|
|
| Kumbum Monastery (Ta'ersi Temple) |
Located 26km south of the city, the sacred Kumbum Monastery ( also called Ta'er Si by Chinese ), is the best of the sights in the Xining area. |
|
 |
The ancient Ta'er Si Monastery, center of the Yellow Sect of Lamaism, was built in 1397. The Lamasery is a complex of dozens of halls and towers built on sacred ground in both Tibetan and Han Chinese architectural style. The major attractions include the Great Temple of Golden Tile, the Lesser Temple of Golden Tile, the Great Meditation Hall, the Nine Room Hall, and the Hall of Butter Sculpture. The Lamasery is also renowned for its "Three Wonders", the extraordinary sculptures of human figures, animals and landscape. In winter, frozen butter is sculptured into Buddhist scenes and displayed on the 15th day of the lunar New Year.It also has 20,000 religious paintings and embroideries. As one of China's six large lamaseries of the Yellow Sect, the Ta'er Lamasery at Huangzhong County is the birthplace of Tsong Khapa, founder of the Yellow Sect. |
| Kumbum (from Tibetan sku-`bum, which means a grand place housing 100,000 Buddhas ). Two of his disciples from this region also went on to become famous in the Buddhist world, one becoming Dalai Lama, the other the Panchen Lama, both great living Buddhas. The present Dalai Lama, now in India, also studied and lived here. The sacred tree of Tibet, called the tree of the ten thousand images and characters. Tibetan tradition has it that this tree grew from the long hair of Tsong-kha-pa (14th century) who was buried in an enclosure of the lamasery of Kunbum where the tree is still growing. Said to be the only specimen of its kind to be found anywhere, although others deny this. Each of its leaves is said by some to bear a letter or a religious sentence written in perfect sacred characters. More recent travelers state that the tree is a noteworthy one whose leaves, twigs, or branches contain innumerable instances of strange lines or markings, though not alphabetic. |
| In total the walled monastery covers about a quarter of a mile squared. Despite the destructive climate and an earthquake in 1990, the monastery has been well preserved in parts, and well restored in the rest. |
| back |
|
