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The founder was Gendun Drup, who was the First Dalai Lama. With its specially historic and cultural importance, the position of this monastery is only next to Shigatse Monastery, which is situated in the second-largest city in Tibet. The monastery is built on a hill in the center of the city. In Tibetan language the full name of the monastery means: &quot;all fortune and happiness gathered here&quot; or &quot;heap of glory&quot;.</p> <p><strong>Significance</strong></p> <p>The monastery is significant as it serves as the traditional seat of successive Panchen Lamas. He is the second highest ranking tulku lineage in the Gelukpa tradition. The &quot;Tashi&quot;, which refers to the Panchen Lama, once had temporal power over three small districts. These districts were not over the town of Shigatse itself, for the town was administered by a dzongp&ouml;n (meaning prefect) appointed from Lhasa.</p> <p><strong>Destroy and Reconstruction</strong></p> <p>In 1791, the monastery was sacked down. At that time, the Gurkhas invaded Tibet and captured Shigatse. Then a combined Tibetan and Chinese army drove them back to the place as far as the outskirts of Kathmandu. And the Gurkhas were forced to reach a peace agreement in future, to pay tribute every 5 years, and return all that they had looted from Tashilhunpo.</p> <p><img height="456" alt="The Closer View" width="640" src="/images/Tashilhunpo/Tashilhunpo2.jpg" /></p> <p>During the Cultural Revolution, two-thirds of the buildings were destroyed. Fortunately, now most of the building has been reconstructed today. In its peak time, there were some 4,000 monks lived here. And because its significant role&nbsp; as the seat of the Panchen Lama, the monastery is under good preservation. Now the Panchen Lama still lives in this region.</p> <p><strong>Influential Figures</strong><br /> &nbsp;<br /> The founder of the monastery, Gedun Drub, was the nephew and disciple of the&nbsp; Je Tsongkhapa. He was a famous Buddhist philosopherand, and later, he became the the First Dalai Lama. Local nobles contributed the funds to construct the monastery.</p> <p>In the history of the monastery, there were two most significant novice monks. The first is Tashilhunpo today, and the other is Lobsang Ch&ouml;kyi Gyalsten. The latter one is the Fourth Panchen Lama. He is significant as being the first Panchen Lama to be recognized by the rulers of Mongolia. The two made great contribution to the expansions to the monastery. A tradition passed b them that&nbsp; all Panchen Lamas live in theTashilhunpo. And all later Panchen Lamas take the expansion of the monastery as one of their tasks. Due to their great efforts, the monastery gradually has the large scale today.</p> <p>Choekyi Gyalpo, the 11th Panchen Lama recognized by China, has been enthroned in the monastery.</p> <p>In its peak time, Tashilhunpo had once lived more than 4,000 monks. It also had&nbsp;&nbsp;four Tantric colleges, each with its own Abbot in the monastery. The four abbots were responsible for finding Panchen Lama's infant incarnation after the death of Panchen Lama.</p> <p><strong>Later History </strong></p> <p>Form the 1980s, Tashilhunpo monastery are partly open to the public. Since then, the monastery attracts a large number of tourists to Tibet today.</p> <p><strong>Jamba Chyenmu 'The Maitreya Temple'</strong></p> <p>The Maitreya Temple, also known as Jambu Chyenmu, is on the west side of the mountain. The monastery is the tallest building of the monastery. In 1914, it was erected by the Ninth Panchen Lama. The building was to house the gigantic statue of the Maitreya Buddha, which is 26.2 metres high. The statue is located&nbsp; on a splendid lotus throne. It is posted in the 'European' posture, with its hands in the symbolic teaching pose. Only a single finger of this statue is almost 4 feet in length. The statue uses up totally 279 kg of gold and 150,000 kg of copper and brass, which was moulded on a solid wooden frame by Tibetan and Nepalese craftsmen. In all four corners of the chamber you can see small versions of the Maitreya. There are murals painting on either side of the door, showing a more active, antic style. It is quite unique in Tibet.</p> <p><strong>Gudong: The Panchen Lama's Palace</strong></p> <p>Gudong, known as the Panchen Lama's Palace, is located on the east side of the monastery. The place is the old living quarters of the Panchen Lama. Inside the building is a narrow courtyard. From here you can get the way to the temple, in which houses the Fourth Panchen Lama's tomb. Large inscriptions are on the vestibule of the temple. Most of these inscriptions are mainly about the praising Panchen's holiness. The tomb inside is decorated with the silver and gold stupa tomb. It is the most splendour one of this kind, even the best compared with those in the Potala Palace. The tomb is also renown for the magnificent jewels with it. The 11-metre high tomb contains as many as 85 kg of gold and countless semi-precious stones. Three statues stand on the left, representing Amitabha. He is the Buddha of Infinite Light, and the Panchen Lams are thought to embody this Buddha. Go to the upper level and you will find a number of long chapels. Inside those chapels embroidered in silk thangka's. These is related to the lives and events surrounded the Panchen Lamas. Most of the handicrafts were made in Hangzou, but many others were actually made throughout Tibet&nbsp; during the 1920s. Today unfortunately, those living quarters of the Panchen Lama are no longer open to the public. However, the rooms are considered much more modest and human throughout the region.