GAMI Temple

GAMI Temple

Gami temple is a famous Bon temple in the early Yongzhong period of andosongpan grassland. It is also one of the earliest Bon temples in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province.

Gami temple is called "gengqiadeqin gamilin" in Tibetan, which means "GAMI Temple of Buddhism". "Gami" in Chinese means a peaceful and joyful place, "Lin" refers to the temple.

It is located at the foot of xiaoxitiansheng mountain, 30 kilometers north of Songpan County, namely zhangwaxing Crystal Township. Xiaoxitiansheng mountain is located in gonggangling mountains at the source of Minjiang River. It is famous for its unique scenery.

Under the painstaking management of Gami temple in the past dynasties, up to the present age, Gami temple has owned five ZHACANG (debazacang, langyizhacang, jiangcangzhacang, renpuzhacang and jiadingzhacang), one nunnery temple and hundreds of monks and nuns. There are two sutras halls, hundreds of monasteries and several pagodas. Gami temple has a long history, grand temples and complete colleges. It is respected as the headquarters of Yongzhong Bon Eastern Tibetan area by the Bon believers, and occupies an important position in the whole history of the development of Bon.

Before Bon was introduced into Anduo ABA area, the local Tibetan people believed in primitive witchcraft. The introduction and prosperity of bon in Aba area has a long and complex history. "Around the 2nd century AD, Bon religion spread to Kang and Jiarong areas along the Yarlung Zangbo River, and spread to Anduo areas from Qinghai and Gansu, and took root rapidly. After several centuries of operation, it has gradually become the headquarters and revival base of Bon religion in the eastern Tibetan area. "

Gami temple was founded in 1355. Its founder was Ren Zhen Jian Zan, a traveling monk of Wei Zang qiongbo, who was the ancestor of the reincarnation system of Gami Cang living Buddha. The mother temple of Gami temple is yongzhonglin, a famous Bon temple in Tibet.

According to the records of xiadougaqia (records of xiadoushengshan), a Tibetan Book of Bon religion, "in 1355 ad, renqingjianzan Lama passed by here. He saw that the terrain was open, with Minjiang River in the west, gentle slope in the south, rich pasture, and back against Zhangla mountain. In the dense forest around the holy mountain, there were many amazing grottos and monasteries and holy springs where many famous Bon monks lived, On the edge of a cliff, on a giant tree, etc. In particular, on the rocks above and below yongzhongpo in front of the holy mountain, there are different sizes and shapes. There are the same Bon emblem "Yi" (Yongzhong symbol) and the Tibetan letter "a". The master exclaimed, "there is no other place in the fairyland like this, and the great cause of" three treasures "will be greatly promoted here." so he happily built a temple here and named it Gami temple.

Gami is a Tibetan language, "Gami" means joy, and "Mi" means quiet place. It is also known as Xiaoxitian, so it is called "Xiaoxitian GAMI Temple". It is said that in the process of building the temple, many strange natural phenomena appeared, such as long day and short night; the monks and common people who built the temple did not feel tired; a beautiful music often came slowly; on auspicious days, the bright rainbow was in the shape of "卍", hanging on the hillside of the temple, which was quite interesting. The local people call xiaoxitianshengshan "Yongzhong benzinizhenpoxiong summer beans". "Xiong", a word of location, means north, which means the holy mountain is in the north of the ancient city of Songpan. "Summer beans" refers to bird graves. Xiongxiadou means the graveyard of northern birds. Since the Bon master of the Yuan Dynasty descended to pachinbo to open the holy mountain, birds in all directions will fly to the holy mountain of Xiaoxitian to return home in their twilight years. It is also said that every 12 year cycle, when the axis of the world turns to the year of the rooster, the gods of the whole snow area, the 60 gods of Bon religion, the king of birds and all the bodhisattvas and gods from all over the world gather here. In this year, worshiping the holy mountain will increase the charity merit by 12 times and wash away the sin created in the secular samsara.

For hundreds of years, GAMI Temple witnessed the rise and fall of Bon religion through historical ups and downs. At the end of the 8th century, the Buddhist master Bai Zana came to ABA to preach, and the influence of Bon began to be affected.

In the middle of the 13th century, the Sakya sect was introduced to ABA, and in the end of the 14th century, the juennao sect was introduced. The introduction of various schools of Tibetan Buddhism has greatly affected the Bon religion, especially the introduction of Gelug Sect in the 15th century. In addition to a series of measures to ban Bon religion issued by Emperor Qianlong, the Bon religion in Aba area was hit unprecedentedly, and the Gami temple was destroyed for a time. Although Bon religion has suffered heavy losses in many aspects, there are still quite a number of believers and temples in many areas of ABA. Especially in Songpan, there are 13 Bon temples that have been reopened since the reform and opening up.

In the 1940s, according to the wishes of religious believers in Songpan Zhangla area, five small temples, namely LINPO temple, Shanba temple, Langyi temple, deba temple and Yuanba temple, were gathered together to create a main temple shared by five temples at the foot of holy mountain, namely GAMI Temple today. All the important religious activities throughout the year were held in GAMI Temple together by the five temples. After the discussion of temple representatives and tribal leaders, Gami temple, which was originally built between Yongzhong cliff and the main peak of holy mountain, was moved to the top of the temple site we see today, namely "debazacang". In the center of the square below is the xiaoxitiangami temple, which is shared by the five temples. The other temples have their own characteristics of langyizhacang (Duihe Temple), jiangcangzhacang (Shanba Temple), renpuzhacang (LINPO Temple) and jiadingzhacang (Yuanba Temple). It is stipulated that starting from renpuzhacang, they take turns to preside over the annual legal activities for one year.

In the 1950s, there were more than 1000 monks in xiaoxitiangami temple, including four living Buddhas. Xiaoxitiangami temple is one of the five temples in Songpan with the largest scale, the greatest influence and the largest number of monks. After the 1960s, the temple was destroyed. Overnight, the attic of the Sutra hall was destroyed, and the precious and classic relics were lost. At the end of 1970s, xiaoxitiangami temple was first opened by Songpan County People's government and allowed to carry out legal activities. After the reopening of Gami temple, a new Sutra hall was built. The monks and common people in Zhangla area held activities here. Later, with the donation of monks from all over the world, other ZHACANG opened and repaired the Sutra hall one after another.

Address: 301 provincial road, Songpan County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province

Longitude: 103.68266675729

Latitude: 32.896937489455

Tour time: 1-2 hours

Ticket information: Free

Opening hours: all day

Chinese PinYin : Ga Mi Si