Samye

Samye

Sangye temple, also known as cunxiang temple and boundless temple, is located at the foot of Habu mountain on the North Bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Sangye Town, Zang County, Shannan Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.

Sangye temple was built in the 8th century during the Tubo Dynasty. It is the first monastery in Tibet where monks with shaved hair became monks. The architecture in the temple is arranged according to the Buddhist cosmology. The central Buddha Hall has three styles of Tibetan, Han and Indian, so Sangye temple is also known as Sanyang temple. There are more than 50 monks in Sangye temple.

In 1996, the Sangye temple was announced by the State Council of the people's Republic of China as one of the fourth batch of key cultural relics protection units in China. In 2007, Sangye temple was rated as a national AAAA tourist attraction.

Historical evolution

The full name of the Sangye temple is "bezamasangyeminjiulunjibaizulakang", which means "auspicious Hongyan will never change into a temple" in Tibetan.

At the end of the 8th century, chisongdezan, who was then Zanpu, believed in Buddhism. He invited two Indian Buddhist masters Jihu and lianhuasheng to Tibet to promote Buddhism, and decided to build a temple for them.

According to the records of Sangye temple, in 762 ad, Chisong Dezan personally laid the foundation for the temple, which took 12 years to build and was completed by the end of 775. It is said that when it was first built, Chisong Dezan was eager to know the scene after it was built, so lianhuasheng came up with the illusion of the temple from his palm. Chisong Dezan could not help but exclaim "Sangye" (meaning "unexpected" and "unimaginable"), and later took this exclamation as the name of the temple, so the temple was named as Sangye Temple because of the king's exclamation.

After the completion of Sangye temple, a grand opening ceremony was held. Chisong Dezan also invited monks from Tang Dynasty, India, Khotan and other places to live in the temple to spread the Scriptures, and declared that all the people in Tubo followed Buddhism. Therefore, Sangye temple is the first regular temple in Tibet with three treasures of Buddhism, Dharma and monk, and has a high status in the Tibetan Buddhist circle.

In the middle of the 9th century, after langdama destroyed the Dharma, the spread of Buddhism was forbidden in Tubo, and Sangye temple was also banned. After its reopening in the late 10th century, it became the central temple of the Ningma sect. During the reign of Sakya sect, the temple was repaired and monks were sent to live in it. Since then, the situation of Ningma and Sakya coexisting in one temple has been formed.

After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the party and the people's government attached great importance to the protection of the ancient buildings and cultural relics of Sangye temple, and allocated special funds for maintenance. In 1962, the Preparatory Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region listed it as a key cultural relic protection unit in the region. On November 20, 1996, it was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in China. In 2005, Sangye temple was rated as a national AAAA tourist attraction.

Temple layout

General layout

The whole temple of Sangye Temple faces south from the north. The plan of the temple is oval, which is arranged according to the world structure in Buddhist scriptures. It is like a long courtyard, covering an area of about 25000 square meters. Samye temple was built on the basis of ordanda Bodhi temple built by the ancient Indian Baltic Dynasty in mogatuo. Although it was rebuilt many times due to fire, the architectural pattern has always maintained the original style.

The layout of the whole temple is designed according to the structural layout of the "great world" in the Buddhist scriptures, and is built according to the mantra of the tantric School: Wuzi hall represents Xumi mountain, the center of the world; the four halls around the hall represent the four continents and eight small continents in the four Aral seas; the sun and moon halls represent the sun and moon halls in the universe; the temple wall represents Tiewei mountain, the periphery of the world; the main hall is the main hall Red, white, green and black towers were built around to subdue all evil spirits and prevent natural and man-made disasters. A gate is set on each side of the wall, and the east gate is the main gate.

Golden Hall

The main body of Sangye temple is the Golden Hall (wuzirensonglakang). Sanna temple is a large-scale building with numerous halls and towers. The main body of the building is the Golden Hall (wuzirensonglakang), which forms a huge and complete building complex with a total area of about 25000 square meters. The layout of the whole temple is designed according to the structure of the "world" in the Buddhist imagination. It is generally believed that it is based on the ordanda Bodhi Temple (flying Temple) in ancient India's mogatuo. Some people think that the architectural form of the Samye temple is similar to the mantra of the tantric Buddhism, and it is built after the mantra of the Tantric Buddhism. Wuzi hall, located in the center of the temple, symbolizes Xumi mountain in the center of the universe; Wuzi hall has one hall in each side, symbolizing four major continents; there are two small halls near each hall, symbolizing eight continents; two small halls are built on both sides of the main hall, symbolizing the sun and the moon; four red, green, black and self towers are built at the four corners of the main hall to subdue all evil spirits and prevent natural and man-made disasters Besides, there are 108 small pagodas surrounded by Vajra pestles, each with a relic under it, symbolizing the indestructibility of Buddhism. In addition, there are some other buildings, such as Dharma protection temple, monk's house, sutra room, warehouse, etc. All the buildings are surrounded by an oval wall, which symbolizes Tiewei mountain. A gate is opened on each side, and the east gate is the main gate.

