The whole Xiahe County can be said to be built around Labrang Temple. Entering the county seat, you can see a straight street with shops on both sides, and the end is the location of Labrang Temple.
After staying at the Tibet Hotel, I took a break and went directly to the temple to experience Tibetan culture for myself. Monks and lamas dressed in red Tibetan robes can be seen everywhere on the roadside, some old and some middle-aged, and even young and immature faces.
Lamas shopping in the street are no different from ordinary people.
It's getting late, so it's not convenient to enter the temple. Just looking around.
From a distance, you can see devout believers kowtowing one after another. Their front skirts are covered with leather cloth like aprons, their knees are covered with leather cloth, and their hands are covered with drag plates to prevent friction. It is said that it takes two days to kowtow in three steps!
We followed the lamas and believers to turn the prayer wheel around the temple. At first, we thought it wouldn't be too much. I didn't expect that there was almost a circle around Labrang Temple, and there were probably thousands of prayer wheels.
I didn't miss a prayer wheel, and that song kept echoing in my mind when I turned it ~ that day, I shook all the prayer wheels, not to cross them, but to touch your fingertips.
Gift board for believers.
A shining stone engraved with six-character mantra in the corner where believers worship.
At the foot of the mountain, I met a goat mother and son.
Maybe a little high-spirited, more than 3000 meters above sea level. It takes about two hours to walk in a big circle, and I'm still climbing the mountain. I'm really tired, I can't breathe, and my right arm hurts. The owner of the collector's hotel gave me a thumbs-up and said it was an infinite merit.
The next morning, when tourists entered the temple, several halls and pagodas came into view.
In Tibetan, Labrang Temple is called "Gadan Zhuxia, Tashi Yishuqi, Dargy, with a post station", which means a right-handed temple with joy, heart-to-heart, spiritual cultivation and prosperity. Referred to as Zhaxiqi Temple, it is generally called Labrang Temple. Labrang Temple is a transliteration of Tibetan word "Zhang Qiang", which means the residence of the living Buddha master. It is one of the six monasteries of Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and is praised as "World Tibet University" by the world. At the peak, there were more than 4000 monks.
The temple faces south with a total area of 866,000 square meters and a construction area of more than 400,000 square meters. At present, there are more than 90 halls, including six academies, 16 Buddhist temple, 18 Angqian (Living Buddha Palace), monasteries, lecture halls, Fayuan, Yinjing Academy, stupas, etc., forming a number of magnificent buildings with Tibetan characteristics.
It is really impossible to visit all these Buddhist temples, and many temples are closed. Each temple in Yudou is managed by a monk, who is responsible for reminding tourists of the rules of entering the temple to pay homage. They rotate a temple every three years, which is a bit remote and really lonely. It is also a good choice to have the company of cats!
Every hall is solemn, and non-believers are generally not allowed to enter, let alone take pictures. I accidentally took a photo outside a big hall and was forcibly deleted by the Lama. If I don't delete it, I will be fined 500 yuan. Good boy!
The overall building of the temple is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, similar to a trapezoid. There is a saying that there is no wood outside and no stone inside. Each temple is painted with red, yellow and white pigments according to its different functions and grades, and colored curtains are hung on the eaves. At the top and around the wall, there are Falun, Yin and Yang animals, Aquarius, Zanlou, Jinding, and lions covered with copper and gold.
Please allow me to take a picture of my little Tibetan brother who is visiting the shrine. He said to bow down 13 laps. I wanted to take a photo of him with a SLR and send it to my mobile phone. I said I couldn't do it on site and needed computer export, so I gave up.
There is a temple surrounded by books, just like a library or an archives. The scriptures are covered with plastic sheets, for fear of dust!
I can't imagine how many people have benefited from these scriptures and how much Tibetan Buddhist culture they contain.
The whole temple is a mysterious and sacred treasure house of knowledge.
Half a day's time, it is impossible to know too much about Labrang Temple, just browsing.
There are still some things I can't understand, such as whether the Lama can get married? They have been monks all their lives, chanting scriptures every day. Is there anything else to do? What are their sources of income? There is a medical college in the temple, but I can't see where the Tibetan hospital is.
These question marks have yet to be learned and learned!