Kadan Songzanlin Temple

The appearance of Gadan Songzanlin temple is very similar to the Potala Palace in Tibet, which is called "little potala palace".

Built in 1679, the temple is built close to the mountain and faces the lake. It is grand, solemn and mysterious. It is the first temple of Tibetan Buddhism in Yunnan. There are solid and thick walls and five gates in the temple. The main temple is a five storey Tibetan carving building. The main hall can hold 1600 people sitting and chanting sutras. There are also bronze statues of the fifth Dalai Lama and the seventh Dalai Lama in the hall. There are also many Buddhist statues and treasures of the past dynasties, such as the Beiye Sutra, the colorful gold juice fine painted Thangka, the gold lamp, and the handed down magic weapons. There are more than 700 monks in the temple. Every year, from December 26 to 29 of the Tibetan calendar, the Tibetan people's association holds the Gedong Festival, which is dominated by "Tiaoshen" (mask dance), with a mysterious and warm atmosphere.

Kadan Songzanlin Temple

Kadan Songzanlin temple is the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Yunnan Province. It is also one of the famous large temples in Kang district. It is also the center of yellow religion in Sichuan and Yunnan. It plays an important role in the whole Tibetan area and is known as the "little potala palace". The temple is built close to the mountain and looks like an ancient castle. It is a collection of Tibetan plastic arts and is also known as "Tibetan Art Museum".

The temple, also known as Guihua temple, is 5 kilometers away from Zhongdian county. It is an ancient town scale Castle group building. It was built in 1679 (the 11th Tibetan year of Tuyang) and completed in 1681 (the year of yintieji). The fifth Dalai Lama personally granted the name "Gadan Songzanlin".

Temple characteristics

The main hall is majestic and beautiful. The murals in the hall are bright in color and delicate in writing. They mainly describe historical relics and allusions and carry forward Buddhist doctrines. ZHACANG and Jikang main temples are built at the highest point and occupy the center of the whole temple. The temple faces south from the north. It is a five story building of Tibetan style. The upper part of the main hall is gilded with copper tiles, and the corner of the hall is decorated with flying eaves. It also has the architectural style of Han style temple. The lower part of the main hall has 108 pillars, representing the lucky number of Buddhism. The main hall can accommodate 1600 people. The left and right walls are the "ten thousand volume cabinet" for Sutra collection. In the front of the main hall, there is a bronze statue of the fifth Dalai Lama, followed by the body pagoda of a famous monk. On the top floor of the main building, there is a Buddhist hall dedicated to the fifth and seventh Dalai Lamas, as well as Beiye scriptures, thangkas, and handed down tools.

Similar to the architectural style of Tibetan Buddhism, the ZHACANG and Jikang living halls of Songzanlin temple stand high in the center, surrounded by eight Kangshen and monk's houses. They are high and low, with progressive layers and clear three-dimensional outline, which fully sets off the height and grandeur of the main building. The main building is ZHACANG, which means monastery in Tibetan. It is a place where monks learn classics and study doctrines. In the back hall, there are zongkaba, Maitreya and the seventh Dalai bronze Buddha. They are more than thirty feet high and go straight to the upper level. There are eight Lacan rooms in the middle level, which are the temples, Dharma hall, Kanbu room, quiet room, dining room, etc. The front living room is used for VIP banquet and "Qiang Mu" (mask) dance. The main building on the top floor is equipped with jingshe Buddhist hall, which is dedicated to the Buddha statues of the 5th and 7th Dalai Lamas, as well as Beiye scriptures, thangkas and handed down magic weapons. The towering bell and Drum Tower is located in the south of the Buddhist hall. In the morning, noon and dusk, drums are used to tell the time.

The rich and colorful sculpted bronze tile, the palace treasure corner animal kisses the eaves, the beautiful decoration Hall of the hall, the numerous Buddhist statues in the hall: Kun tower is tall and sacred, and the murals on both sides of the west wing are beautifully decorated.

Historical evolution

It is said that the site of the temple was determined by the Dalai Lama's divination. The God said, "the trees are deep and quiet, and the spring is clear, and the golden ducks are playing in the sky.". When visitors enter the temple, they meet Qingquan, which is not dry all year round, and they can see a pair of golden Snipes in the temple. The name of the temple is given by the fifth Dalai Lama. "Gadan" refers to the inheritance of the Gadan Temple established by Zong kabashou, the founder of the Yellow Sect; "Songzan" refers to the three gods of heaven, namely, Emperor Shi, Mengli and lousuyou; "Lin" refers to the "Temple". The whole Han can be understood as: "all Xianmi can not be completed at one time. In order to make the source tip of no dirt continuously benefit all living beings and make it perfect, this temple is specially built.". Songzanlin temple has become the highest institution of the integration of politics and religion in the region. It has also become a special place for Buddhists and Dharma monks in Yunnan, Tibet, Sichuan and Tibet. Believers from all over the country to the Northern Dynasties are also in constant flow all the year round.

According to records, Songzanlin temple and gesangjiacuo, the seventh Dalai Lama, have a deep "legal relationship". After the Sixth Dalai Lama ascended, the reincarnated Lingtong (later the seventh Dalai Lama) in Lhasa's three monasteries was attacked by the Tibetan king of Heshuote tribe of Mongolia, lazanghan, so Lingtong was escorted by monks to Songzanlin temple for refuge. Lingtong offered milk to the source of water, prayed that the water would become milk sweat to nurture all living beings, and the water became "milk River". After that, Lingtong was supported by the Ta'er temple in Qinghai Province, which was finally recognized and supported by the Emperor Kangxi at that time, and was granted the title of "Hongfa Juezhong". Therefore, the seventh Dalai Lama has always supported the expansion of Songzanlin temple.

