Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t22.2

v1.c7.s3.t22.2

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).