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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t22: Potala Palace

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t22

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English

Potala Palace

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Potala Palace (po ta la) is one of the world famous ancient buildings in Tibet, China and a unique building combined with old palace with religious temples and a representation of union of politics and religion.

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The palace is located on the summit of Red Mountain in old city, Lhasa and the foot of mountain is at an altitude of 3,700 m. The palace facing the south was built on the mountain winding up to the summit and is made of soil, wood and stone. Its walls are built with triple materials with thickness of 3 m. The whole building consists of White Palace and Red Palace. The former named after its colour is the main living quarter and office for generations of Dalai Lama and is comprised of halls of deyangfu, deyangnu, cuoqin, ganzhulakang and langjizhacang all of which constitute the main cluster of buildings of Potala Palace. The latter named after its crimson colour is located at the centre of the Potala Palace and is the *stupa* for each generation of Dalai Lama and the place where important Buddhist activities are held. Red Palace is built in the shape of a Buddhist flower, Mandala, and made up of Sixipingcuo hall, Xiaodenglakang Hall and Chongrelakang Hall, all of which constitute the most brilliant buildings of Potala. For example, the *stupa* of the fifth Dalai Lama which is built in Xiaodenglakang Hall is not only the earliest and largest one with the most brilliant decoration among the *stupas* of all generations of Dalai Lama but also a world-famous valuable and glorious pagoda. So it is called as the world’s top one solemnity of building and the world’s best decoration of building. It is in the form of Bodhi pagoda with a square base and round body and wrapped in a coat of gold. Its total height is 14.85 m consisting of three parts ie base, bottle part and spike on the crest. The body is engraved with all kinds of Tibetan patterns and decorated with tens of thousands of jades, pearls, diamonds and glazes. The coloured light shines brilliant. The valuable pearls just used on it are up to 3,812 and the weight of gold amounts to 119082.37 *Liang* (Chinese unit of weight).

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The main building of the Potala Palace has 13 floors, 117 m high, 400 m long from east to west and 350 m wide north-south. The gross floor area is up to 1,38,052 sq m. The exterior façade is painted red, white and yellow which represent, respectively, the solemnity, gentleness and completeness. Its colour and form is of obvious Tibetan Buddhism. Seen from the plane the palace is joined by many rectangle chapels in a complicated structure, while in the vertical direction these chapels are at various levels between different distances. That is clear what is major and what minor. Within the palace, clusters of buildings erecting high, chapels standing towering and brilliance shining, all represent the uniqueness of Tibetan architectures. The imposing force and grand spectacular of the entire palace reflects great wisdom and creativity of the Tibetan people. In the palace there are numerous paintings, carvings, thangka, statues, china and scrolls which make it a treasure store of Tibetan culture and a pearl in Chinese culture, also an important legacy in human history.

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**Historical evolutions Potala** The variant of Sanskrit pronunciation of Potalaka means Chizhou Mountain, the rite or land for Avalokiteśvara. Tibetan Buddhists believe that Red Mountain in Lhasa is the second land of Avalokiteśvara. In 7th century CE, the 33rd king of Tubo Srongtsen Gampo started the construction of the palace on Red Mountain and named it the Potala Palace. The building at that time was of a huge scale with three layers of walls outside, 999 rooms inside and a chapel on the top floor with 1,000 rooms. Onto the crest a spike was penetrated and on it hanged a flag. Surrounded the palace were four gates and arch. The peripheral walls cover the whole Red Mountain, Yaowang Mountain and Pamari Mountain. The king used to dwell on Red Mountain while the queen on Yaowang Mountain. There was a bridge of silver and copper built between the two mountains for walking.

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Potala Palace, due to natural and man-made disasters, was severely damaged and failed to be repaired immediately which gradually evolved into the sacred place of Tibetan Buddhism where the eminent monks retreated and many palaces were transformed into temples for Tibetan Buddhism activities. At the beginning of the 11th century CE, Kadam sent eminent monks to teach tsema here. Later, Karma Kagyu despatched eminent monks and the founder of Dge-lugs-pa - Tsongkhapa as well as his disciples to preach the view of Buddhism and engage in religious activities.

