Shigatse is 3,800 meters above sea level, 200 meters higher than Lhasa. Shigatse, AS a city with more than 500 years history, is the political and religious center of gTsang and the dwelling place of Panchen Lama of past dynasties. Nowadays Shigatse has become a prosperous city with considerable scale. Except the Tibet-style architecture along the street, a lot of shops opened along the street, which resembles the cities in mainland very much. Tashilhunpo Monastery is one of the most famous scenic spots in Shigatse.
Tashilhunpo Monastery, one of the four famous temples in Tibet, is located at the east slope of Nima mountain in the west of Shigatse. It is also the largest temple in Shigatse, a temple subordinated to Geru Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. In September 1447, the first Dalai Lama dge-vdun-vgrub-pa, the 8th disciple of Tson-Kha-Pa, built this temple with the finance support of Pzhu regime. He is the first person to introduce the Yellow Sect to gTsang. In the year of 1600, the fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyaltsen was invited by Tashilhunpo Monastery to serve as the 16th Da Fa Tai. Since then, Tashilhunpo Monastery became the dwelling place of Panchen Erdeni of past dynasties. With the continuous expansion of Panchen of past dynasties, it gradually became a splendid and majestic architecture with high Buddha made of copper, exquisite sculptures and glistening frescoes, also the political, economical, cultural and religious center of gTsang.
Nowadays, Tashilhunpo Monastery is the place to publicize Tibetan Buddhism, where all the historical relics are well reserved and hundreds of Lama study Buddhism. Here is also an important scenic spot in Tibet, where is now full of tourists while it was a quiet Buddhist holy land in the past.
Tashilhunpo Monastery is one of the six famous temples of the Yellow Sect, which means “Xumi Fushou Temple”. With the building square of 300 thousand square meters, it is the largest temple of gTsang.
Tashilhunpo Monastery faces south by east and follows the traditional architectural layout of Scripture college of the Yellow Sect, with the hall as the center, the whole architecture can be divided in to the bedroom of Panchen, Canbu conference hall(Administrative organization of gTsang), four Dratsangs, Pagodas hall and Tashilhunpo Sun Set Buddha. There are totally 56 Scripture halls and 236 houses.
Crossing the square of Tashilhunpo Monastery, you will be at Chin Hall, the center of Tashilhunpo Monastery, also one of the most ancient architectures and the important place for all the temple rituals. The throne of Panchen Masters are enshrined and worshiped in the center of Hall, and hundreds of Thang-gas are hung in scripture hall. There are 18 Panchens and Dalai Lamas reincarnation since the establishment of Tashilhunpo Monastery, the paintings in Thang-gas are the life stories about the Panchens and Lama of all generations, all the pictures are painted with clear and smooth colors, bright and vivid structure and elegant strokes.
There are many ancient frescoes on the walls around the grand scripture hall, in which the portraits of three masters of Tsongkhapa, ancestors of past dynasties and great teachers, also the Buddhist Meditation pictures of the Four Lokapalas, all Flying Apsarases and Sakyamuni.
Inside the Chin Hall, there are Sakyamuni Buddha Hall, Maitreya Buddha Hall and Tara Hall.
The Sakyamuni Buddha Portrait sculptured by dge-vdun-vgrub-pa, the founder of Tashilhunpo Monastery to commemorate his scripture teacher, Sai Saun Sen Ge is enshrined and worshiped in Sakyamuni Buddha Hall, the statues at left and right sides are the Eight Disciples of Sakyamuni Buddha.
At the left side of Chin Hall, it is Maitreya Buddha Hall built in 1461 with the finance support of Yaw Za Bender, King Gulge of Ngari. The Maitreya Buddha standing statue with height of 11 meters is enshrined and worshiped at the center of hall, which is sculptured by the joint hand craft of Tibetan craftsmen and Nepalese craftsmen, also witnessing the long term friendly cooperation between China and Nepal in history. Avalokitesvara statue and Manjusri statue are respectively at the left and right side of Sakyamuni Buddha statue, which are sculptured by the first Dalai dge-vdun-vgrub-pa and are the most ancient sculptures in Tashilhunpo Monastery.
At the right side of Chin Hall, it is the Tara Hall. In the center of Tara Hall, there is a white sculpture of Tara with height of 2 meters. Tara in Tibetan language is “Drolma”. It is said that there are many incarnations of Avalokitesvara, Tara is exactly the incarnation of Avalokitesvara to rescue the persons in agony and difficulty. There are 21 Tara statues, we can extinguish them with their colors. Each Tara statue has different color, the most respectable ones are the white Tara and green Tara.
Han Buddha Hall is the witness of the official relationship between Panchen of gTsang and the Qing Dynasty Central Committee. It is said that there are no Han Buddha Halls in other monasteries of Tibet. The gifts bestowed by the emperors of past dynasties to Panchens of all generations are displayed in the hall. There is a huge portrait of Qianlong Emperor in Qing Dynasty upstairs in Han Buddha Hall, which is the original one in the Palace Museum in Beijing. In front of the portrait, there is a memorial tablet of Daoguang Emperor with the word “long live, long long live”. The side hall in the Han Buddha Hall is the sitting room for the meeting between the ministers of Qing Dynasty in Tibet and Panchen. In the exhibition hall, there displayed all the priceless treasures such as gold seals and jade seals bestowed by royal families of Qing Dynasty to Panchens of all generations, all gifts bestowed by the emperors and the great gifts given by the national government to Panchens of all generations.
What is Strong Buddha? Strong Buddha is the Future Buddha, also the Maitreya Buddha. According to the explanation in Buddhism, 5 billion years after the death of Sakyamuni, Maitreya Buddha carried on the task to propagate Dharma. What we see is the biggest copper Buddha statue-Strong Buddha, also the renowned Maitreya Buddha every body knows. The kasaya worn by this biggest cooper Buddha statue is also the largest in the world.
The Buddha Pavilion located on the mountainside of Nyima mountain to the north side of Tashilhunpo Monastery is the highest architecture in Shigatse city with height of 32 meters and length of 42 meters at the bottom. According to the convention, the huge portrait of Buddha of infinite light is displayed in May 14th, the huge portrait of Sakyamuni Buddha is displayed in May 15th, and the huge portrait of the Maitreya, the future Buddha is displayed in May 16th. The square area of the embroidered Buddha portraits is up to 900 square meters, and hung up at the Buddha Pavilion, it looks very spectacular as if all the urban area of the whole Shigatse and Nyang Qu plain can look at the facial appearance of Buddha with reverence.
Except for the above famous halls, every display and representation in Tashilhunpo Monastery has its historical stories which represent the artistic level of Chinese Tibetan Buddhism. Every hall is worth visiting and savoring.
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