Xining means “peace in the west”, is the capital of Qinghai province, and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. It has 2.2 millions inhabitants with altitude of 2,295 meters above sea level, and history of over 2,100 years. It has a cold semi-arid climate and acting as the major gateway to the Tibetan Plateau by railway ever since the accomplish of Qinghai – Tibet Railway in 2006. It also connected with Lanzhou of Gansu province, and Urumqi of Xinjiang Ugur prefecture by speed train, which makes Xining regaining its glory of being one “traffic hub” as it was on the Silk Road in ancient time
Blog
Tibetan Buddhism Icon graphic
Tibetan Buddhism Icon graphic can be overwhelmed during your Tibet trip. The scale is breathtaking, however, it helps you to understand and surely enjoying if you could recognize some of those when you travel through Tibetan plateau. Those images are not only the statues that you could see in monasteries, temples, but also printed or painted on Thangkar. It is a gate that into the rich symbolism of Tibetan Buddhist Art.
In this Tibetan Buddhism Iconographic Guide you will find the names of the deities most frequently depicted in the monasteries, Chortens and Temples across Tibetan plateau
Amdo Tsanggar Monastery
Amdo Tsanggar Monastery is also called Sertsang monastery or Shi Zang monastery. It is located some 12 kilometers east of Heibei county in Amdo. It is one Gelug Pa tradition monastery, was built in the 30th year of Qian long Empire (1765) Qing Dynasty. Founded by the 1st Zhida Repoche of Denpa Gyatso, whom was thought to be the reincarnation of Zangge, the high rank lama of Sera monastery according to the legend.
Due to its location, there is no direct bus to reach this remote located monastery, the closest spot that the public transportation web covers is to arrive at Heibei Township by bus, then switch to local transportation, a very popular minibus to get to this site, which takes about 40-60 minutes after a driving on the 12 kilometers dirt road.
for more detail, please click to view the Tsanggar Monastery facts and map
Tsanggar Monastery
Tsanggar Monastery is also called Shi Zang monastery OR Sertsang monastery. It is located 12 kilometers east of Hei-bei county of Tongde County in Amdo.
Brief
It is one Gelug Pa tradition monastery, being built in the 30th year of Qian-long Empire (1765) of Qing Dynasty. It was founded by the 1st Zhida Repoche of Denpa Gyatso, who was thought to be the reincarnation of Zangge, the high rank lama of Sera monastery according to the legend.
Accepted by Gelug pa
In the 44th year of Qian long Empire (1765), the 6th Panchan Lama accepted Tsanggar as one sub-branch of Tashilhunpo monastery and became the Honorary Monastery Host. Due to the strong influence of Panchan lama, the number of the monks that Tsanggar housed was rapidly increased over thousands. its size was also rapidly enlarged twice larger.
Damage & Rebuild
In 1941, Tsanggar was damaged. The monks once exiled in the south of Gansu province. After 8 years, Tsanggar was recovered. The monastery occupies 44 acres till 1958. In 1962, it was permitted to be reopen, but the main building was not approved to be rebuilt; In 1981, Tsanggar was permitted to be fully open, and the monastery management starts to rebuild this monastery. Now there is one attached Tibetan Clinic, one attached primary school, and one assembly hall, 4 other smaller hall, in total more than 1100 rooms. It now houses about more than 260 monks.
Tsanggar Monastery Data
Address
Ge Shi ke village, Tongde County
12 kilometers east from He-bei village
Opening hour
Usually from 08:00 am to 18:00 pm
Altitude
3,260 meters
Entrance fee
Free of charge
How to get to there
There is no bus to reach this remote monastery. The only way to access is to take bus to reach Heibei township, which is 12 kilometers east from Tsanggar Monastery, then to rent one local vehicle to reach this monastery, Rental cost is usually 100 – 150 RMB one way;
Local Accommodation
One monastery attached guesthouse, including 6 rooms, 4 – 8 beds each room, public toilet; it is recommended to stay in Heibei county, which is slightly better than this guesthouse
There are about 4 hostel and guesthouse in Heibei village, which is recommended for overnight
The Four Major Sects of Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism Icons
Shalu monastery updates
Shalu monastery updates Shalu monastery updates provides newly updated information of Shalu monastery, including location, entrance fee, altitude, map;
Shalu monastery was the first one to be built by noble families of the Tsangpa during Tibet’s great revival of Buddhism, and was an important center of the Sakya Pa. It was renowned as a center of scholarly learning and psychic training for hundreds of years and its mural paintings were considered to be the most ancient and beautiful in Tibet.
