Rongpu monastery
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Tibetan script :
རོང་ ཕུ་ དགོན་
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Wylie transliteration : rong phu dgon
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Pronunciation in IPA : [
rongpʰu ]
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Official transcription of the PRCh : Rongpu
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THDL transcription : Rongpu
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Other spellings: Rongbuk, Rongbu
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| Chinese name |
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Traditional :
絨布寺
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Simplified :
绒布寺
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Pinyin : Róngbù Sì
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Rongpu is the location of a Buddhist monastery of the Nyingmapa in Dingri County of the Xigazê administrative district in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China and is also the name of three valleys that describe the northern flank of Mount Everest , its glaciers and its drainage. In the upper course of the valley, the Rongpu valley is divided into a western, a middle and an eastern valley, all of which lead a glacier at the same time.
Monastery, history and meaning
The Rongpu Monastery was the supply base for some even higher "hermitages", simple stone pile structures in which hermits worshiped the deities living above in the face of the mighty north face of Mount Everest.
The Rongpu Monastery lies at an altitude of 4980 meters and is considered the highest monastery in the world. It is also one of the highest permanently inhabited places on earth. The monastery is an important pilgrimage destination for the sherpas of Tibetan origin living in Nepal, which they reach over the Nangma La pass in a hike of several days. The monastery is also the older and "mother monastery" of the two sister monasteries Rongpu and Tyangboche (in neighboring Nepal).
Today the monastery can be reached in a two- to three-hour drive in an off-road vehicle from the Tibetan town of Shekar Dzong via the Friendship Highway , which the Chinese used to open up the base camp of the northern access to Everest for off-road vehicles. The base camp of the north route is about eight kilometers south of the monastery up the valley, in front of the glacier tongue.
Rongpu Monastery was founded in 1902 by Nyingmapa Lama Ngawang Tenzin Norbu in an area of meditation huts and caves that had been in use by monks and nuns since the 18th century.
Hermit caves for meditation surround the cliffs and walls around the monastery complex and in the valley further up and down. Mani stones and walls decorated with sacred syllables and prayers show the way.
The founding lama, abbot of Rongpu Monastery, also known as "Zatul Rinpoche ", was a highly respected monk for the Tibetans. Even though the Rongpu Lama viewed the early climbers as "heretics," he still gave them his protection and aided them with meat and tea, and prayed for their conversion.
It was also the Rongpu Lama who gave the Tibetan child Namgyal Wangdi the name Ngawang Tenzin Norbu or Tenzing Norgay when he was a small child. In 1953, after participating in several English and Swiss expeditions without summit success, he was the first to climb Everest with Edmund Hillary .
In earlier times the monastery was very active in teaching at certain times of the year: The monastery is the destination of Buddhist pilgrims from far away, some of them come from Nepal and even Mongolia to the Rongpu Valley. These ceremonies took place at the same time in the satellite monasteries founded by the same Rongpu Lama. The ceremonies still take place today, especially in the monastery in Sherpaland in Tengboche .
The Rongpu Monastery was completely destroyed in the so-called Cultural Revolution in 1974 and left in ruins, as the photojournalist Galen Rowell showed in 1981.
Most of the monastery's enormous treasures of books and clothing that had been brought to Tengboche for safety prior to the Cultural Revolution were largely lost in a fire in 1989.
Renovations have been going on since 1983 and some of the new builds are reportedly superb. There is a simple guest house and a small but expensive restaurant by the monastery.
According to Michael Palin , the monastery now houses around 30 Buddhist monks and around 30 nuns, but another source reports that residents speak of only around 20 monks and around 10 nuns. In earlier times up to 500 monks and nuns are said to have lived in Rongpu Monastery.
In 2011, Rongpu Monastery was ranked at the top of a CNN TV channel , Great Places to be a Recluse.
The monastery was completely destroyed as part of the so-called " Cultural Revolution ". However, it has been rebuilt as a monastery to a rudimentary extent and is now inhabited by a few monks and nuns again.
The abbot of the monastery is asked by the Nepalese and Tibetans during an expedition for his blessing at the " puja " cleaning ceremony : Only pure people should approach the gods of Mount Everest. Without a puja ceremony, the Sherpas very often refuse to move on.
The northern of the two standard accesses to Everest leads to the Rongpu Monastery through the Rongpu Valley, to the base camp areas on the middle glacier moraine above the monastery, to the Rongpu Glacier and, further on, into the eastern Rongpu Valley, which is on the east side of the saddle between the north ridge of Everest and the Changtse sub-peak. From there, the so-called "Advanced Base Camp" at the foot of the glaciated high route, the ascent to the 7000 meter high North Col and the long way over several high camps to the summit begins.
See also Mythological Meaning in Everest Article .
Climate and temperatures
Rongpu has the coldest average temperature in January. It is also considered to be the coldest inhabited place in China, but is not considered to be that by the government.
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Monthly average temperatures and rainfall for Rongpu Gompa
Source: [1]
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The lowest temperature recorded in Rongpu is -55.7 ° C. Rongpu is located in the permafrost region , the soils don't even thaw in summer. Only the upper layers of the earth are thawed in summer by the shining sun.
swell
- ↑ Palin (2004), p. 145.
- ↑ Tenzing Norgay and James Ramsey Ullman, Man of Everest (1955, also published as Tiger of the Snows )
- ↑ Early 18th century according to Victor Chan, late 18th century after Gyurme Dorje
- ^ Galen Rowell (1981): Rongphuk Monastery and the Everest Region ( Memento of November 21, 2002 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ a b Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. (2005). Tibet , p. 191. Lonely Planet Publications. ISBN 1-74059-523-8 .
- ↑ Michael Palin . (2004). Himalaya with Michael Palin (DVD) [Documentary]. BBC .
- ↑ Winnie So: 9 great places to be a recluse . CNN. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
Web links
Coordinates: 28 ° 12 ' N , 86 ° 50' E