Tsozong Gongba Monastery (also romanized as Tsodzong or Tsomum) is a small

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

monastery in eastern

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 ...

. The monastery, founded in 1400, practices the

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

tradition. Tsozong Gongba is located on Tashi Island () in the middle of

Pagsum Lake Dragsum Tsho (, Pagsum Co ( zh, s=八松错, 巴松措 , t=八松錯 , p=Bāsōng Cuò), literally meaning “three rocks” in Tibetan,; The name is sometimes confused with Basum (''Basong Xiang'' / ''dba’ gsum'' ) in Tingri County, Shigatse, ...

in the

Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains The Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (officially spelt Nyainqêntanglha Mountains in Chinese) are a long mountain range, and subrange of the Transhimalaya System, located in Tibet and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Geography One source s ...

, part of

Gongbo'gyamda County Gongbo'gyamda County (; zh, s=工布江达县) is a county of Nyingchi (or Nyingtri) City in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, lying approximately east of Lhasa at its central point. Its main geographical feature is Basum Tso, a green lake abo ...

Nyingchi Prefecture Nyingchi (), also known as Linzhi ( zh, s=林芝, p=Linzhi) or Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District. Nyingchi is the location of Buch ...

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

. Tsozong Gongba means "castle in the lake" in

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

. The monastery has four buildings situated around a small yard. The construction of the Tsozong Gongba Monastery was chaired by the Nyin-gma-pa monk Sungye Lingpa and is now home of a few

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

s. The three statues (Chenresig, Guru Rimpoché and Sakya Thukpa, see below) were actually shot and burned by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

(PLA) during the

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 ...

, before being restored by the local

lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

Dudjom Rimpoche and his son Chuni Rimpoche (now a resident at Lamaling Monastery near Bayi town). A small kora around the monastery passes several hard-to-discern

holy Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

sites, including a

Sky burial Sky burial (, "bird-scattered") is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the mahābhūta, elements or to be eaten by Scavenger, scavenging animals, especially vultures, bears and j ...

site, a 'body-print' of

Gesar The Epic of King Gesar (), also spelled Kesar () or Geser (especially in Mongolian contexts), is an epic from Tibet and Central Asia. It originally developed between 200 or 300 BCE and about 600 CE. Folk balladeers continued to pass on the sto ...

Gallery

Image:TsozongB1-wiki.jpg, Tsozong Gongba Monastery main building. Image:TsozongB2-wiki.jpg, Tsozong Gongba Monastery auxiliary building with 3 'endless knots' above the door. Image:TsozongIsland-wiki.jpg, Tashi Island in the middle of the Basum Tso. Image:TsozongOm-wiki.jpg,

Om mani padme hum ' (, ) is the six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. It first appeared in the Mahayana ''Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra'', where it is also referr ...

-variation of the six syllable

mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

of Avalokiteshvara. is inscribed in

Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system, or '' abugida'', forming a part of the Brahmic scripts, and used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. Its exact origins ...

on this rock behind the main building. Image:TsozongAVL2-wiki.jpg, Avalokiteshvara (or Avalokiteśvara, in Tibetan - Chenresig) - statue in the main building. Image:TsozongRMP-wiki.jpg, Padmasambhava (or Guru Rimpoché) - statue in the main building. Image:TsozongBDH-wiki.jpg, Buddha Shakyamuni (Sakya Thukpa) - statue in the main building.

References

External links

* {{Buddhist monasteries in Tibet Buddhist temples in Tibet Buddhist monasteries in Tibet Buddhist temples in Nyingchi Nyingma monasteries and temples

Gallery

See also

References

External links