Dana Temple

Dana Temple

Dana temple is located in Nangqian County of Yushu. It is the most famous and only Gesar mountain temple in Tibetan area. It is also the only remaining yeerbagagju Temple of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibetan area. It is a provincial cultural relic protection unit.

Basic introduction

Dana temple, known as "Dana sengge Nanzong" in Tibetan, is translated into Chinese as lion Tianbao in Mar. Because it is located in a rock mountain, the shape of which is similar to that of Baer. It has a history of more than 800 years. It was founded by sangjiyeba yixizeba, a famous Tibetan Buddhist monk and founder of pamozhuba.

The relic of danasi pagoda, determined by the Institute of archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, belongs to the relics of Song Dynasty in 1115 ± 70 A.D., which is consistent with the period of Tusi state in Kangqu. There are still many mysteries in the remains of Gesar culture in Dana temple. It should be the responsibility of Gesar scholars to solve these mysteries, and we are looking forward to it.

Dana temple now belongs to the kajupai temple, commonly known as Baijiao.

Kaju sect is one of the most developed sects in Tibetan Buddhism, which is known as four sects and eight sects. Dana temple is the only yebagagu temple among the eight sects. The founder of yebagagu is sangjiyeba. He built four yebagagu temples in his life, and the other three have been buried in the dust of history. Today, there is only one yebagagu temple in the world, which has something to do with its location in the hinterland of the upper Lancang River. Although the altitude here is very high, the latitude is relatively low, so the ravines are vertical and horizontal, the rainfall is abundant, and the grassland is very luxuriant.

Historical evolution

Dana temple was built around the third and fourth centuries A.D., when it was a bon temple. Now the oldest building is a practice palace called gawulacan. It is said that it was as famous as yongbulakan, the first palace in Tibetan history.

Nangqian County in Qinghai Province is famous for its numerous mountains. In the south of Nangqian County, among the lofty mountains at the junction of Jiqu Township West, gayong Township East and Jinisi Township South, there is a mountain shaped like a horse's ear, called "Dana mountain". There is a thousand year old temple at the waist of the mountain. From a distance, it looks like hanging in the air, which is frightening. This is because it is connected with the ancient Tibetan hero King Gesar's name Dana temple is famous in Kangkang district.

Under the "Dana mountain" (meaning "ma'er mountain") is a sandy area. The sand grains are shining in the sun. The grass below is as thick as a wormwood, connected with the dense pines and Berlin. The temple is in the woods. In front of the temple are willows and bushes. The clear maiqu river flows slowly from the root of the mountain. The mountain here is extremely steep, but the scenery is really charming. It's a good place to cultivate one's mind and meditate in seclusion on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. In order to distinguish it from the Dana temple in gebenri, India, this temple is also called "northern Dana Temple".

Dana temple was originally a monastery of its own religion. Later, it was converted to the Yeba Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1171, samjieyeba isize, a disciple of Bama, built Yeba temple in Kamu (Changdu area), from which shibagagu sect developed. In the 15th year of song Chunxi (1188), yixize rebuilt Dana temple into yebagagu temple. From the time when Dana temple was converted, it has a history of more than 800 years. At the beginning, Dana temple was built on a large scale. There were 100 pillars in only one Sutra hall called "gajiama". During its heyday, Dana temple had more than 300 monks. It also had jurisdiction over gazhaxi temple in gayong township of Nangqian County, Yewen temple and saizuoqiang temple in Jiqu township.

Regional characteristics

In the Sutra Hall of Dana temple, there are statues of 9-meter-high hero King Gesar and his ministry, as well as swords, armor and clothing they used. Tens of thousands of early Tibetan scriptures and other extremely precious cultural relics are also displayed. In the cave of Dana mountain, not far from Nada temple, there is a pagoda of 30 generals of Zhongling state in the biography of King Gesar. The pagodas are of Gadan type (a kind of Tibetan pagoda).

tour scenery

During the cultural revolution, the ancient buildings and cultural relics of Dana temple were severely burned and destroyed, but some of them are still preserved, especially the pagodas of King Gesar and his thirty generals. They are well preserved. The shape of the pagodas is magnificent, and more than 30 kinds of pagodas are exquisitely polished in the Song Dynasty.

Such a well preserved group of early Tibetan style pagodas is not only unique in the Qinghai Tibet region, but also extremely rare in the whole country. This group of pagodas is the largest "group type pagoda" in the layout of Tibetan style pagodas in the Qinghai Tibet region. In terms of architectural form, it retains the style and architectural art of Tibetan style pagodas in the late Tang Dynasty. It not only inherits the basic specifications of Indian Buddhist pagodas, but also has a unique style Ancient Tibetan religious architecture art and Tibetan Buddhist architecture art. Every time after the rain, the fog is filled with the light of Buddha or rainbow, which seems to be within reach.

