Sezhig

Tibetan name
Tibetan script : རྟ་ སྒོའ ི་ སེ་ ཞིག་ དགོན །
Wylie transliteration : rta sgo'i se zhig dgon
Pronunciation in IPA : [ takø seɕik kø̃ ]
Official transcription of the PRCh : Dagoi Sêxig
THDL transcription : Sezhik
Other spellings: Seshik, Sezhig, Takue Seshig
Chinese name
Traditional : 大 桂 塞 休 寺
Simplified : 大 桂 塞 休 寺
Pinyin : Dàguì Sāixiū Sì

Sezhig is a monastery of the Bon -School and is located in the county Nyima (ཉི་མ་ རྫོང /尼玛县) in the district of Nagqu of Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China , near two Bon pilgrimage destinations, the lake Tangra Yumco ( དྭངས་ ར་ གཡུ་ མཚོ་ / 当 惹 雍 错) and the mountain peak of Targo Ri , not far from the pass of Dong La on the road between Sangsang and Ombu (འོམ་ བུ / 文 布).

history

The monastery was founded in 1405 , the year Menri , the main monastery of the Bön was founded, and because of its location at two important pilgrimage destinations, it quickly developed into the most important Bön monastery in this region. Nearby are the remains of the old Mongolian fortress Gyaring Dzong (from the 13th century), which, like the monastery, was later destroyed during a Dzungar invasion. During the reconstruction of the monastery, the remains of the Mongolenburg were converted into a two-storey temple, which was surrounded by four wings of monks' dwellings arranged according to the cardinal points. Because of the prevailing disadvantage of the Bon faith in ancient Tibet, the number of monks practicing in the monastery was always modest compared to Buddhist monasteries in Tibet. Before the invasion of the Red Chinese troops, around 20 monks lived in Sezhig, some of whom were abducted during the invasion, living in communes were used in slave labor and forced to marry. The abbot, Tsultrim Namgyal, was incarcerated in the notorious Drapchi prison for 14 years, but after his release in 1984 he immediately returned to the site of the monastery, which had meanwhile been largely destroyed by the raging of the so-called Cultural Revolution , and began, although severely physically damaged by the imprisonment, immediately with the reconstruction of the monastery. Today around 60 monks practice here again.

investment

In the two-storey temple of the monastery, the Lhakang , whose massive walls from the Mongol period had even withstood the storm of the Cultural Revolution, valuable frescoes were uncovered during the reconstruction, which have been carefully restored by the monks since 1995. a. Images of the Bon mountain deities Targo Gegan and Targo Ngomar, as well as the sea goddess Dangra. Particularly noteworthy is a representation of the ancient Bön deity of Kailash , Gangdisê (གངས་ ཏི་ སེ). Of the monks' dwellings, only one building, the dukhang, was restored in 1996. Many relics and objects of worship, for which the monastery was famous in the past, have perished due to the destruction caused.

literature

Bruno Baumann, The Silver Palace of Garuda. The discovery of Tibet's last secret , Malik, Munich 2006, pp. 85 ff. ISBN 978-3-89029-306-6 .

Coordinates: 30 ° 45 '  N , 86 ° 37'  E