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In 17th century CE, the fifth Dalai Lama established Chapter Kagyu Dan’s regime in Drepung Monastery and began a large-scale renovation of Potala Palace after he was in charge of Tibet’s political and religious power. Since 1645, it took three years to build the White Palace part of the Potala Palace. In 1682, the fifth Dalai Lama died. In 1690, Desi Sangye Gyats aroused tens of thousands of artisans and workers to build the Red Palace part of Potala Palace and spent four years to finish this project. And so far Potala Palace’s overall architectural pattern was basically formed. In order to build the Red Palace in addition to local craftsmen, the Qing government and the government of Nepal have also sent craftsmen to take part in the construction and the number of constructors was more than 7,700 people every day. The project totally cost about 2.13 million *liang* of silver.

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Later, Potala Palace has been expanded for many times to reach the scale of present-day. Its appearance combines the characteristics of a palace and Buddhist temple and basically uses the layout of Buddhist Mandala. In the expansion, the original St Guanyin Hall, Dharma Cave and other buildings built in 7th century CE were incorporated in Red Palace. Only some buildings at both ends of White Palace were removed and on the basis of original buildings, White Palace was extended in the direction of west, south and east. Dalai Lama’s resting places are located on the top floor of Red Palace. Below these resting palaces are the Pharmacist Hall, Guru Hall, Mara Hall, Kalachakra Hall and other halls. Below that there are West Palace, Gradual Path Hall in the east, Vidyadhara Hall in the south, fifth Dalai Lama’s Stupa Hall in the west and Bunsen Biography Hall in the north. After the expansion, Potala Palace was more majestic and magnificent and both the external construction and internal decoration showcased Tibetan people’s superb skills and rich artistic creativity.

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In 1961, the State Council listed Potala Palace the first batch of key cultural relic units under national protection and appropriated funds for its maintenance every year and especially in 1988, State Council decided to conduct a comprehensive repair of Potala Palace, the project started in 1989, lasted five years, completed in 1994 at a total cost of RMB 53 million. In the same year, Potala Palace was listed in the World Heritage List by UNESCO and became one of the world’s famous sacred places for domestic, foreign tourists and believers to visit and worship.

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**Collection of Books and Records** According to preliminary statistics, the Tibetan Buddhist literatures and classics that Potala Palace collected

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*Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet, China* are more than 60,000 and are stored in each Buddha Hall. Literatures and classics collected in this way mostly serve as one of the three Buddhist treasures, a magic weapon for people to worship rather than as general ones of the modern sense for public reading.

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Vkhrungs Rabs Lha Khang namely the Guanyin Hall is located on the north of West Hall of Red Palace and in the north and west side of this Hall. There are some bookshelves with more than 1,000 books and most of these books are rare ones and related to religion, culture, technology, medicine, language and other traditional ten subjects. These books include the woodcut version of Tengyur which is the first one to be carved in Tibetan language and Beijing version of Tengyur that the Emperor Yongzheng of Qing Dynasty in 1725 gave as a present to the seventh Dalai Lama. These two sets of Tengyur have high historical literature values in the history of Tibetan Tripitaka.

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The fifth Dalai Lama's Stupa Hall is located on the west of the West Hall of Red Palace. It has four layers and only one hall and is one of the most famous Buddha-halls of Potala Palace. In this Hall in addition to gold *Stupas* of fifth, 10th and 12th Dalai Lama and silver Sugata *stupa* seat, there is also a large bookshelf with 11 interlayers arranged in the west of this Hall providing more than 1,640 Tibetan literatures and books including *Kangyur*, *Tengyur*, *Mahaprajna-paramita-sutra*, *Paramita Sutra* and other precious Buddhist literature and books.

