Drepung Temple

Drepung temple is not only the largest and most important temple of Gelug Sect in Tibetan Buddhism, but also the largest temple in the world. The whole temple is very large in scale, with rows of white buildings all over the hillside. From afar, it looks like a huge pile of rice, so it is called "drench clam".

There are many buildings in Drepung temple, the famous ones are "gandanpozhang" and "tsoqin hall", namely the four "ZHACANG" and the Kang village. It is also worth mentioning that in its heyday, the "largest kitchen in Tibet" next to the tsoqin hall once served as a cook and tea maker for more than 10000 monks.

When you come to Drepung temple, the most important thing you can't miss is the large-scale Sutra debate ceremony every afternoon. Generally speaking, the monks are divided into two groups, one sitting on the ground, the other standing opposite, debating the scriptures with exaggerated movements. The scene is very interesting. There is also a kind of Li Zong debate, in which many lamas debate one person.

Every year, during the sheaton Festival, Drepung temple holds the largest Buddhist ceremony in Tibet. A giant Buddha thangka is displayed on the hillside, attracting a large number of believers and tourists to pray for blessings. The scene is very spectacular.

Drepung Temple

Drepung temple is one of the six monasteries of Huangjiao. Its original name is auspicious and eternal ten square Zunsheng Prefecture. It means "duimi Temple" or "Jimi Temple" in Tibetan, and it means "auspicious and eternal ten square Zunsheng Prefecture" in Tibetan. It is located in Aoli, on the south slope of genpeiwuzi mountain, about 10 kilometers away from the western suburb of Lhasa. It was founded in 1416 by Jiangyang Quji zaxibandan, a disciple of zongkaba, the founder of yellow religion. Before liberation, the temple had more than 10000 monks, making it the largest temple in Tibetan Buddhism. With 141 manors and more than 540 pastures, it is the largest temple of Tibetan Buddhism.

Drepung temple is a Gelug Temple of Tibetan Buddhism in China. Together with Gandan temple and sera temple, they are called Lhasa's three major temples. It is located at the foot of gengpiwuzi mountain in the western suburb of Lhasa. The temple is large-scale, with rows of white buildings on the hillside. From afar, it looks like a huge pile of rice, so it's named Drepung. Drepung, which means "Mi Ju" in Tibetan, symbolizes prosperity. In Tibetan, Drepung means "Jixiang Jimi Shifang zunshengzhou". It is the highest temple in Gelug Sect.

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Overall layout

Drepung temple is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a gentle slope in the south, covered by trees and shrubs. It faces the Lhasa River and the open valley of Pingchuan. According to the mountain trend, the whole temple gradually builds Buddhist scripture hall and ZHACANG monk's house. The buildings stand in a large scale. The main buildings are tsoqin hall, gandanpozhang, sidazacang, Kangcun village and sangshe. Each building unit is connected with each other and has its own system. The main hall and the main Sutra hall are covered with gold roofs and decorated with Falun and baochuang. The colorful decoration and the towering hall buildings complement each other, cleverly forming a strange, solemn and magnificent scene of Tibetan Buddhist temples. The interior of the temple is basically divided into three levels, namely, the ground level of the temple, the ground level of the Sutra hall and the ground level of the Buddha Hall, forming a gradually rising pattern from the gate to the Buddha Hall.

building structure

The structure of Drepung temple is tight, the temples are connected, and the buildings are stacked. Each building unit is basically divided into three levels, namely, the courtyard, the Sutra hall and the Buddha Hall, forming a pattern of rising from the gate to the Buddha Hall, emphasizing and highlighting the noble status of the Buddha hall. Among them, the large-scale and majestic tsoqin hall is well arranged; Deyang Zha Cang, which does not stick to one pattern, is thick and simple; amabaza Cang, which has a tight layout, is towering and strict; Gandan pozhang, which is rich and beautiful, is the representative of large-scale buildings in Tibet. In addition, Buddhist themes such as Jinding, Falun, baochuang and Babao are used to decorate the outside of the building, which enhances the solemn atmosphere of Buddhism and makes the whole building more magnificent. In 1464, Drepung Temple established a monastery to teach Buddhist classics. There are four monasteries (ZHACANG) and 29 Kang villages in the temple. Drepung temple is mainly composed of the tsoqin hall, the four ZHACANG (i.e. rosselinzhacang, Deyang ZHACANG, abazhacang, guomangzhacang) and gandanpozhang.

Main buildings

There are many halls in Drepung temple. The most famous one is "Qiangba Tongzhen" in religious sense, and the most important one is "Gandan pozhang" in political sense. "Qiangba Tongzhen" (Maitreya jiandejie) hall is located on the northwest side of the third floor of the tsoqin hall. It is small in scale, but it is famous for the eight year old statue of Maitreya. There was an endless stream of worshippers. On the door of the hall, there is also a horizontal plaque in Chinese, which reads: "Mu longyuanshan". On the plaque, there is an oval seal seal, which reads "mengqiu seal of the reign of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty in the year of Bingwu"; later, there are two seals, one with three characters of "Tiemu" and the other with four characters of "Qishan". In the hall, white conch, the treasure of the temple, is also provided. When zongkaba ordered Jiangyang qujie Zhaxi bandan to build Drepung temple, he would hand over the white conch excavated by zongkaba himself before the construction of Gandan temple to Zhaxi bandan and wish the temple a success. The conch has been kept in Maitreya hall.