</p> <p><img height="400" alt="The Sutra Depository" width="553" src="/images/Tashilhunpo/Tashilhunpo3.jpg" /><br /> &nbsp;<br /> <strong>Main Chanting Hall</strong></p> <p>The main chanting hall houses the throne of the Panchen Lama. There are also two chapels connected with the main hall. The chapel on the left is devoted to&nbsp; Sakyamuni, an elaborately ensconced. He and other eight Bodhisattva were robed in bocade. The one on the right hand is dedicated to Tara, a goddess. She&nbsp; was the one that sanctifies the mountain above. Actually, one can find her&nbsp; image depicted throughout the temple. The centre of the altar is occupied by a White Tara goddess, with a Jade Green Tara on either side of her.</p> <p><strong>Sutra Hall</strong></p> <p>You can see two tiered gilded bronze structure of the roof chapels in the Tashilhunpo Monastery, from the top of the mountain. Among the two, the Sutra Hall is the repository chamber. In the hall there are some 10,000 hand-carved wooden blocks. They were intended to print the Buddhist scriptures. The scriptures are all in Tibetan language, translated fromthe original Sanskrit text. You can buy colured prayer flags and Tibetan lunar calendars from the temple. They are good souvenirs of the scriptures printed in the chamber.</p> <p><strong>Gyeni Chanting Hall</strong></p> <p>The Gyeni Chanting Hall is a chanting chamber of the Tashilhunpo Monastery. Located on the south-east side of the monastery, it is the place where Tibetan Buddhism is practised. Fine trees surround the debating garden in its courtyard. Many famous debate took place in this yard. There is a chapel on the roof of the chanting hall on the north side. Two very tall guardians are formed from the structural columns of the chapel. The two are equipped with appalling masks and ancient armour. After you finish visiting the inside of the chapel, you can find some extraordinary colourful Buddha murals and animal murals outside it. Those murals have emerged from folklore and animism. Most of them are situated near the smaller chanting hall of the monastery.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Ngagang college </strong></p> <p>Ngang College is a smaller chanting chamber of the monastery. It is located on the west side of the main path, or at the upstairs of the Deyangshar courtyard. Every morning there will be a chanting ceremony with musical instruments here. Usually, the ceremony takes place by the few remaining monks of the temple. The hall is traditional reserved for pilgrims to circumambulate. As for tourists, especially the photographers, they have to pay extreme attention to the religious atmosphere.</p> <p><strong>Chuajing Duogang: The Great Courtyard</strong></p> <p>Chuajing Duogang is the great flagstoned courtyard of Tashilhunpo. There are over 1000 repeated Sakyamunihas cover the walls of the yard. Their hands remain the gesture of the five symbolic poses, or known as the mudras.</p> <p><img height="392" alt="Monks in the monastery" width="529" src="/images/Tashilhunpo/Tashilhunpo4.jpg" /></p> <p><strong>The Great Gallery</strong></p> <p>The gallery of the monastery surrounds the Deyangshar courtyard. You can follow the gallery to the chapels on the east side. There you will find as many as hundreds of tiny Buddha statues.</p> <p><strong>The Roof Chapels</strong></p> <p>Several bronze-gated chapels are located on the roof of Tashilhunpo. Those&nbsp; chapels can be divided into two groups, as they stand on two-tiered levels. There is the funerary stupa of the First Dalai Lama on the north side, just above the chapels of the chanting hall. It is worth a visit as this is the only one statue of him that is not entombed in Lhasa. There is a small 'chamber of horrors' chapel on the east side. Demons painted on the monastery are now considered as the defenders of Buddhism. Ancient myth goes that those who have betrayed their origins will be punished by these terrifying gods of the old animist B&ouml;n faith. Later those gods are absorbed by Buddhism. Finally, you can go to the&nbsp; charming Tara chapel on the north side, where you will find blue and gold murals on the walls that depict the great history of Tibetan.</p> <p align="left"><span class="STYLE5"><em>The word files of this webpage and some images are original works of Tibettravel.Org. 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