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Rig Vdzin Lha Khang, namely the Vidyadhara Hall, means Tantric Smriti Hall and is located on the south side of West Hall of Red Palace and there are bookshelves in the east, west and north side of this Hall with a total of more than 2,500 books. This include the six sets of *Kangyur* (totally 600 books) written with gold ink, silver ink, cinnabar and other precious materials in the period of fifth Dalai Lama. This edition was the earlier one in the history of book collection in Potala Palace.

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Thub Dbang Lha Khang, namely Sakya Buddhist Hall, is located in the southeast corner of the corridor on sixth floor of Red Palace. It was originally the resting hall of the seventh Dalai Lama and was changed into a Buddha Hall in the period of eighth Dalai Lama. In the east of this Hall, there is a bookshelf on which there is a *Tibetan Kangyur* written with gold ink which is really a set of exquisite precious rare book. According to relevant information, it was transcribed in the middle of 17th century CE based on Lhasa woodblock, with a total of 115 books with gold ink writing. The paper it used was the special black blue thick one which is generally called indigo paper. Every cover of the book was embossed with words written in gold paste.

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A mural at the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

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Dus Vkhor Lha Khang, namely Kalacakra Hall, is located in the east of corridor on sixth floor of Red Palace. The bookshelf set in this hall was stocked with mint-marked and transcribed *sutras* in the period of fifth Dalai Lama including a Prajna Paramita Putra (woodcut), Ronnie Set (woodcut), Mani Bao Xun Set (woodcut), Kalachakra Tantra (woodcut), Moksha (manuscript with gold ink) and so on which are very precious.

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Stupa Hall of the eighth Dalai Lama Jampal Gyatso is located in the north side of top floor of Red Palace and mainly used to enshrine and worship *Stupa* of the eighth Dalai Lama. The bookshelf is set up around the Stupa on which there is a precious Kangyur manuscript (115 books) written in gold ink.

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Stupa Hall of the ninth Dalai Lama Londo Gyatso is located in the northeast side of top floor of Red Palace and mainly used to enshrine and worship the *Stupa* of the ninth Dalai Lama. Some literature books, Buddhist relics and other precious cultural relics are stored here. There is one Kangyur (114 volumes) on the bookshelf around the Stupa which is the precious hand-copied rare book.

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Bla Malha Khang, namely the Guru Hall, is located in the west side of top floor of Red Palace and was originally the Stupa Hall of 10th Dalai Lama. Later, Stupa Hall was moved down to the lower floor and used to enshrine and worship the statues of Tsongkhapa and of other gurus of Dgelugs-pa and its name was changed into Lama Lacan. The bookshelf was set up in the west of this Hall and there is one set of Kangyur (111 books) written with gold ink in the period of Desi Sangye Gyats on it.

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Sa Gsum Rnam Lha Khang, namely the Shusheng Triloka Hall, is located in the south side of top floor of Red Palace. The Kangyur written in cinnabar Manchu is put on bookshelf arranged in the north of Hall which was gifted to the eighth Dalai Lama by Emperor Qianlong. This is the only Manchu Kangyur in Tibetan areas and has very high cultural relic and literature value.

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Blos bssslangs khang, ie Tancheng Hall, situated at the south of topper stories of Red Palace, is originally one of the living rooms for seventh Dalai Lama and was later changed to Tancheng Hall. There are three big “dkyil-vkhor” displayed. Besides, a number of documents and records were collected in the hall which were mainly works of the seventh Dalai Lama like *Astrophytum Ornatum 1,00,000 Songs* (handwritten copy by gold ink, total 12), *Astrophytum Ornatum 8,000 Songs* (handwritten copy by gold ink, one), *Astrophytum ornatum 20,000 Songs* (handwritten copy by gold ink, 3) and *Tuoluoni* (handwritten copy by gold ink, 1), *Doom*

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A fresco from the western wall of the 2nd floor corridor of the Red Palace in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

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(handwritten copy by gold ink, 1) all these were transcribed at the time of seventh Dalai Lama.