There are six main Scripture halls in the temple: 1. Gandanpozhang hall; 2. Cuoqin hall; 3. Mizong hall; 4. Luosailin hall; 5. Guomang hall; 6. Deyang hall. The main Buddha statues include: Maitreya Buddha, Vajrayana Buddha, immovable Buddha, golden writing ganzhur, fighting Buddha mang with a long history, unparalleled authentic products and countless gold-plated Buddha statues, Thangka, Buddhist scriptures and other precious cultural relics. In addition, among the four major monasteries in the temple, there are three Xianzong monasteries and one Mizong monasteries. The three Xianzong monasteries hold their own opinions on the basis of the classics written by the three masters and disciples of zongkaba. Luolin monastery uses the Sutras of suoza of Panchen Lama, Guo mang majors in the classics of Gongqin descending to central xieba, and Deyang practices them according to the classics of the fifth Dalai Lama.

Tsoqin Hall

The main hall of tsoqin ("tsoqin" means Dafa Hall) is the main building of Drepung temple. Cuoqin hall is located in the center of Drepung temple, covering an area of nearly 4500 square meters. In front of the hall, there is a Shipu square, covering an area of 200 square meters. When you climb up the 17 broad stone steps, you can see the corridor with 8 columns. The hall has 221 rooms and 183 columns, covering an area of about 1800 square meters. A high open skylight with an area of more than 100 square meters rises from its center. The canon hall is decorated with carved beams and painted buildings. The pillars are suspended buildings. The curtain and curtain are interwoven and colorful. In addition, the gold-plated bronze statues and oil lamps behind the hall make it very magnificent. The statues of Buddha worshipped in the hall are exquisite and vivid, especially the Guangshu Bodhisattva and the great white umbrella Mother Buddha in the center. They are tall and exquisite, and the backlight, surrounding ornaments and carving animals of the statues are vivid. They are rare and exquisite works of art.

At the back of the hall is "Dui song La Kang" (the third Buddha Hall), with three rooms and three rooms, up to two floors. There is a forward high open skylight on the top of the front door, which improves the indoor lighting. Each of the three Buddhas and his two disciples form a group and are placed in a pagoda shaped niche. In the center are Sakyamuni Buddha and his two disciples, and the niches are three bronze pagodas. This kind of niche decoration is rarely seen in other places. On both sides of the temple, there are eight disciples who follow the Buddha. They are elegant, graceful and charming. On both sides of the door of the Buddha Hall are the King Kong and the horse head King Ming. Duisong LAKANG is one of the earliest LAKANG in Drepung temple. It was built in the period of Jiangqing qujie. The existing buildings and statues in it have a strong early color. There is an ambulatory on the back and side of Lacan. The precious early murals are preserved in the northern part of the ambulatory. There is also a plaque (3 meters long, 1.2 meters wide and 4 cm thick) written by the emperor of Tongzhi year at the exit of the ambulatory, and the central regular script is "losing sincerity to change".

On the left side of tuesong Lacan is "miwanglacan". Inside it is a tall 12-year-old seated statue of johanbaafo, with the body on the lower floor and the head on the second floor. The Buddha statue was invested by Bola Miwang, so it is called "Miwang Qiangba". The proportion of the Buddha statue is symmetrical, the depiction is delicate, and the image is kind and touching. On the right side of duisong Lacan is "lunbenglacan". There are two smaller white pagodas in the front, namely "Lunbu Buddha pagoda"; there are three silver pagodas in the rear: the third Da Zhengfeng (sonan Jiacuo) Pagoda in the center, with a height of 6.16 meters; the fourth Dalai (Yundan Jiacuo) Pagoda in the north, with a height of 5.57 meters, plus a 1-meter-high wooden corset xumizuo, with a height of 6.57 meters; and the Regent's Pagoda in the south, with a height of 4.6 meters. The pagodas are exquisitely and luxury made. They are all wrapped in silver skin and inlaid with jewels. Only the third and fourth Dalai Lama's pagodas cost 14800 taels of silver.

On the second floor of the main hall, there is only one "ganzhuerlakan", and the rest is the warehouse. There are many classics of Ganzhuer in laconne's collection, among which there are three original precious collections: one is the ideal version of Dazangjing sent by muzeng, the chieftain of Yunnan Province in the late Ming Dynasty; the other is the woodcut scriptures in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty; none of them is all the Ganzhuer scriptures transcribed by BA luosangtu in gold juice for Dalai Lama's birthday in 1675.

There is a small hall on the third floor of the main hall called "Qiangba Tongzhen Lacan". It is said that this is the figure of Qiangba Buddha when he was eight years old. It was made by King Zong Kaba. The statue is quite childish for a few days. He is the best of Buddha statues. There is a Faluo in front of the Buddha statue. It is said that it was given to zongkaba when he ordered jiangqingqu to build Drepung temple. The golden roof on the top of the Buddha Hall is special, which is square and pointed. On the door of the Buddha Hall, there is a Chinese plaque of "Mu longyuanshan". The plaque is engraved with an oval seal seal, the text is "the seal of mengqiu in the reign of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty", and the back is also engraved with two seals: one is "Wumu's" three characters; the other is "Qishan's seal" four characters. This plaque belongs to the then Minister in Tibet

Chinese PinYin : Zhe Bang Si