Jokhang Temple
The Jokhang, (Chinese: 大昭寺), also called the Qokang,Jokang, Jokhang Temple, Jokhang Monastery or Tsuklakang (gTsug lag khang) , is the first Buddhist temple in Tibet, located on Barkhor Square in Lhasa. It was built during the reign of king Songsten Gampo (605?-650 CE) to celebrate his marriage with Chinese Tang Dynasty princess Wencheng, who was said to have introduced Buddhism to Tibet. The temple was called the Tsulag Khang or ‘House of Wisdom’ but it is now known as the Jokhang which means the ‘House of the Buddha’.
For most Tibetans it is the most sacred and important temple in Tibet. It is in some regards pansectarian, but is presently controlled by the Gelug school.
Along with the Potala Palace, it is probably the most popular tourist attraction in Lhasa. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace” and a spiritual centre of Lhasa.
Potala Palace
The Potala Palace (simplified Chinese: 布达拉宫; traditional Chinese: 布達拉宮) is located in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. It was named after Mount Potala, the abode of Chenresig or Avalokitesvara. The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India after an invasion and failed uprising in 1959. Today the Potala Palace has been converted into a museum by the Chinese.
The building measures 400 metres east-west and 350 metres north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 m. thick, and 5 m. (more than 16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings — containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues — soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the “Red Hill”, rising more than 300 m (about 1,000 ft) in total above the valley floor. Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the “Three Protectors of Tibet.” Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (bla-ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjushri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Chenresig or Avalokiteshvara.
Drepung Monastery
Drepung Monastery (literally “Rice Heap” monastery), located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the “great three” Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet.
The other two are Ganden and Sera. Drepung is the largest of all Tibetan monasteries, and indeed at its peak was the largest monastery of any religion in the world. It was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Chojey, a direct disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelukpa school. It is located on the Gambo Utse mountain, 5 kilometers from the western suburb of Lhasa.
Freddie Spencer Chapman reported, after his 1936-37 trip to Tibet, that Drepung was at that time the largest monastery in the world, and housed 7,700 monks, “but sometimes as many as 10,000 monks.”
Drepung was known for the high standards of its academic study, and was called the Nalanda of Tibet, a reference to the great Buddhist monastic university of India.
Sera Temple
Sera Monastery is one of the ‘great three’ Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of the name ‘Sera’ is not certain, but it may derive from the fact that the original site was surrounded by ‘Wild Roses’ . The original Sera monastery was in Lhasa, Tibet, about 5 km north of the Jokang in Lhasa.
Sera was founded in 1419, by Jamchen Chojey (Sakya Yeshe), a disciple of Tsong Khapa.
Norbulingka Park
Norbulingka (literally: “The Jewelled Park”) is a palace and surrounding park in Lhasa, Tibet which served as the traditional summer residence of the successive Dalai Lamas from the 1780s up until the PRC takeover in the late 1950s.
The park was built by the Seventh Dalai Lama beginning in 1755, and became the summer residence during the reign of the Eighth Dalai Lama.
The earliest building is the Gesang Pozhang Palace built by Kelzang Gyatso. The ‘New Palace’ was begun in 1954 by the present Dalai Lama and completed in 1956. It contains chapels, gardens, fountains and pools. To the west the Kalsang Potang built by Seventh Dalai Lama is “a beautiful example of Yellow Hat architecture. Its fully restored throne room is also of interest.”
The gardens are a favourite picnic spot and provides a beautiful venue for theatre, dancing and festivals, particularly the Sho Dun or ‘Yoghurt Festival’, at the beginning of August, with families camping in the grounds for days surrounded by colourful makeshift windbreaks of rugs and scarves and enjoying the height of summer weather.
The palace is located three kilometers west of the Potala Palace which was the winter palace. Additional buildings were added to the park during the first half of the 20th century. In 2001, UNESCO inscribed Norbulingka on its World Heritage Site as part of the “Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace”.
A street of Lhassa
Lhasa, (Chinese: 拉萨) sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People’s Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel.
Traditionally, the city is the seat of the Dalai Lama and the capital of Tibet. It is the location of the Potala and Norbulingka palaces (both are included in a World Heritage Site), and in Tibetan Buddhism is regarded as the holiest centre in Tibet. The city is home to 257,400 people as of the 2004 census estimate.
Lhasa literally means “place of the gods”, although ancient Tibetan documents and inscriptions demonstrate that the place was called Rasa, which means “goat’s place”, until the early 7th century.
Brahmaputra River
The Brahmaputra, also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia.
From its origin in southwestern Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River, it flows across southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges and into Arunachal Pradesh where it is known as Dihang. It flows southwest through the Assam Valley as Brahmaputra and south through Bangladesh as the Jamuna. There it merges with the Ganges to form a vast delta. About 1,800 miles (2,900 km) long, the river is an important source for irrigation and transportation. Its upper course was long unknown, and its identity with the Yarlung Tsangpo was only established by exploration in 1884-86. This river is often called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra river. In Bangladesh the river merges with the Ganges and splits into two: the Hugli and Padma River. When it merges with the Ganges it forms the world’s largest delta, the Sunderbans. The Sunderbans is known for tigers and mangroves. While most Indian and Bangladeshi rivers bear female names, this river has a rare male name, as it means “son of Brahma” in Sanskrit (putra means “son”).
The Brahmaputra is navigable for most of its length. The lower reaches are sacred to Hindus. The river is prone to catastrophic flooding in spring when the Himalayan snows melt. It is also one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a tidal bore.
Samye Monastery
The Samye Monastery or Samye Gompa is the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet, constructed in approximately 775 AD under the patronage of King Trisong Detsen of Tibet who sought to revitalize Buddhism, which had declined since its introduction by King Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. The monastery is located in Dranang, Shannan Prefecture.
amye Monastery is laid out on the shape of a giant mandala, with the main temple representing the legendary Mount Meru in the centre. Other buildings stand at the corners and cardinal points of the main temple, representing continents and other features of tantric Buddhist cosmology.
The main temple is full of Tibetan religious art in both mural and statue form, as well as some important relics. Many Tibetan Buddhists come on pilgrimage to Samye, some taking weeks to make the journey.
Tombs of Tibetan Kings
Located at chong Gye, the tumuli of the Tibetan kings is 30 km from Tsedang. Buried here the kings, the ministers and the royal concubines from the 29th Tuboking, to the last. It is also the only tumuli group in Tibet. From all of the tombs, the most remarkable one is King Songtsan Gampo’s.
According to historical records there are five underground chambers containing statues of Songtsan Gampo, Shakyamuni and Padmasambava with great quantities of gold, silver, pears and agates as funeral objects. The coffin itself is said to have been laid in the central chamber and to its left side it is said to a suit of amour worn by Songtsan Gampo on expedition; to its right side to have laid knights and battle horses made of solid gold as the retinue of Songtsan Gampo after his demise. Buried at the head of the coffin is a coral statue of Lord Loyak Gyalo, whose function is supposed to give light to the dead king and at the foot of it is a cache of pears weighing 35 kilograms, wrapped in silk, as Songtsan Gampo’s share of wealth.
Thirty third King Songtsan Gampo, moved his capital to Lhasa, then unified the whole Tibet. In order to cherish the memory of their hometown and the relatives, also ancestor Kings from the 33 on wards were buried back to Chonggye. This is main reason why the tumuli is as big as3.85 million square meters.