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Byams khang, that is Maitreya Hall, situated in the east of the highest floor in Red Palace, is originally the bedroom for eighth Dalai Lama and later is changed to Maitreya Hall named Byams khang. Within the hall, apart from lots of statues and figures, there are a great amount of records of total 270 pieces, all of which are wrapped with yellow silk the clamp-plates of which were made of top-classed wood and decorated with silver ornaments and the binding is extremely luxurious. The bookshelf displayed a book, *Tengyur* (225 books), written with a special ink made from eight treasures ie gold, silver, copper, iron, tophus, cinnabar, lapis lazuli and sea snail its price is beyond estimation. It is written not only in old Natang version but with a special material which is so rare in Tibetan books so it is called "Eight-treasure Tengyur". Apart from it, there are respectively the volumes of fifth Dalai Lama and sixth Panchen Erdeni and master Tsongkhapa, the version or texture of which is similar to that of Tengyur and can be regarded valued edition or rare edition.

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Gzum Chung Nyi Vod Shar, namely East Sunshine Chapel, at the east of top floor of the palace, is located in the north and faces the south. It used to be the quarter of living up and dealing with political and religious matters for 13th Dalai Lama of late years and 14th Dalai Lama of early years. Lying in the west of the chapel is the document room for Dalai Lama to put away documents. There is an appropriately collection of 200 to 300, most of which is related to *Prajna*, *Vinaya*, *Hetuvidya* and Tibetan Medicine.

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Lam Rim Lha khang, also Bodhi Chapel, is situated in the west of Red palace, within which the statue of master Tsongkhapa is enshrined and a few shelves are arranged with *Bodhi Doctrines* and *Vajrayana Doctrines* placed as well as *Tripitaka Kangyur* (partial, 60 books now) written in gold ink. This book is of smaller dimension and can only be middle-classed Tibetan edition, while it is rare and special among ordinary editions.

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The collection chapel of Potala was not built to be a library in history but a few chapels where temporarily books are stored. Until today, no actual library for storing and deploying books comes into being. Books are mainly and successively collected and stored in Palace when they were confronted with damage and would be lost at the times of Democratic Revolution and Cultural Revolution. The quantity of these books is large and the content comprehensive. There are four collection chapels in Palace, one of which holds a collection of 3,000 books of a comprehensive content, classified into 10 kinds by Tibetan Buddhist sects. The second has a collection of more than 7,000 books, mainly the complete volumes of generations of eminent monks. The third has a collection of more than 5,000 books most of which are partly scattered volumes of generations of eminent monks. The fourth now holds a collection of 10,000 books totally *Tripitaka Kangyur* and *Tengyur* of different editions, no valued edition or rare edition, and the remaining are Gzungs and kinds of *Prajnā*, among which there are many repetition editions. Just in *Prajnā 8,000 Songs* there are over 400 books. The collection of all these chapels reached to more than 25,000 books, the quantity of which exceeds one third of the whole collection of Potala Palace.

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The biggest feature of Tibetan Buddhist books lies in its complete classification and rich content including the 10 subjects of Tibetan Buddhism from philosophy, religion, doctrine, ritual, biography and literature, astronomy, architecture to Tibetan medicine. What is most worthy of speaking are various eminent monks’ volumes which cover all the classics of eminent monks from various Tibetan Buddhist sects such as Gadang, Gelu, Ningma, Gaju, Sajia, Juenang, Bulu, Pudong and Xijie. Especially *gsang ba rgya can*, *yang zab dag snang* by the fifth Dalai Lama and *rgyud sde spyi rnam gzhag* by Budun Renqinzhu and *rgyud sde bzhivi rnam gzhag* by Pudong Qiaoliunanjie are of great academic values and practical meanings among the books of Vajrayana. (Kal Sang Gyal)

