Sakya monastery
The Sakya Monastery ( Tib .: sa skya dgon pa or sa skya gdan sa, English: 'Monastery on the site of light gray earth') is an important monastery of Tibetan Buddhism . It is the ancestral and main monastery of the Sakya school of the same name and formed the political center of Tibet in the second half of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century . Of the original two building complexes of this monastery, the older part, the so-called north monastery, was almost completely destroyed by the vandalism of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The largely preserved southern monastery, built in the 2nd half of the 13th century, is an important cultural monument due to its architectural design, library and preserved wall paintings. The southern monastery, built as a fortress in the Mongolian era, looks back on a history of over six hundred years.
location
The Sakya Monastery is located in the Sakya district of the same name in today's city of Xigazê , Tibet Autonomous Region , People's Republic of China , at an altitude of 4280 m. Before 1960, this area was a largely independent "principality" ruled by the throne holders of the Sakya School. The Sakya Monastery is 168 km from the Samzhubzê district. The building complex of the northern monastery, which was destroyed after 1960, was erected north of the Drum River (tib .: grum chu ) at the foot of Mount Pönpori (dpon po ri) . The preserved southern monastery is located on the northern side of the Drum River within sight of the northern monastery.
Sakya school and Sakya hegemony
The school tradition starting from the Sakya monastery Sakya is one of the four great schools of Tibetan Buddhism , along with the Nyingma , Kagyu and Gelug . The monastery was the political center of Tibet for a while . The time of the Sakya hegemony (1249–1354), which was replaced by that of the Phagmodrupa , forms a period in the periodization of Tibetan history .
"Colorful striped sect"
In the Sakya monastery, the outer walls of the large monastery wall of the south monastery were provided with vertical stripes of the color red as a symbol for the Bodhisattva Manjushri , white as a symbol for the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and black for the Bodhisattva Vajrapani . The same colored painting also marks the houses in the villages of the followers of the Sakya school. For this reason, the Sakya school tradition in China is also known as the "Colorful Stripes Sect".
North monastery and south monastery
The Sakya monastery was founded in 1073 by Könchog Gyelpo (1034-1102) from the Tibetan aristocratic family of the Khön , who is also the founder of the Sakya school tradition. Könchog Gyelpo discovered on the mountain slope of Benbori that the weathered rock shone brightly, which was considered a good omen for the founding of a monastery, and founded the so-called Northern Monastery.
North Monastery (1073)
The spacious monastery on the north bank of the river at the foot of the mountain has been destroyed. Of the main buildings of the northern monastery, which included the halls Wuze Lhakang, Shongya Lhakang and Kanggar Lhakang, the large two-story main hall is the only structure built during the Mongol dynasty .
South Monastery (1268)
The south monastery on the south bank of the river was built by Phagpa (1235-1280), the last of the Five Sakya Patriarchs (Sakya Gongma nga), on a small plain in the valley. It is relatively complete. It was built in 1268 in the style of a typical fortress from the time of the Mongol dynasty and covers an area of approximately 45,000 square meters.
Founder Phagpa
The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (1215-1294) was the Buddha bids / precepts received from Phagpa, the latter was in 1260 for " Empire teachers " (Tib. Go shri; . Chin Guoshi ) appointed in 1270 to the " Imperial Teacher " (Tib. Ti shri; chin. dishi ). From then on, all so-called imperial teachers holding this office were members of the branch of the family of Koenchog Gyelpo (1034-1102) - the founder and head of the Sakya School - or students or members of the branch of the family of Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) and Phagpa.
architecture
A special feature of the monastery are its two surrounding protective walls, which are provided with loopholes, their four corners have defense towers, there is a protective ditch outside. Its ground plan with its double protective walls is similar to the shape of the Chinese character 回(huí). The complex gives an idea of the defensive war in its construction period .
The large two-story assembly hall ("Sutra Hall") is 83.5 m long, 68.8 m wide and offers space for 7000 lamas. It is the largest such assembly hall in Tibet. It contains statues of the Buddha of the past, present and future as well as the statues of Sakya Pandita and Phagpa.
"Second Dunhuang"
Cultural assets
The Sakya Monastery is the first monastery of the Sakya School. It preserves a large number of cultural goods, including those from the time of the Sakya Dharma King Phagpa, a collection of thousands of books and manuscripts of Sanskrit Pattra leaf sutras and other texts written in Tibetan , Mongolian and Sanskrit discovered because of the the high and cold location of the monastery are well preserved, there are also artistically valuable wall paintings from the Mongol period (on which, among other things, the extensive construction work on the southern monastery is shown), thangkas (Tibetan scroll paintings ) and a huge amount of other art and cultural treasures, such as B. the certificates of appointment and seals awarded by the government of the Mongol dynasty . As remains of the destruction of the bulk of the Tibetan cultural assets, the cultural assets have a particularly high cultural-historical value, which is why the monastery in China is also known as the second Dunhuang , although in contrast to the Buddhist Dunhuang monastery in Gansu, it has a tradition that is still alive today looks back.
