Yarchen Gar (, 亚青寺), officially known as "Yaqên Orgyän Temple" (), is a
Tibetan Buddhist
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, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...
monastery of 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. ...
school, with an educational institute and residential community in western
Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The majority of its Tibetan and Chinese residents are nuns, leading to it being called the "City of Nuns".
By the end of 2019, more than half of their residences had been demolished by Chinese authorities.
Location and history
Yarchen Gar lies 4000m above sea level in an isolated valley of
Pelyul County, west of
Chengdu
Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...
in the
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, often shortened to Ganzi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the western arm of Sichuan province, China bordering Yunnan to the south, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the west, and Gansu to the north ...
, known as
Kham
Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...
. At its height, its
sangha
Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...
of an estimated 10,000 nuns, monks and lay practitioners
[ was considered the largest concentration of monastics in the world.
The monastery is dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist culture after 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 ...
.[ The nuns at Yarchen Gar are also known for their practice of ]Tummo
In Tibetan Buddhism, ''tummo'' (; ) is the fierce goddess of heat and passion. Tummo is found in the Mahasiddha Krishnacarya and the '' Hevajra Tantra'' texts.
Tummo is also a tantric practice for inner heat, developed around the concept of ...
in the winter, in individual retreat cabins on the hillsides.[
]
Demolitions and re-education
Owing to the expanding influence of Tibetan Buddhism, the monks and nuns of Yarchen Gar are seen as a threat to Chinese plans to "sinicinize religions".[ In August 2017,][ a further 2000 residences were torn down and a similar number of nuns and monks evicted by Chinese authorities.
The monastery has periodically been closed to foreigners, and was again closed in April 2019. In the following month of May, forced removals of 7,000 residents began,][ and in July at least 3,000 nuns' residences were demolished.][ By August 2019, a large swathe of the nun's area had been cleared, likely to pave the way for tourist infrastructure according to ]Free Tibet
Free Tibet (FT) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in 1987 and based in London, England. According to their mission statement, Free Tibet advocates for "a free Tibet in which Tibetans are able to determine their own futur ...
.
The evicted nuns and monks were then detained in political re-education centers[ About seventy nuns and monks were confined in ]Jomda County
Jomda County (; zh, s=江达县) is a county of the Chamdo Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China.
Administrative divisions
Jomda is divided in 2 towns and 11 townships.
Transport
* China National Highway 317
See also
*Bangg ...
and forced to undergo "patriotic re-education", during which nuns were beaten[ and not allowed to wear their robes.]Larung Gar
Larung Gar (, , ''luoruoxiang'') in the Larung Valley is a community in Sêrtar County of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in Sichuan, China, known as Amdo. Larung Gar is the local name for the community of mostly Tibetan and Han Chinese s ...
. Many of the evicted monks and nuns from Larung Gar subsequently relocated to Yarchen Gar.[
In 2017, China's demolitions and evictions were condemned by six ]United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
human rights experts in an unusual collaboration. The U.S. Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
expressed concern over the ongoing destruction at Yarchen Gar and Larung Gar in 2018.
References
External links
Official website
{{coord, 30.9425, N, 99.6074, E, type:landmark, display=title
Buddhist monasteries in Tibet
Nyingma monasteries and temples