Labrang monastery

Located in the west of Xiahe County, Labrang temple is one of the six main temples of Gelug Sect (yellow sect) of Tibetan Buddhism in China. It is the most famous Tibetan secret college in the world and has the most complete Tibetan Buddhism teaching system in China.

Labrang temple is located on the Bank of the Daxia River, covering an area of 1234 mu, larger than the area of the whole Xiahe County. The 3.5km outer wall is composed of more than 2000 turnstiles, which is the longest turnstile in the world. It takes at least one hour to turn each turnstile. Note that the tube must turn clockwise, and the corridor must also go clockwise. In the southwest corner of Labrang temple, there is an old wooden bridge across the Xiahe river. You can have a panoramic view of Labrang Temple by crossing the bridge and going up the mountain.

Labrang monastery

Labrang temple is located in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. Its full name in Tibetan is "Gadan Xiazhu darjizhaxi yisuqi JuLang", which means Youxi Shuxing auspicious dextran temple. Zhaxiqi temple, commonly known as Labrang temple. Labrang temple is a variant of "lazhang" in Tibetan, which means the residence of living Buddha. It is one of the six monasteries of Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, known as the "world Tibetan academy". In its heyday, there were more than 4000 monks. In 1980, it was open to tourism. At the 2018 Northwest China Tourism Marketing Conference and tourism equipment exhibition, he was shortlisted in the list of "100 wonders of Northwest China".

In 1982, it was designated as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council of China.

The leader of the temple is the sixth Shijia Muyang Hutuktu, and other leaders include the eight Kanbu and the four Dachi. Labrang temple, known as 108 temples in history, is the political and religious center of Gannan region. Labrang temple has the best teaching system of Tibetan Buddhism in China. In 1982, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit. The temple is the oldest and only temple built in the period of the first Jiamuyang living Buddha, which is located next to the Sutra Hall of xiaxubu college.

brief introduction

It is located 0.5km west of Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Its original name is Gadan Xiazhu bodaji suqibeilang, or zaxiqi temple for short. It is one of the six major temples of Gelug Sect (Huangjiao) of Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism) in China, and is generally called Labrang temple. Master Song Zhe was founded in 1709, the 48th year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty. In the 53rd year of Kangxi reign (1714), the "lazhang" (Jiamuyang Buddhist Palace) was established. The sound of "lazhang" changed to "Labrang", which means the highest living Buddha residence in the temple.

The temple is located in the north and south, covering a total area of 866000 square meters, with a construction area of more than 400000 square meters. There are more than 90 main temples, including six colleges, 16 Buddhist temples, 18 angqian (Great Living Buddha Palace), monk's house and lecturing altar, Fayuan, Yinjing temple, pagoda, etc., forming a group of magnificent buildings with Tibetan characteristics, with no less than 10000 houses.

The religious system of Labrang monastery is mainly composed of six colleges: Wensi, medicine, Shilun, Jigang, shangxubu and xiaxubu. Among the monasteries in the whole Mongolian and Tibetan areas, the system is the most perfect. Wensi college is its center, also known as Dajing hall. It has hundreds of houses including front hall building, front courtyard, main hall and back hall, covering an area of more than 10 mu. It is a mixed structure of Tibetan style and ancient palace style, with gilt copper tiles, copper goats, Falun, Fanzhuang, Baoping and other decorations on the top. It focuses on the study of the five great theories written by Indian Buddhists (the theory of interpretation, the theory of Prajna, the theory of middle view, the theory of giving up and the theory of discipline).

All the Buddhist temples in the temple use local stone, wood, earth and fennel as building materials, and rarely use metal. The whole building is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, which is similar to trapezoid shape. There is a saying that "no wood outside, no stone inside". According to their different functions and grades, the temples are painted with red, yellow, white and other soil pigments, the balcony eaves are hung with colored cloth curtain, and the top and wall of large and medium-sized buildings are covered with bronze gilded Falun, yin and Yang beast, Aquarius, Fanzhuang, Jinding and Xiongshi. Some of the halls also integrated and absorbed the architectural achievements of the Han people, adding palace style roofs, covered with gilt copper tiles or green glazed tiles.

There are more than 10000 national cultural relics and Buddhist works of art in Labrang temple. In each hall, there are 16 giant Buddhas with bronze gilt or sandalwood carvings more than 8 meters high. There are many kinds of medium and small Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, pagodas, and Dharma implements. The temple also has the clothing and other daily necessities of Jiamuyang masters, as well as the imperial edicts, seals, letters, large plaques, thousand Buddha tree, Pearl Tower, yuruyi, meteorite, haihaiya, etc.

Temple composition

Main buildings

Da Jing Tang

There are six Scripture halls in the temple. The largest one is Wensi college scripture hall, also known as Dajing hall. It is the meeting place of "exchange qincuodui" and the center of the temple. There were only 80 pillars when the first Jiamu sample was built. In 1772, the second Jiamu sample was expanded to 140 pillars, which can hold 3000 monks chanting. In 1946, the fifth Jiamuyang built the front hall and courtyard again. So far, Dajing hall has become the most magnificent building of the whole temple with hundreds of houses including front hall building, front courtyard, main hall and back hall, covering an area of more than 10 mu.