Central main hall

The central main hall of Sangye temple is Wuzi hall, namely zulalian: "its foundation is high, thick and large, and its raw materials are in good condition, just like a snail bowl full of agate." Wuzi hall is three stories high, with a building area of more than 6000 square meters. The space of each floor of the hall is very high, generally between 5.5-6 meters, and the second and third floors have spacious balconies in front of the hall, which are lower than the main hall. Even if the main hall gets sufficient light, the appearance is more magnificent and generous. Looking from afar, the hall looks like a five storey building, but actually it has only three floors, each of which belongs to different architectural styles. According to the relevant literature, the architecture of "Wuzi" Hall absorbed the structural style of Tibet, mainland China and India.

The main hall and corridor are full of murals of various themes. In addition to some traditional religious paintings that you can see in other temples, there is a famous "Tibetan history" mural on the middle corridor of the wall in the Wuzi Hall of Sangye temple. The mural records that from the ancient legend of the combination of the Luocha woman and the monkey, the Tibetan began to breed, until zongkaba founded the Gelug Sect, and ended in the 9th Dalai Lama. The mural is 92 meters long and magnificent. It is known as the "historical record of painting" in Tibet. In addition, there are "historical records of Sangye Temple" on the first and second floors of Wuzi hall, and exquisite murals such as "biography of lianhuasheng" on the south side of the second floor.

The ground floor adopts Tibetan architecture, the middle floor adopts Han architecture, and the upper floor adopts Indian architecture. Each layer of murals and statues are also painted and sculpted in accordance with different French styles. This architectural style of Tibetan, Han and Indian walls is very rare in the history of architecture, so some people call Sangye Temple "Sanyang Temple" accordingly. In addition, in front of the east gate of Wuzi hall, there is a nine storey gegukang, which means exhibition hall. Every year, on January 5 and May 16 of the Tibetan calendar, a huge embroidered statue of Sakyamuni is hung on the high wall of gegukang to make people salute, which is called Buddha exhibition. During the "Cultural Revolution", the upper six layers were demolished, and now only three layers remain.

Wuce Hall

Wuce Hall (wuzirensonglakang), also known as duojide hall, is the highest and most spectacular building in the temple, with a total area of 8900 square meters. The hall faces east from the West. It seems to have five floors in appearance, but there are only three inside. The height of each floor is between 5.5 meters and 6 meters. The bottom floor of the hall is Tibetan architecture, the middle floor is Han architecture, and the upper floor is Indian style. It is designed and constructed by craftsmen from three places. Therefore, some people call the temple "Sanyang Temple".

Outside the hall, there is an ambulatory with three gates in the East, South and North. On the top of the East Gate building is decorated with a classic building, and a huge "fresh cloth" is hung under the eaves. The walls around the door are decorated with reliefs symbolizing auspiciousness and wealth, called "zaxitajie". The gatehouse is connected with the left and right cloisters, under which there are double columns, and the walls of the corridor are painted with exquisite murals.

The ground floor of the hall is divided into two parts, the former is the Sutra hall, and the latter is the Buddha Hall. The hall is seven rooms wide and four rooms deep. On both sides of the hall are the statues of the "pre life seven" pioneers of Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddha Hall is surrounded by murals of thousands of Buddhas. A statue of Sakyamuni, 3.9 meters high, is worshipped in the hall. It is said that it existed at the beginning of the construction of the temple. There are five Bodhisattvas and one Dharma protector on each side of the Buddha statue, which are newly built.

In the middle level, there are Buddhist hall and Dalai Lama's palace, which are the Sutra hall style buildings of the Han nationality. There is a famous "Tibetan history" mural on the corridor, which records the history from the ancient legend of the combination of the Luocha woman and the monkey to the rule of the ninth Dalai Lama. Inside the hall are the statues of lotus peanuts, Sakyamuni and Buddha of limitless light.

In the upper hall, there are two rows of columns in the shape of Hui. In the center, there are eight Bodhisattvas and many statues of joyful Buddhas. They are shaped according to the shape of Indians. The top of the hall is King Kong throne type, with three eaves in the middle and single eaves in the four corners, which is also Indian style. In addition, in front of the east gate of wuce hall, there is a nine story Buddhist exhibition hall. During the Tibetan sun Buddha Festival, a huge embroidered statue of Sakyamuni is hung on the high wall. However, during the cultural revolution, the upper six floors of the hall were demolished, so there are only three floors now.

On the south side of the east gate, there is a square columnar stele standing in the period of chisongdezan, which has a simple style and no decorative patterns. This is the famous "Sangye Xingfo stele". The inscriptions are in ancient Tibetan, and the contents are public

Chinese PinYin : Sang Ye Si