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| Tashilhunpo Monastery |
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Tashilhunpo Monastery is one of the six great Gelugpa institutions,
along with Drepung, Sera and Ganden in Lhasa, and the Kumbum and Labrang
in Amdo. It was founded in 1447 by a disciple of Tsong-khapa, Genden
Drup. Genden Drup was retroactively named the first Dalai Lama and
he is enshrined in Tashilhunpo. Despite its association with the first
Dalai Lama, Tashilhunpo was initially isolated from the mainstream
of Gelugpa affairs, which were centred in the Lhasa region. The monastery's
standing rocketed, however, when the fifth Dalai Lama declared his
teacher - then abbot of Tashilhunpo - to be a manifestation of Opagme
(Amitabha; a deification of the Buddha's faculty of perfected cognition
and perception). Thus Tashilhunpo became the seat of an important
lineage: the Panchen Lamas.
Panchen means 'great scholar' and the title was traditionally bestowed
on abbots of Tashilhunpo. But with the establishment of the Panchen
Lama lineage of spiritual and temporal leaders - second only to,
the Dalai Lamas themselves - the spectre of possible rivalry was
introduced into the Gelugpa order. Naturally it did not take long
to emerge. The next Panchen Lama was declared ruler of Tsang and
western Tibet by the Qing dynasty in China, a move that has been
seen by many as part of a continuing effort by the Chinese to manipulate
a schism between the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama.
Of course it is arguable that such a schism did not require much
prompting on the part of the Chinese. There have long been disputes
between Lhasa and Shigatse over the autonomy of Tashilhunpo. In
the early 1920s, a dispute between the ninth Panchen Lama and the
13th Dalai Lama over taxes (and ultimately Tashilhunpo's right to
self-rule) led to the flight of the Panchen Lama to China. The ninth
Panchen Lama never returned to Tibet. His successor, the 10th Panchen
Lama, was largely kept in Beijing, only occasionally visiting Tashilhunpo.
From the entrance to the monastery, visitors get a grand view.
Above the white monastic quarters is a crowd of ochre buildings
topped with gold - the tombs of the past Panchen Lamas. To the right,
and higher still, is the great white wall that is hung with massive,
colorful thangkas during festivals. The entire complex is surrounded
by a high wall.
During the second week of the fifth lunar month (June/July), Tashilhunpo
Monastery becomes the scene of a three-day, festival and a huge
thangka is hung. |
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