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Karma Kagyu Palpung

August 17, 2017 by Tibetan Trekking Travel Leave a Comment

Karma Kagyu Palpung is the main monastery of Kagyu Pa in Kham. It is also called “Ba-Bang-Si” in chinese Ping Ying, and the “mother” monastery of the Karma Kagyu in Kham. It is located on the hill slope hidden in the valley near Jinsha River, was originated in the 12^th century and wielded religious and political influence over centuries.

Palpung means “glorious union of study and practice”, and was found in 1727 by King Denba Tsering of ancient Derge kingdom. It was the largest Kagyu monastery in this ancient kingdom, and it rapidly grew to be the most important center in the east Tibet of Kham and Amdo for learning Kagyu tradition.

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2017 Shoton festival vacation

August 8, 2017 by Tibetan Trekking Travel Leave a Comment

According to Lhasa City government that the official vacation time for 2017 Shoton festival is from 21^st to 27^thAugust;

On the two days of August 19^th (Saturday) and August 27^th (Sunday) , all departments of Lhasa government work as usual

Bamei August Pujia

August 4, 2017 by Tibetan Trekking Travel Leave a Comment

Bamei August Pujia, August is the season that the Tibetan Buddhism Puja and and folk festival being held often in this small town, and its neighboring town of Tagong, which is only 30 kilometers east; The major Puja of Bamei is the Peaceful Puja that is held in the middle of August at Si hui village some 22 kilometers east of Bamei township

August is also the “hottest” time also in Bamei in a year; The temperature is about 28 – 30 degrees when directly being under sunlight, and a good pair of sunglasses is a must when visiting around, however, when you just walk into the shadow of the tree, it becomes much cooler and comfortable.

Few about Bamei county: Bamei county is with altitude of 3350 meters, seated at the junction of the road that goes Danba to the North, Kangding to the Northeast, and Kanze (Garze county) to the West. As to be one important transportation hub, this small town has many restaurants for its size; There are more than 12 guesthouses and hostels up there.

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Kawakarpo Mingyong Glacier

July 26, 2017 by Tibetan Trekking Travel Leave a Comment

Kawakarpo Mingyong Glacier is about 11.7 kilometers long, it is the 2^nd largest and longest glacier in Heng-duan mountain, the first one is Hailuogou Glacier of Mount gongga (7556 m).

This glacier is about 50 kilometers from Deqin, a small Tibetan town that is becoming popular due to the boost of tourism. It also result the good supply in accommodation, food and beverage, even though the Deqin township is kind of mess with its plan and building.

Benefited from the rapidly developed hotel business, luxury hotels have built or being built in this town that assist to make the exploration of Mingyong Glacier is kind of one day luxury tour

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Gomar Gompa

July 24, 2017 by Tibetan Trekking Travel Leave a Comment

Gomar Gompa is also known as “Guo Ma Ri Gompa”. It was built in 1350 AD, and located in Guo Ma Ri village which was a military compound. The monastery is built with oil and stone

Brief

It was a sealed rectangular structure, with length of 260 meters from east to west, and width of 96 meters from south to north. It covers an area of total 2,496 square meters, there are three doors on East, West, and South. Its east gate is formal gate that was made in Red copper. One of features of this village is that there are Praying wheels on top of each door; Inside of it, each unit is a house for a family, wall of buildings are quite similar as Turkish and Islamic style. All local people are Tu minority people. This village is not far from Wutun monastery.

Kalachakra Pagoda

Gomar Gompa Kalachakra pagoda is a magnificent building located on top of hill that can be visible from village. This pagoda was founded by Abbot in 1994. It is a 5-storey building, with height of 33 meters. Its base is a one circular praying wheels; the modeling of this pagoda is a replication of Kalachakra that Sakyamuni first turned at Deer Court of Porone City of ancient India. It took 5 years to complete, and filled with belongings of 10^th Panchan Lama inside of this pagoda. Artistic and architectural standard of this building are much higher than normal monasteries in other region.