The protection of Shalu was a project that was listed under the 11th Five Years Pan (2006 – 2010), which was begun on May 13th 2009. It was thought to be one of the biggest heritage renovation projects in Tibet that involves reinforcement of its buildings, maintenance of sewage treatment facilities and improvement of fire and flood control systems”.
for more detail, please click to view detail
Shalu Monastery
Shalu monastery was be built by noble families of the Tsangpa during Tibet’s great revival of Buddhism, and was an important center of the Sakya Pa. It is known as a center of scholarly learning and psychic training for hundreds of years and its mural paintings were considered to be the most ancient and beautiful in Tibet.
Brief
The protection of Shalu was a project that was listed under the 11th Five Years Plan (2006 – 2010). It was thought to be one of the biggest heritage renovation projects in Tibet that involves reinforcement of its buildings, maintenance of sewage treatment facilities and improvement of fire and flood control systems”.
Shalu is about 30 kilometers south of Shigatse , was founded in 1040 AD by Chetsun Sherab Jungnay, and being extended in the early 14th century, by Kunzang Drakpa Gyaltsen. Shalu is one of the rare religious sites in Tibet that luckily avoiding the demolishing during the Cultural Revolution. The main Serkhang Temple was rebuilt in the middle of 1980 of 20th century, its interiors still remain exactly as what it was built. The history of the assembly hall dated back to the 11th century, which was rare and precious examples of Pala art. Unfortunately, some of the murals in the ground floor chapels are partly damaged due to the lack of knowledge of preserving this old arts;
Shalu was destroyed by an earthquake in 1329 AD, and was rebuilt in 1333 AD by local noble families and the last Khagan of the Mongol Empire Toghon Temür. The new buildings were dominated by Mongolian styles, however, the artisans are from Tibet and Nepal that results the style of Shalu is one mixture of Mongol, Tibet, and Nepal.
At the time of the monastery’s rebuilding 1330, Buton Rinpoche (1290 AD -1364 AD) was the host of the monastery, whom was a remarkable scholar and writer of the Sakya Pa and is Tibet’s most celebrated historian. He brought the the fundamental texts of Buddhism “Kanjur” & “Tenjur” to Shalu, in the meantime he supervised the creation of nearly 500 tantric mandalas, some of which are still be seen if the monk allows you to enter the sacred chapel. Buton Rinpoche cataloged the Buddhism texts. He also wrote the History of Buddhism in India and Tibet there, which many Tibetan scholars use in their study today. After his death the monastery became an important center of Tibetan Buddhism studiy and Buddhist learning for centuries.
Shalu Monastery Data
Address
Xia Lu village, Jia Cuo Xiong Xiang
Opening hour
09:00 am – 17:30 pm
Altitude
3,900 meters
Entrance fee
RMB 40 per person
How to get to there
By Bus
From Shigarste bus station, one bus evey 40 minutes to one hours; rate: RMB 5 per person
By Chartered vehicle
Approximately RMB 100.00-150.00 round trip
The Four Major Sects of Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism Icons
Tibet Traffic
Nowadays there is a lot improvements on Tibet Traffic, The Qinghai Tibet train has been running ever since 2016; the railway between Shigatse and Lhasa has made the journey between this two cities much more convenient than ever;
However, the land transportation is still the main power to transport goods, people…etc, from one place to another; Benefited from the development of tourism, the roads that leads to historic sites or county have been paved in a priority order.
In recent years, the high-speed way is now under construction. Highways of Lhasa to Tsetang and Lhasa to Nyingtri are now under building, which will have shorten the driving time between those sites;
Further more, the train through the mountains in the east Tibet to the Chengdu is also under building, for more distance information, please click to check Tibet Overland Distance
2018 Langmu Si Festival Date
2018 Langmu Si Festival date is confirmed to be held from February 17th to March 2nd. please click to view 2018 Langmu Si Festival tour
It is located about 90 km from Luqu County on the national road that connects Gansu and Sichuan provinces. The town was named after an ancient legend about a fairy turning to stone and later into a mountain. The town hosts two monasteries, facing each other over the river and bottom of the valley. It houses approximately 1,200 monks, and was originally built as an academic institute for lamas studying Tibetan Buddhism. However, it gradually lost importance when a sharp contrast was formed with the growing popularity of the Labrang Monastery of Xiahe. The festival of Langmu Si is called “Monlam,” which is the same as the one in Aba county.
Langmu Si festival is also called Langmu Si Monlam Festival that is held in winter time annually, it lasts about 14 days. Please Contact Us to find out the best travel plan that to suit your schedule, and your interests.