 

The front hall building is a large roofed building, with ornaments such as Aquarius and Falun on the top ridge. The image of Tubo Zanpu Songzanganbu is on the upper floor. The living Buddhas such as master Jiamuyang, sidaidachi and badakanpu sit on the front porch of the upper floor in the first month and July of each year. The front porch of the lower floor is the seat for monks and officials of our court in the Dharma meeting. The front courtyard is the place for monks and Dharma association to get their degrees. There are 32 corridors. There are 14 East-West rooms and 11 north-south rooms in the main hall. In the main hall, there is a plaque of huijue Temple granted by Emperor Qianlong. There are seats of Jiamu model and master Dharma platform as well as seats for monks to chant sutras. There are statues of Sakyamuni, zongkaba, Ersheng Liuwei and Jiamu model of all ages. There are exquisite embroidered Buddha statues and banners hanging in the main hall. It is very beautiful and contains classics such as Ganzhuer. In the middle of the back hall, there is a large bronze statue of Maitreya. On the left side of the back hall are the relic pagodas of Jiamuyang masters, and the relic pagodas of the prince and his wife of Henan and other living Buddhas. There are 14 relic pagodas in total. On the right side is the Dharma protection Temple of the temple. The west of the main hall is the big kitchen, which has four big copper pots and one big iron pot.

 

Unfortunately, the Sutra hall was destroyed by fire on April 7, 1985. It was designed in July 1985, ground was broken in June 1986, and the main project was completed in 1987. The new Sutra hall not only maintains the original style and style, but also adopts advanced technology and materials.

 

Sutra Hall of Shilun College

The Sutra Hall of Shilun college is located on the right side of the Sutra hall. It was built in 1763. There are 5 East-West rooms and 11 north-south rooms in the main hall. It has a strong Tibetan style. Inside it is a bronze statue of Shilun King Kong Buddha. In the middle of the back hall, there are statues of Sakyamuni and his seven disciples, and on the left and right there are pagodas of living Buddhas such as kanbucang, Gongtang luozhicang, danbajiacuo, etc.

 

School of Medicine

The Sutra Hall of medical college was built in 1784. There are six rooms in the north and south of the main hall, and five rooms in the East and west of the main hall. The hall is dedicated to the Buddha of medicine king, the Buddha of pharmacist and the relic tower of lakotang. There are 18 pictures of human body in the front porch of the hall.

 

Xijingang college Sutra Hall

Xijingang college Sutra hall, built in 1879, imitates the nanjiezachang style of Potala Palace in Lhasa. In 1957, it was burned down by fire, and then it was rebuilt according to the original form with state funding.

 

Continue to go to College

The Sutra hall is located on the west side of xijingang college. Built in 1941, the main hall has 5 rooms from east to west and 10 rooms from north to south, with a height of three floors. The top floor is palace style, covered with green glazed tiles, so it is called Lvwa temple. Inside the rear hall are the bronze statues of Maitreya Buddha and sixteen Arhats. On the left are the eight great pharmacists Buddha and 35 thousand regret Buddha. On the right are the ashes tower of the parents of the fifth Jiamuyang master and 21 statues of Tara Buddha. On both sides are 1000 bronze limitless longevity Buddha.

 

Continuation of the lower house of the Ministry

Xubu Xiayuan Sutra hall is located in the northeast of Dajing hall. It was first built in 1737. The main hall has five East-West rooms and one north-south room. It is a Tibetan building with complete Falun and banners on the top of the hall. Inside it, there are dense, fearless, Shengle and other Tantric Buddha statues. After that, the hall is dedicated to the Lingta of seven Living Buddhas, such as dewacang I.

 

Maitreya Temple

In addition to the Sutra halls of various colleges, there are many Buddhist halls in Labrang temple. The Buddhist halls are places where monks chant sutras and believers worship. The more famous ones are zongkaba Buddhist hall, qianshouqianyan Guanyin hall, Maitreya Buddha Hall, Sakyamuni Buddha Hall, baisanggai Bodhisattva hall, jiudumu hall, baidumu hall, Shouan temple, Wuzhen temple, Puxiang temple, tudanpozhang and Dharma hall.

 

Maitreya Temple, also known as "shoucao Temple", is located in the northwest corner of the Sutra hall. It is six stories high and five rooms deep. It was first built in 1788. In 1844, it was renovated with the donation of zhonicha Khan Hutuktu Erdeni Banzhida and the golden tile pavilion was built. The hall is a mixed structure of Tibetan and Han. The highest floor is a palace style Square Pavilion with four corner cornices. It is covered with bronze lion, dragon, vase, Falun and Ruyi. It is resplendent in the sun, so it is commonly known as "dajinwa Temple". Inside the hall, it is dedicated to the distillation of Jinmi

Chinese PinYin : La Bo Leng Si