Main buildings

There is one assembly hall, one Maitreya hall, one Dharmapala hall, and one Ang-qian Zha Cang, approximately 209 rooms, and 105 dorm rooms for monks, it occupies about nearly 100 acres, and housed more than 300 monks. It was damaged during 10 years culture revolutionary in 20^th century; After 1981, The gompa is opened for publi. There are now about 80 monks, pilgrims are mostly from Guo Ri Ma village.

Gomar Data

Address & Contact

Guo Ma Ri village, 5 kilometers north of Tongren county; Phone: +86 973 879-5001

Altitude

2,420 meters

Opening hour

08:00am – 18:00pm

Entrance fee

RMB 10 per person

Monk Debating Class

Morning: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, 2 hours

Afternoon: 17:00 am – 19:00 pm, 2 hours

From Monday to Friday

How to get to Gomar Gompa

By foot it takes about 30 minutes hike from Wutun Monastery to Gorma Gompa
By bus Starting from Wutun Monastery to Gorma Gompa, with rate: RMB 30 per person
By rent vehicle Start from Tongren county, the cost is usually RMB 80 one way, and RMB 150 for a round trip journey.

The Four Major Sects of Tibetan Buddhism

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Sengeshong Art Schools

July 24, 2017 by Tibetan Trekking Travel Leave a Comment

Sengeshong Art Schools are indeed the two parts of Wutung monastery, knowns as Lower Wutun monastery (Sengeshong Yagotsang ) and Upper Wutun monastery (Sengeshong Magotsang). The artwork from this schools and the style of art have spread to all areas of Amdo, even today; the tradition of Thangkar art was severely damaged during the 10 year culture revolutionary in the last century; however, benefited by the dedication of few elderly masters whom have successfully restored and handed down to the new generations of Thangkar painting masters. The thangkar style are widely to follow the Tibet, but the infusion of culture including Mongolian, Tu poeple and chinese culture which distinct from Thangkars from other region, such as the central Tibet, and Kham.

Please click for more detail about Sengshong Art Schools………..

Wutun Monastery

July 23, 2017 by Tibetan Trekking Travel Leave a Comment

Wutun monastery is composed by two monasteries that are about 10 minutes walk from one to another;

Brief

Lower Wutun

Palden Chokhorling Monastery, also known as “Lower Wutun monastery” (Sengeshong Yagotsang) was founded in 1385 AD, and covers an area of about 80 acres.

Lower Wutun Buildings

It has one assembly hall, one Maitreya Hall, one Tea-house..etc; It is the larger one of the two, and has a beautiful and old Thangka outside Maitreya Hall. Some Murals of this monastery survived by being covered with newspaper and political slogans. The monastery has a collection of more than 7,000 sutra including Kangyur and Tengyur; There are 8 white pagoda called “Enlightenment of eight pagodas”, all of which are built with fund that is donated by villagers

Upper Wutun

Gendun Puntsok Choling Monastery, also known as “Upper Wutun monastery” (Sengeshong Magotsang) was built in 1645, attached to Longwu monastery.

Upper Wutun Buildings

It has only one assembly hall, one Sakyamuni Buddha Hall and one Maitreya temple. its appearance is not with great look, instead, kind of normal; however, inside of the monastery is quite stunning with the lifelike statues of Buddhas in the dim light shining golden color; and almost all of space has been filled up with countless murals and Thangka

Art School

Both monasteries featuring “Art School”, it has spread to all areas of Amdo, even today; tradition of Thangkar art was severely damaged during 10 year culture revolutionary in last century; however, benefited by dedication of few elderly masters whom have successfully restored and handed down to new generations of Thangkar painting masters.

Its thangkar style are widely to follow Tibet, but infusion of culture including Mongolian, Tu poeple and chinese culture which distinct from Thangkars from other region, such as central Tibet, and Kham. This is thought to be one evidence on a old saying that orgin of Wutun people is from Western Tibet, probably a inherit branch of Guge Kingdom, and to have mingled over centuries with neighboring community