Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t30: bkra shis lhun po dgon
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t30
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bkra shis lhun po dgon
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Tashilhunpo Monastery (bkra shis lhun po dgon), located at the western suburb of Shigatse city, Tibet Autonomous Region, is a renowned monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in China and one of the Big Six Monasteries of the Gelug sect of Buddhism. It was first constructed in 1447 in the Shigatse Region by Dge vdun grub pa (dge vdun grub pa,1391～1474), a disciple of Master Tsongkhapa. And it was fully constructed by 1459, with numbers of large and small halls including Vajrayana Temple, Sutra Hall, Gyeni Chanting Hall and three Dratsang (college) like Ngang College. There were about 1,600 monks in the monastery from Tsang, Ngari Sanai, Nepal and Kashmir. As the abbot of the monastery for 38 years, Dge vdun grub pa promoted the canon that Buddhist learners must abide by Lam Rim and emphasised the practice of the Three Precepts. He demanded the monks to abide by the religious discipline. Tashilhunpo monastery later became the central Monastery of the Gelug sect in Tsang region of Tibet.
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In 1601, the Fourth Panchen Lama Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan (1567～1662) was invited to hold the post of the 16th abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery. He introduced the Winsa ear preach Tantric method of Gelug into the monastery from Winsa chakra in Tsang (dben sa sgrub gnas) or dben dgon and firstly established Ngang College (sngags pa grwa tshang) which had complete educational
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Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse, Tibet, China
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system compatible to both Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism. The convention of monks going to Lhasa Esoteric Buddhism Temple (lha sa rgyud stod smad grwa tshang) for further study was cancelled. All Panchen Lama acted as the abbot of the monastery after the Fourth Panchen Lama and the monastery became the preaching place of Living Buddha of Panchen Lama. Historically, with the quota of 4,400 monks, the monastery was the largest one in Tsang Region and took the same important place as the three major temples in Lhasa. Today, the monastery is still magnificent and splendid with a number of palaces. With the largest copper statue of Maitreya in the world and coffin towers of past Panchen Lama, the monastery is actually a large-scale monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Shigatse region, Tibet and even the whole Tibetan area.