Tashi Lhunpo Monastery () is an historically and culturally important

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Shigatse Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê () or Rikaze ( zh, s=日喀则, p=Rìkāzé), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the histo ...

, the second-largest city in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. Founded in 1447 by the 1st Dalai Lama, it is the traditional monastic seat of the

Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high la ...

. The monastery was sacked in 1791, when the Gorkha Kingdom invaded Tibet and captured Shigatse. A combined Tibetan and Chinese army drove them back as far as the outskirts of

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

, when they were forced to agree to keep the peace in the future, pay tribute every five years, and return what they had looted from Tashi Lhunpo. The monastery is the traditional seat of successive

s, the second highest ranking

tulku A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is an individual recognized as the reincarnation of a previous spiritual master (lama), and expected to be reincarnated, in turn, after death. The tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibet ...

lineage in the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India) The Gelug (, also Geluk; 'virtuous' ...

tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The "Tashi" or Panchen Lama had temporal power over three small districts, though not over the town of Shigatse itself, which was administered by a ''dzongpön'' (prefect) appointed from Lhasa. The monastery is located on a hill in the center of Shigatse. Pilgrims circumambulate the monastery on the lingkhor (sacred path) outside the walls. The full name in Tibetan of the monastery means "all fortune and happiness gathered here" or "heap of glory". Captain Samuel Turner, a British officer with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

who visited the monastery in the late 18th century, described it in the following terms: Although two-thirds of the buildings were destroyed during the Chinese

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, they were mainly the residences for the 4,000 monks. In 1966 the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

led a crowd to break statues, burn scriptures, and open the

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

s containing the relics of the 5th to 9th Panchen Lamas, and throw them in the river. Some of those remains were saved by locals, and in 1985,

Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama Lobsang Trinley Lhündrub Chökyi Gyaltsen (born Gönbo Cêdän; 19 February 1938 – 28 January 1989) was the tenth Panchen Lama, officially the 10th Panchen Erdeni (), of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. According to Tibetan Buddhism, ...

, began the construction of a new

to house them and honour his predecessors. It was finally consecrated on 22 January 1989, just six days before he died aged fifty-one at Tashi Lhunpo. "It was as if he was saying now he could rest."

History

The monastery was founded in 1447 CE by Gedun Drub, the disciple of the famous Buddhist philosopher

Je Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ( Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་པ་, '','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the format ...

and later named the

First Dalai Lama The 1st Dalai Lama, Gedun Drupa (; 1391–1474) was a student of Je Tsongkhapa, and became his first Khenpo (Abbott) at Ganden Monastery. He also founded Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigaste. He was posthumously awarded the spiritual title of Dal ...

. The construction was financed by donations from local nobles. Later Lobsang Chökyi Gyalsten — the

Fourth Panchen Lama Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

and the first Panchen Lama to be recognized as such by the rulers of

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

— made major expansions to the monastery. Since then, all Panchen Lamas have resided at Tashi Lhunpo, and have managed to expand it gradually. The 11th Panchen Lama

Choekyi Gyalpo Chökyi Gyalpo, also referred to by his secular name Gyaincain Norbu or Gyaltsen Norbu (born 13 February 1990), is considered the 11th Panchen Lama by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He is also the vice president of the Buddhist Associatio ...

, recognized by the Chinese government through the

Golden Urn The Golden Urn is a method introduced by the Qing dynasty of China in 1793 for selecting Tibetan reincarnations by drawing lots or tally sticks from a golden urn. After the Sino-Nepalese War, the Qianlong Emperor promulgated the 29-Article Ord ...

, was enthroned under Chinese supervision at the monastery in November/December 1995. File:Tashilhunpo.JPG, A view of the monastery File:Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse.jpg, Another view of the monastery File:Tashilhunpo Thanka Wall.jpg, The

thangka A ''thangka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा) is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. Thangkas are traditionally kept unframed and rolled ...

wall overlooking the monastery File:Two novice monks. Tashilhunpo, 1993.jpg, Two novice monks. Tashi Lhunpo, 1993 File:Monks hurrying to services, Tashilhunpo.JPG, Monks hurrying to services, Tashi Lhunpo, 1993 File:BL Add.Or.3016, f. 2.png, Tashi Lhunpo circa 1857

Bronze Buddha statue

The tallest and largest bronze Jampa Buddha statue in the world is in Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Jampa Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism is the Maitreya Buddha in Chinese Buddhism, which in charge of the future. This Buddha statue is 26.2 meters high. Squatting on the 3.5-meter-high lotus seat, he overlooks the entire monastery. The Buddha statue is decorated with more than 1,400 precious ornaments such as pearls, diamonds and corals. According to records, the Buddha statue was cast by 110 craftsmen in four years.

Branch monasteries

One of its branch monasteries was the famous

Drongtse Monastery Drongtse Monastery ('Brong rtse; Pinyin: Zhongze) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery was formerly one of the most important Gelug monasteries in Tsang, Tibet. There was also a chorten there. Drongtse Monastery, is 19 km northwest of Gyantse and ...

, 14 km north of Tsechen.Dorje (1999), p. 261. In 1972, another monastery was built in

Bylakuppe Bylakuppe (བྷ་ཡ་ལ་ཀུཔེ།) is a region in Karnataka which is home to the Indian town Bylakuppe and several Tibetan settlements, established by Lugsum Samdupling (in 1961) and Dickyi Larsoe (in 1969). Bylakuppe is the l ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, by the Tibetan population in exile.

References

Citations

Sources

* Chapman, Spencer F. (1940). ''Lhasa: The Holy City''. Readers Union Ltd., London. * Das, Sarat Chandra. ''Lhasa and Central Tibet''. (1802). Reprint: Mehra Offset Press, Delhi (1988). * Das, Sarat Chandra. ''Lhasa and Central Tibet''. (1902). Edited by W. W. Rockhill. Reprint: Mehra Offset Press, Delhi (1988), pp. 40, 43 ff., 69, 114, 117, 149, 237; illustration opposite p. 50. * Dorje, Gyurme. (1999) ''Tibet handbook: with Bhutan'', 2nd Edition. Footprint Travel Guides. , . * Dowman, Keith. 1988. ''The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and New York. *

Richardson, Hugh E Hugh Edward Richardson (22 December 1905 – 3 December 2000) was an Indian Civil Service officer, British diplomat and Tibetologist. His academic work focused on the history of the Tibetan empire, and in particular on epigraphy. He was amo ...

. ''Tibet & its History''. Second Edition, Revised and Updated. (1984). Shambhala Publications, Boston Mass. . * Sun, Shuyun (2008). ''A Year in Tibet''. HarperCollins Publishers, London. .

External links

Website of the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery
in Bylakuppe

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery

Photos made in 2012 (text in French).
Grand Monastery of Tashi-Lhunpo 1902

Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection The Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection is an extensive map collection owned by the Perry–Castañeda Library at The University of Texas at Austin. Many of the maps in the collection have been scanned and are available online, and most ...

, University of Texas, Austin
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery UK Trust
a charity based in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, set up in 2003 to support the work of the monastery in exile {{Authority control 1447 establishments in Asia Buddhist temples in Tibet Gelug monasteries in Tibet Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Tibet Buildings and structures in Shigatse Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in India Buddhist temples in Karnataka Buildings and structures in Mysore district