Sakya Monastery

The monastery Sakya (Tibetan: sa skya dgon pa or sa skya gdan sa, German, monastery on the spot light gray soil ' ) is a major monastery of Tibetan Buddhism. It is the master and main monastery of the same name Sakya school and formed in the second half of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, the political center of Tibet. Of the original two building complexes of this monastery was the older part, the so-called Northern Monastery, almost completely destroyed by the vandalism of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The Südkloster largely preserved, built in the second half of the 13th century is an important cultural monument because of its architectural design, its library and the preserved wall paintings. The Südkloster built as a fortress of the Mongol - time look back on a history of over six hundred years.

• 5.1 Cultural Heritage
• 5.2 library

Location

The Sakya Monastery is located in the same county Sakya of today's governmental district of Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, at an altitude of 4280 m. Before 1960, this area was a largely independent " principality ", which was ruled by the throne holders of the Sakya school. The Sakya Monastery is located 168 km from the city of Shigatse. The complex of buildings destroyed after 1960 Northern monastery was north of the Drum - flow ( Tib: grum chu ) at the foot of the mountain Pönpori ( dpon po ri ) built. The Südkloster obtained is located on the northern side of the drum River within sight of the North Monastery.

Sakya and Sakya hegemony

The hazards arising from the Sakya Monastery Sakya school tradition is in addition to the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery was for a time the political center of Tibet. A period in the periodization of Tibetan history is the period of Sakya hegemony (1249-1354), which was replaced by the Phagmodrupa.

" Colorful stripes sect "

In the Sakya Monastery, the outer walls of the great monastery wall of Südklosters were provided with vertical color stripes of the color red as a symbol of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, white as a symbol of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and Black for the bodhisattva Vajrapani. The same color painting also features the houses in the villages of the followers of the Sakya school. For this reason, the Sakya school tradition in China is known as the " Colorful stripes sect ".

North Monastery and Südkloster

The Sakya Monastery was founded in 1073 by Könchog Gyelpo ( 1034-1102 ) from the Tibetan noble family of the Khon, who is also the founder of the Sakya school tradition. Könchog Gyelpo discovered on the slope of Benbori that the weathered rock shone bright, what was considered a good omen for a monastic foundation, and founded the so-called northern monastery.

North Monastery ( 1073 )

The sprawling monastery on the north bank of the river at the foot of the mountain is destroyed. From the main buildings of the North Monastery, which the Halls Wuze Lhakang Shongya Lhakang and Kanggar Lhakang included, made ​​structure is known as the only one in the time of the Mongol dynasty get the large two-story main hall.

Südkloster ( 1268 )

The Südkloster on the south bank of the river was built by Phagpa (1235-1280), the last of the Five Sakya patriarch ( Sakya Gongma nga ), on a small plain in the valley. It is relatively intact. It was built in 1268 in the style of a typical fortress from the time of the Mongol dynasty, and covers an area of ​​about 45,000 square meters.

Founder Phagpa

The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (1215-1294) was the Buddha's commandments / precepts of Phagpa received the latter in 1260 to the " kingdom of teachers " (Tib. go shri; Chinese Guoshi ) appointed in 1270 to the " Imperial Teacher" (Tib. ti shri; Chinese dishi ). From then on, were all of this Official vesting so-called Imperial teacher members of the family branch of Könchog Gyelpo (1034-1102) - the founder and head of the Sakya school - or students or members of the family branch of Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) and Phagpa.

Architecture

A special feature of the monastery are its two surrounding it protective walls, which are provided with loopholes, its four corners have towers, outside there is a moat. Its ground plan with its double protection walls resembles the shape of the Chinese character回( Hui ). The system gives an idea about the war in defense of its construction.

The large two-story meeting hall ( " Sutra Hall " ) is 83.5 m long, 68.8 m wide and can accommodate 7,000 lamas. It is the largest such meeting hall of Tibet. In it are statues of the Buddha of the past, the present and the future as well as the statues of Sakya Pandita and Phagpa.

" Second Dunhuang "

Cultural Heritage

The Sakya Monastery is the first monastery of the Sakya school. It preserves a large number of cultural goods, including those originating from the time of the Sakya Dharma King Phagpa collection of thousands over a thousand year old books and manuscripts of Sanskrit Pattrablätter sutras and other written in Tibetan, Mongolian and Sanskrit texts discovered, because of the high and cold position of the monastery are well preserved, and there are wall paintings from the Mongol period ( on which, among other things, the extensive construction work are shown on Südkloster ), thangkas ( Tibetan scroll paintings ) and a huge amount of other art and cultural treasures, such as the right conferred by the Government of the Mongol dynasty of appointment and seal. The cultural heritage today as remnants after the destruction of the bulk of the Tibetan cultural heritage particularly high heritage value, which is why the monastery in China is known as the second Dunhuang, where it is contrary to the Buddhist Monastery of Dunhuang in Gansu however remains today a living tradition looking back.

Library

A formidable force for hundreds of years as unaffected library of over 84,000 documents was found in a 60 -meter long and 10 meter high wall of the monastery sealed. Buddhologists assume that most of the works are Buddhist content, but also works of literature, history, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and the arts are included below. You will be explored at the time of the Tibetan Academies of Social Sciences ( including its former chairman Cewang Junmei ).

In addition, the Sakya monastery also owned the printing blocks of more than two thousand works, including works such as the Short Sakya history, biographies of Sakya hierarchs, records of the transmission of the teaching ( from teacher to student ) in the Sakya school and other precious books include.

Festivities

The monastery is also famous for its events to larger or smaller ritual actions ritual dances.

Monument to the People 's Republic of China

The Sakya Monastery is on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China ( 1-95 ) since 1961.

In the period of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Northern monastery was almost completely destroyed. Meanwhile, parts of the northern monastery are restored, but not released to the public. The renovation of the Südklosters is completed by some remaining work in the library (as of May 2010).

Large assembly hall of the Südklosters

Südkloster

Monks of the Sakya monastery

Other monasteries of the Sakya school

The current Sakya Trizin, the throne holder of the Sakya in 1959 went to India into exile and now lives in Dehradun ( see main article Ngawang Kunga 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.