In the summer of 1936, he long led the Red Army on the long march through Shangri La. He long, Xiao Ke and others visited Guihua temple, visited Living Buddhas and lamas, and presented a piece of "prosperous Fanzu" Brocade (existing Chinese Military Museum). Guihua Temple raised more than 20000 Jin of grain for the Red Army, and sent monks to serve as guides for the Red Army, supporting the Red Army to go north to resist Japan.

Collection of cultural relics

There are many treasures in Songzanlin temple in the past dynasties, including the five Dalai Lama and the seven Dalai Lama's eight gold covered Sakyamuni Buddha statues, Beiye Sutra, colorful gold juice painted Thangka, gold and various exquisite gilt or silver censers, Wannian lamps, etc. There are more than 200 books in the collection of Jinsi, such as Ganzhuer (two of which are handwritten in Jinzhi) and danzhuer.

There are many treasures in Songzanlin temple in the past dynasties, including eight gold covered Buddha statues of Sakyamuni, beiyejing, multicolored Tangka and golden lamp in the period of the fifth Dalai Lama and the seventh Dalai Lama. Songzanlin temple has ten books of danzhur, two of which are manuscripts in gold juice, as well as various exquisite gilded or silver censers and Wannian lamps.

When Tianjiang Jinju was chosen as the site of the temple, Dala Lama divined and said: "the trees are deep and quiet, and the spring is clear. Tianjiang Jinju plays in it. In Songzanlin temple, there are clear springs, which do not overflow in spring and summer, and do not dry up in autumn and winter.

On the third floor of ZHACANG hall, outside the Sutra room of the living Buddha, there is a picture of "the sun and the moon shine together" in Meili. Some say it looks like a butter lamp, while others say it looks like the sun, the moon and the stars on the top of the White Pagoda worshiped by the Tibetan people. It is said that he Jinwu never saw his true face in Meili three times. On his fourth visit, he first went to Songzanlin temple to meet living Buddha Kesi, who did Dharma work for him. So he saw the unusual scenery and took this picture.

Temple Management

Division of monks

Zacang's subordinate monk organization is "KangCan", which means the monk group in Tibetan, that is, according to the regional division of the monks' native place or source place, the monks in the big temple are divided into several groups, forming a regional organization of the diocese. Kang Shen was presided over by the old monk, and there were nianwa, gegan and other clerks under him. He managed the administrative, religious and economic affairs of the parish relatively independently. The eight Kangshen in Songzanlin temple are: dukekangshen, zhayakangshen, dongwangkangshen, rongbakangshen, yangduokangshen, jiedikangshen, zhuokangshen and Xiangcheng Kangshen. The first six Kangshen represent the parish regional organization formed by villages in Shangri La. Zhuokanshan is a group of Naxi monks in riverside areas (now Shangjiang, Jinjiang, Sanba and Luoji). Xiangcheng Kangshen refers to the Kangshen of the monks in Shangri La, Xiangcheng and Derong counties of Sichuan Province.

The most basic monks' organizations under ZHACANG and Kangshen in the temple are called "Mishan", which means one family or one person. Generally, monks in a specific area form a living unit and live together. The number of monks is about ten or twenty.

Priesthood

The monks in the temple are divided into living Buddha and Zaba. Besides living Buddha, the monks are divided into gexi, Gelong, banzhuo, etc. according to their educational background and qualifications. According to their duties, there are more than ten kinds of positions, such as Kham, old monk, Xiangzhui, Diba, Yingze, gegan, etc.

Bengzhu living Buddha has a high reputation in sanggu of Shangri La County, and is the vice chairman of Shangri La County CPPCC.

By 2012, there were more than 700 monks in Songzanlin temple.

RASI Conference

Kadan Songzanlin temple has a strict system organization, and every monk in the temple is at a certain point of a certain level of the organization system (citing the information of shangri la county annals of the Republic of China, in order to be closer to the historical reality).

The Lasi conference is the highest organization of ZHACANG, which is composed of the living Buddha, Kanbu, gexi and other eminent monks of the whole temple. It is in charge of the religious rules and doctrines of the temple and the major construction of the temple.

Luo Zhang is the instructor. It has jurisdiction over Xiangzuo and nianwa elected by Kanbu. KaNzA meeting, composed of the village assistant and the user's senior monks, performs all the internal and external administrative affairs of the temple. Nianwa is in charge of the service staff of the temple and 70 households of Shenmin (Ladi) village.

Juexia: set up two members of DIWA (the highest position of monks, who will be relieved of all the obligations of monks after leaving office, and all the tea salaries will be sent to private houses), two members of nianwa and eight members of Congben, who will serve for six years in the new three years and the old three years. They will manage 300 households of missionaries and butter tea fast meals of monks in three dynasties every month.

XISU: there are 1 DIWA member, 1 nianwa member and 8 Congben members. Their term of office is still in the new three years and the old three years. They are in charge of temple festival offerings

Chinese PinYin : Ga Dan Song Zan Lin Si