Dana temple is very influential in Tibetan areas. Its location is mount Tana, which has a special historical status and cultural value. It is a famous Buddhist holy land. Danagou and jinisai township have unique and beautiful scenery. It is known as "the second Jiuzhaigou" and is a tourist attraction.

Surrounding environment

Dana temple, 4300 meters above sea level, is located in the northwest and faces the southeast. The temple with a history of more than 800 years is just like sitting on a "Taishi chair". On a flat grass slope in the middle is an old temple. There are also Buddhist houses of different sizes on the left and right "armrests", and the right "armrest" is slightly higher than the left "armrest".

At the foot of the temple, the surging maiqu river flows from southwest to northeast; behind the back of the back, Mt. ma'er (Tibetan: Dana) rises into the clouds, which is very mysterious; on the right, there is a gully outside the armrest, with snow and water tinkling, driving the eight cascade water wheels in the gully. On the other side of the gully, there is a majestic mountain (slightly lower than the back), under Gesar The pagoda of the 30 generals is at the entrance of the cave at the top of the mountain. The white clouds float on the hillside like gossamer. The holy mountain across the river runs from north to south. A peak in the middle is on the left side of the temple. The self-evident image of the mountain is very eye-catching. See such a quiet, mysterious, primitive natural environment.

Down the Panpan Road under the temple, and then along the south of maiqu, you can walk through a suspension bridge not far to the south, and then you come to a good place - Xiangbi hot spring. From this point of view, Dana mountain is the best angle. Due to the overcast weather, Dana mountain appears and disappears in the clouds, which makes it very graceful. Around the hot spring, Dujuan flowers and other wild flowers compete for splendor, and the mountains and valleys are full of spring.

This hot spring comes from a small hole at the upper end that looks like an elephant's trunk, and then flows down five small ditches with finger width to five small round pools below. The water temperature is about 50 degrees C. the diameter of the small round pool is 70 cm long, about 80 cm deep. It's just right for people to sit in the pool and take a bath. It is said that bathing here with hot spring water can cure skin diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. Everyone who comes here will undress and wash away the dust. People with skin diseases and rheumatoid arthritis, no matter how far away, also come to bath treatment.

Cultural details

The reason why Dana temple is famous is closely related to the legend of the ancient Tibetan hero King Gesar. Some people even call it "lingguo Temple". Although the general academic circles think that Gesar is a legendary figure, people in Yushu believe that Gesar is a historical figure and that Gesar once lived in Dana temple. There are many relics of Gesar and his ministry in the temple. The lower right quarter of the original Yeba Sutra hall is the Gesar Sutra hall. There is a 9-meter-high Gesar statue in the middle of the east wall of the hall, which is slightly lower than the Gesar statue on both sides of gibbon and jacha.

In the front of the statue of Gesar, there are precious swords that are said to be Gesar and jacha; in the south, there are various belts of Princess Gesar's pearl hair, the most precious of which is the conch belt; on the wall, there are weapons, armor, clothes that are said to be Gesar's and his 30 members' generals, as well as the inland brocade hada that the ninth and tenth Living Buddhas of Karmapa dedicated to Gesar; on both sides of the lintel of the west wall, there are princess Gesar's pearl hair On the wall are the skins of tigers, leopards, bears and other wild animals that are said to have been used by Jia Cha to transport tea from the mainland.

In addition, in another small hall of Yeba scripture hall, there are also "papen" scriptures recited by Gesar. The Longbao mountain, west of Dana mountain, where the temple is located, has many stones on the top. On the top, there are burial towers which are said to be Gesar and his ministry. They are all in the form of Gadan pagodas, with various Tibetan characters cast on them. Unfortunately, due to the weathering and rain, the writing is difficult to recognize. In some towers, there are four kinds of clay statues of different sizes. The largest one is white, the second is light red, the third is dark red, and the last one is black. The clay statues are all printed with Sanskrit characters similar to the six character mantra.

Most of the Gesar relics in the temple were destroyed from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. Now, only 30 pieces of felt hat, shield, helmet, war armor fragments and Scripture pages of King Gesar, 30 white snails with big thumb on the belt of Princess Zhumao conch and a small number of relics of butanma and nang'e are left. In addition, it is said that Gesar once used three weapons, called "Chaoding nianmo Xiaozhou", each weighing about 25 kg.

Because Dana temple is as famous as Dana temple in India, people often think that paying homage to Nangqian Dana temple is like visiting the holy land of Buddhism in India. In addition, the temple has a long history, beautiful scenery, strange name and so on. It is very famous in Tibetan areas, and pilgrims come in droves to visit Dana temple as a pleasure.

On May 25, 2006, Dana temple was built as an ancient building of Yuan Dynasty

Chinese PinYin : Da Na Si