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**Jokhang Temple (gtsug lag khang)** Located in the centre of Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, Jokhang Temple is the oldest Buddhist Temple in Tibet and the holiest site of Tibetan Buddhism in China. It was first constructed in the middle period of 7th century CE by Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal who was the bride of King Songtsän Gampo, 33rd ruler (King) of Tibetan Empire. According to a legend, Buddha Hall was built on the former site of a lake which was filled and levelled up with soil carried by goats to house the Shakyamuni Statue (Akshobya Vajra), a life-size statue of the Buddha at age of eight from Nepal brought by Princess Bhrikuti. Therefore, Jokhang Temple is named “ra sa vphrul snang” in Tibetan (“ra” means goat and “sa” means earth) to commemorate those goats and also known as “jo khang”, meaning “House of Shakyamuni”.

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The exterior architectural form of Jokhang Temple features architectural styles and techniques from India, Nepal and Tibet. According to the Biography of Kings in Tibet, mandalas are carved and painted on four gates to satisfy the wish of the Buddhist Guru, vajry pestles are carved and painted on pillars to meet the desire of “sngags-mang”, swastika (Srivatsa) are carved and painted on four corners to meet aspirations of Bonismo believers and grill works are painted to satisfy the hope of people in Tibet. At that time Jokhang Temple was a three-layer temple facing the west which represented that the Princess missed her hometown Nepal, west of Lhasa city. On both sides of the main shrine, there are side halls and such layout reflects the model of the universe in Buddhism. Many statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are enshrined and worshiped inside the Temple, including “Ekādaśa mukhānām Avalokiteśvara” (likeness of King Songtsem Gampo), Statues of Akshobya Vajra, Maitreya dharma and Arya Tara brought by Princess Bhrikuti from Nepal. Besides, there are statues made in Tibet by Nepal craftsmen such as King of Great Freedom, Wrath Tara, Arya Tara, Sarasvati, Auspicious Horsehead King, Dragon King, Demon, Yaksha, Krishna and Pelden Lhamo. On beams, pillars and walls in all Halls, Buddhist scriptures and figures of Buddha are carved and painted as well as Biography of Kings in Tibet, all kinds of biography, cryptology or prophesy and ritual of Bonismo. The carvings and paintings fully reflect the concept of cultural coexistence of foreign Buddhist culture and local Bonismo, which has epoch-making significance in the history of Tibetan Buddhism.

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An illustration of the fresco at the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

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Jokhang Temple gradually formed a grand architectural complex after expansion and renovation several times since 7th century CE. The most sacred Buddha statue enshrined inside the temple has changed into the statue of Shakyamuni, a life-size statue of the Buddha at age of 12, which was brought by Princess Wencheng in Tang Dynasty. In the 11th century CE, Pa Ba Xi Rao (vphaks-pa-shes-rab), a master from Ngari Sanai and Dui Qiong Kuo Ben, expanded Jokhang Temple building a Buddha Hall and moulding Buddha statues on the east. At the same time, monk groups were established and Jokhang Temple formed the rudiment of monastery. In Yuan Dynasty, several khri dpon (local officials responsible for the administration in Tibet) made maintenance and reconstruction and built many Buddha statues. In Ming Dynasty, Master Tsongkhapa requested Zha Ba Jiang Qu, the third Dharmaraja of Phagmodrupa Dynasty to renovate Jokhang Temple on large scale. In 1409, Master Tsongkhapa decorated the Statue of Sakyamuni with five-dhyani Buddha Crown. Since 1642, fifth Dalai Lama and Sangye Gyatso expanded and decorated the temple on a larger scale which made the complex splendid and magnificent with a completely new outlook.

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In 1961, Jokhang Temple was listed as one of the first batches of important cultural relic sites under state-level protection by the State Council of China. In November 2000, Jokhang Temple was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List as part of Potala Palace, thus becoming the world’s cultural heritage.

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(*Kalsang gyal*)

Cites (6)