Tamshing Lhakhang

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Monastery student in Tamshing

The Tamshing Monastery was put on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites by Bhutan in 2012 . It is a monastery of Tantric Buddhism and a foundation of Pema Lingpa (1450–1521), considered the Tertön of Padmasambhava : it is believed that Pema Lingpa found some of the religious texts (" treasures ") that Padmasambhava had hidden centuries earlier . Pema Lingpa thus became the founder of one of two Buddhist schools predominant in Bhutan. In 1501 he founded Tamshing Monastery. It is historically, culturally and spiritually important to the people of Bhutan. Besides Tamshing, there are only two other sites where the Pema Lingpa tradition is passed on to this day: Gangtey Gonpa and Drametse Gonpa.

Architecture and wall paintings

Tamshing is a small one-story temple surrounded by monasteries and village buildings. From here you can see the Kurje Monastery on the other side of the river, which can be crossed on a nearby pedestrian bridge. Tamshing Monastery is in urgent need of restoration. Since the roof is damaged, the wall paintings are peeling off the plaster.

The monastery was started in 1501 and was completed in 1505. It was renovated at the end of the 19th century. In the 1990s, new sanitary facilities were built and individual rooms were renovated.

The architecture is typical of the time: a stone building with a circular path to walk around the sanctuaries.

The sanctuary on the first floor is dedicated to Guru Rinpoche and his eight manifestations. The 36 wall paintings date from the time the monastery was founded and are probably the oldest surviving paintings in Bhutan. They are correspondingly important for the history of art and religion. Fortunately, unlike other comparable wall paintings, they were not painted over at a later time on behalf of pious donors. Each mural consists of a central figure surrounded by smaller figures, her court; the latter are shown on both sides in small horizontal fields. All representations correspond to the iconographic traditions of the Pema Lingpa school.

The wall paintings in the gallery cannot be dated exactly. The lineage of Pema Lingpa is shown on the inner wall and the sixteen arhats can be seen on the outer wall , separated by the Buddha of Medicine.

The ceiling of the upper floor is very low, supposedly because Pema Lingpa was short in stature and the temple was built according to his body dimensions. The wall paintings on the upper floor depict the Thousand Buddhas and the Twenty-One Taras (female emanations of Avalokiteshvara ).

The wall paintings in the area around the upper floor show the three embodiments of the Buddha ( Amitabha , Avalokiteshvara and Padmasambhava ) on the outer wall, depicted with elegant yellow lines on a red background. The interior wall is decorated with a popular religious cycle called Sampa Lhundrup. The eighty-four Mahasiddhas follow in a green hilly landscape. On the west gallery above the entrance is Gonkhang , the sanctuary of the terrifying deities.

The main sanctuary on the upper floor has a shrine with the statue of Buddha Amitayus . On the right side of the statue, a dark blue mural shows the ancient Buddha Samantabhadra , surrounded by four bodhisattvas and important Nyingmapa lamas. The mural on the left is a white depiction of the Buddha Vajrasattva holding a diamond bolt and bell and surrounded by four other bodhisattvas.

In the vestibule of the sanctuary on the ground floor, an armored shirt is shown that Pema Lingpa is said to have created himself - according to tradition, he was also well versed in blacksmithing. According to tradition, if one walks around the sanctuary three times in this heavy armor, some of his sins will be erased.

Monastery life

Study of religious texts in Tamshing

A small convent of the Pema Lingpa tradition came in 1959 from the mother monastery Lhalung in Lhodrak (Tibet) and settled here. Today around a hundred monks live in Tamshing Monastery, devoting themselves to teaching the novices and the population.

In the eighth month of the Bhutan calendar, the festival of Phala choedpa takes place in Tamshing . For three days, ritual dances are performed, which are a specialty of the Pema Lingpa tradition.

Villagers visit the temple every day for worship and personal rituals take place here.

World Heritage Criteria

Criterion III

Tamshing Monastery is directly connected to the work of Pema Lingpa, who chose it as his residence and died here in 1521. The tradition established by him is still maintained here today, the ritual dances are particularly noteworthy.

Criterion IV

The Tamshing Monastery was built on a place where, according to tradition, Padmasambhava himself meditated and which was thereby sanctified. Worship services for the welfare of the people of Bhutan and all humanity are celebrated here.

Web links

Commons : Tamshing Lhakhang  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Tamshing Lhundrup Choling. In: Bhutan Cultural Atlas. Retrieved November 11, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Tamzhing Monastery. In: UNESCO Tentative Lists. Retrieved November 11, 2018 .

Coordinates: 27 ° 35 ′ 16 ″  N , 90 ° 44 ′ 16 ″  E