Library
A huge library with over 84,000 documents, believed to have been untouched for hundreds of years, was found sealed in a 60 meter long and 10 meter high wall of the monastery. Buddhologists assume that most works are Buddhist in content, but also include works from literature, history, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and the arts. They are currently being researched by the Tibetan Academies of Social Sciences (including its former chairman, Cewang Junmei ).
In addition, the Sakya Monastery is also in possession of the printing blocks of more than two thousand works, including works such as the Brief Sakya Story, Biographies of the Sakya Hierarchs, Records of the Transmission of Teachings (from teacher to student) in the Sakya school and other valuable books count.
Festivities
The monastery is also famous for its ritual dances that take place for larger or smaller ritual acts.
Monument of the People's Republic of China
The Sakya Monastery has been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China (1-95) since 1961 .
During the time of the Chinese Cultural Revolution , the north monastery was almost completely destroyed. In the meantime, parts of the northern monastery have been restored, but not released for inspection. The renovation of the southern monastery has been completed with the exception of the remaining work in the library (status: May 2010).
Large assembly hall of the southern monastery
South monastery
Monks of the Sakya monastery
Inner courtyard of the south monastery
Other monasteries of the Sakya school
The current Sakya Trizin , the throne holder of the Sakyapa , went into exile in India in 1959 and now lives in Dehradun (see main article Ngawang Künga Thegchen Pelbar ). His son Dungsey Gyana Vajra (* 1979) is a monk and the director of the Indian Sakya monastery . Another Sakya monastery is located in the Greenwood District of Seattle .
literature
- Mei Chai 梅 柴: Sajia si / Sagya Monastery. China Intercontinental Press (Wuzhou chuanbo chubanshe 五 州 传播 出版社) Beijing 1998, ISBN 7-80113-393-5 (Chinese-English).
- CW Cassinelli, Robert B. Ekvall: A Tibetan Principality. The Political System of Sa sKya. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY 1969.
- Zhongguo da baike quanshu : Kaogu [Great Chinese Encyclopedia: Volume Archeology]. Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe, Beijing 1986 (Article: Sajia Sajia si, Author: Tu Shungeng 屠舜耕 - Chinese).
- Cihai ["Sea of Words"], Shanghai cishu chubanshe, Shanghai 2002, ISBN 7-5326-0839-5 .
Web links
- bjrundschau.com: Sakya shines in new splendor (by Liu Yunyun)
- chinatoday.com: The Sakya Monastery, the second Dunhuang (China today)
- StudyBuddhism.com: A Brief History of Sakya Monastery
References and footnotes
- ↑ eng.tibet.cn (China Tibet Information Center): Second Dunhuang - Sagya Monastery ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. found on February 18, 2010
- ↑ See himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk: Some Reflections on the Periodization of Tibetan History (Bryan J. Cuevas; PDF file; 133 kB)
- ↑ Chinese huajiao 花 教 ; see chinatoday.com: The Sakya Monastery, the second Dunhuang (found on February 18, 2010)
- ↑ A student of Drogmi Lotsawa (brog mi lotsawa shakya ye shes)
- ↑ These were: 1. Künga Nyingpo (1092–1158), 2. Sönam Tsemo (1142–1182), 3. Dragpa Gyeltshen (1147–1216), 4. Sakya Pandita Künga Gyeltshen (1182–1251), 5. Drogön Chögyel Phagpa (1235-1280)
- ↑ Chinese Fojie 佛戒
- ↑ Phagpa was commissioned by Kublai to create a new Mongolian script , which is also known as the Phagpa script (Chinese 八思巴, ) . It occupies an important place in the history of Chinese script .
- ↑ Chinese Saban 萨班
- ↑ Cihai, p. 329 (dishi).
- ^ Cihai, p. 1422 (Sajia si).
- ↑ chinatoday.com: The Sakya Monastery, the second Dunhuang . May 2005, accessed September 20, 2016.
- ↑ Chinese Fanwen beiyejing 梵文 贝叶 经
- ↑ Photo ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Xinhuanet - English (found on February 18, 2010)
- ↑ chinese Sajia lidai shilüe chinese 萨迦 历代 史略
- ↑ Chinese Sajia jiaozhu fawang zhuanji 萨迦 教主 法王 传记
- ↑ Chinese Sajia chuanfa ji Chinese 萨迦 传 法 记
- ↑ china-botschaft.de: Restoration of three main cultural monuments in Tibet goes smoothly (found on February 18, 2010)
- ↑ paldensakya.org.in: Brief history of the Sakya Lineage and Order ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (found on February 18, 2010)
| Sakya monastery (alternative names of the lemma) |
|---|
| Sagya, Sagya Gonpa, 萨迦寺, 薩迦寺, Sàjiā sì, Sajia si, 萨迦 萨迦寺, 薩迦 薩迦寺 Sàjiā Sàjiā sì, Sajia Sajia Si |
Coordinates: 28 ° 54 '18 " N , 88 ° 1' 4.8" E