearls were buried as the cornerstone for the
monastery. That is how the Monastery got its name.
There are 5 big copper pots for making tea for 5,000 people in the front of the
temple. They are so big that when cleaning them, ladders have to be
use. In 1409 Zongkaba, the founder of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, originated the Geat Prayer
Festival. The debate between the candidates- for the degree of "Guoxi" was conducted among the Yellow Sect
Buddhists. For more than 1,000 years, the Jokhang Temple remains to be the favorite spot for the worshippers from far and
near.
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