Thoding Monastery

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Tibetan name
Tibetan script :
མཐོ་ ལྡིང་ དགོན་ པ
Wylie transliteration :
mtho lding dgon pa, mtho gling dgon pa
Pronunciation in IPA :
[ tʰotiŋ kø̃pa ]
Official transcription of the PRCh :
Toding Goinba
THDL transcription :
Toding Gönpa
Other spellings:
Thoding Gonpa, Tholing Gonpa
Chinese name
Simplified :
托林寺 、 托 定 寺
Pinyin :
Tuōlín Sì, Tuōdìng Sì

The Thoding or Tholing Monastery is a Buddhist monastery in the former Kingdom of Guge and is now located in the Zanda district in the far west of the Ngari administrative district of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China . The monastery was founded in 996. The monastery was the religious center of the Guge Empire.

founding

The Red Temple
The Red Temple in 2007 amidst the ruins of a monastery

In 996 AD the Thoding Tsuglag Khang (Tib .: tho lding gtsug lag khang ; "Temple of Thoding") was founded by Yeshe Ö (Tib .: ye shes' od ). In 1028 a renovation and expansion took place. The extended temple was named Pel Pemed Lhüngyi Drupe Tsuglagkhang (Tib .: dpal dpe med lhun gyis grub pa'i gtsug lag khang ; "Glorious, unique miraculously created temple"), but was also simply called Khangmar (because of its red color) ( tib .: khang dmar ; "Red House" or "Red Temple"). In 1037 Thoding was sacked by the Qarakhanids who came from Central Asia and invaded Ngari on their raids . The destruction could not have been so great or was quickly repaired. Shortly afterwards, when the Indian scholar Atisha traveled to Ngari in the years 1042-1045 and also visited Thoding, he praised the holy figures and wall paintings of this monastery that were found there. In the years 1265–1277 the so-called red temple of Thoding was renovated again by King Dragpa De (Tib .: grags pa lde ). The "Red Temple" survived the massive destruction of the monastery during the Cultural Revolution and can be visited again today.

Extensions to the monastery

Thoding Monastery: The White Temple 2007

The temple called Serkhang (Tib .: gser khang ) "Golden House" was built in the 11th century . The monastery was not significantly expanded until the 15th century under the kings Ngawang Dragpa (tib .: ngag dbang grags pa ) and Lhawang Lodrö (tib .: lha dbang blo gros ). They built the large assembly hall (tib .: 'du khang' dzam gling rgyan ), the so-called “White Temple” (tib .: lha khang dkar po ) and numerous other buildings.

Destruction and renovation

Destroyed figures of saints in the White Temple in 2007
White Temple: Restoration by the Swiss Foundation in 2007

The monastery, which is over a thousand years old, was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution. Numerous buildings were destroyed, most of the saints in the temples that were not destroyed were destroyed and the wall paintings were damaged. Since the monastery is famous for its unusual architectural style and its elegant wall paintings, its remains have been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China since 1996 . Until 2007, however, restoration work to save the still existing cultural monuments, which were still seriously threatened, was carried out exclusively by a small non-profit organization from Switzerland.

climate

In the nearby town of Tholing, the daily temperature fluctuations are very high, which is due to the landscape. The amount of precipitation is very low.

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Tholing
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 5.0 7.4 10.3 17.7 25.9 38.1 36.5 27.0 19.3 15.8 10.6 6.2 O 18.4
Min. Temperature (° C) -24.4 -23.0 -15.7 -13.2 -10.8 -6.2 -2.1 -3.6 -7.1 -12.3 -16.9 -21.5 O −13
Precipitation ( mm ) 0 0 1 14th 16 23 27 25th 23 8th 0 0 Σ 137
Rainy days ( d ) 0 0 1 3 4th 4th 4th 3 4th 1 0 0 Σ 24
Humidity ( % ) 5 5 6th 4th 8th 9 12 11 10 7th 7th 6th O 7.5
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
5.0
-24.4
7.4
-23.0
10.3
-15.7
17.7
-13.2
25.9
-10.8
38.1
-6.2
36.5
-2.1
27.0
-3.6
19.3
-7.1
15.8
-12.3
10.6
-16.9
6.2
-21.5
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g 		0
0
1
14th
16
23
27
25th
23
8th
0
0
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: [1]

literature

  • Roberto Vitali: Records of Tho.Ling. A Literary and Visual Reconstruction of the "Mother" Monastery in Gu.Ge . Dharamsala 1999, ISBN 81-86227-24-5 .
  • Ewald Hein, Günther Boelmann: Tibet - The White Temple of Tholing . Ratingen 1994, ISBN 3-929255-06-5 .
  • Christian Luczanits: Buddhist Sculpture in Clay: Early Western Himalayan Art, Late 10th to Early 13th Centuries . Serindia Publications 2004, ISBN 9781932476026 .

Web links

Commons : Thoding Monastery  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Thoding Monastery (alternative names of the lemma)
Tuolin si 托林寺, Tuoding si 托 定 寺, mtho gling dgon pa; mtho lding dgon pa; Tholing Monastery; Thoding Monastery, Toding, Thoding Gonpa, Toding Goinba, Tuōlín Sì

Coordinates: 31 ° 29 ′ 1 ″  N , 79 ° 47 ′ 53 ″  E