Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China.
Bhrikuti Devi (Sanskrit: भृकुटी, known to Tibetans as Bal-mo-bza' Khri-btsun, Bhelsa Tritsun, or simply, Khri bTsun was a princess of the Licchavi kingdom in Nepal. In c.622 Bhrikuti became the first wife and queen of the king of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo. Bhrikuti was seen as an incarnation of Green Tara, and is credited for bringing Buddhism to Tibet, together with the Jowo Mikyo Dorje statue for which the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa was built.
The Potala Palace is a dzong fortress in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994.
The Jokhang, or the Ra sa 'phrul snang gtsug lag khang, or Qoikang Monastery, or Zuglagkang,, is considered the "heart of Lhasa". The Jokhang consists of a Tibetan Buddhist temple, its temple complex, and a Gelug school monastery. Located in Barkhor Square, it was built in c.640 by King Songsten Gampo to house the Jowo Mikyo Dorje, a statue of Akshobhya Buddha, brought to Tibet by his Nepalese queen, Bhrikuti. Another statue, the Jowo Shakyamuni, brought by his Tang Chinese queen Wencheng, is currently housed in the temple and the Jowo Mikyo Dorje is housed in the Ramoche, in Lhasa.
Norbulingka is a palace and surrounding park in Lhasa, Tibet, built from 1755. It served as the traditional summer residence of the successive Dalai Lamas from the 1780s up until the 14th Dalai Lama's exile in 1959. Part of the "Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace", Norbulingka is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was added as an extension of this Historic Ensemble in 2001. It was built by the 7th Dalai Lama and served both as administrative centre and religious centre. It is a unique representation of Tibetan palace architecture.
Sera Monastery is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet, located 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north of Lhasa and about 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the Jokhang.
Muru Ningba or Meru Nyingba is a small Buddhist monastery located between the larger monasteries of Jokhang and Barkhor in the city of Lhasa, Tibet, China. It was the Lhasa seat of the former State Oracle who had his main residence at Nechung Monastery.
Ramoche Temple is a Buddhist monastery in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region. It dates back to the seventh century and is considered to be the most important temple in the city after the Jokhang Temple. Situated in the northwestern part of the Tibetan capital, it is east of the Potala and north of the Jokhang. The site occupies an area of 4,000 square meters.
Monlam, also known as The Great Prayer Festival, falls on the 4th to 11th day of the 1st Tibetan month in Tibetan Buddhism.
Kora is a transliteration of a Tibetan word that means "circumambulation" or "revolution". Kora is both a type of pilgrimage and a type of meditative practice in the Tibetan Buddhist or Bon traditions. A Kora is performed by the practitioner making a circumambulation around a sacred site or object, typically as a constituent part of a pilgrimage, ceremony, celebration or ritual. In broader terms, it is a term that is often used to refer to the entire pilgrimage experience in the Tibetan regions.
Tibetan Buddhist architecture, in the cultural regions of the Tibetan people, has been highly influenced by Nepal, China and India. For example, the Buddhist prayer wheel, along with two dragons, can be seen on nearly every temple in Tibet. Many of the houses and monasteries are typically built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south. Rocks, wood, cement and earth are the primary building materials. Flat roofs are built to conserve heat and multiple windows are constructed to let in the sunlight. Due to frequent earthquakes, walls are usually sloped inward at 10 degrees.
Tradruk Temple in the Yarlung Valley is the earliest great geomantic temple after the Jokhang and some sources say it predates that temple.
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also referred to as the 2008 Tibetan uprising in Tibetan media, was a series of protests and demonstrations over the Chinese government's treatment and persecution of Tibetans. Protests in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, by monks and nuns on 10 March have been viewed as the start of the demonstrations. Numerous protests and demonstrations were held to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the 1959 Uprising Day, when the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet. The protests and demonstrations spread spontaneously to a number of monasteries and throughout the Tibetan plateau, including into counties located outside the designated Tibet Autonomous Region.
The 1987–1989 Tibetan unrest was a series of protests and demonstrations that called for Tibetan independence. These protests took place between September 1987 and March 1989 in the Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Tibetan regions of Sichuan, and Qinghai, as well as the Tibetan prefectures in Yunnan and Gansu. Protests began shortly after the Dalai Lama, the religious and temporal leader of Tibet exiled in India since the 1959 Tibetan unrest, proposed a Five Point Peace Plan regarding the “status of Tibet” on September 21, 1987, which was subsequently rejected by the Chinese government. The Plan advocated for greater respect and autonomy of the Tibetan people, and claimed that “Tibet was a fully independent state when the People’s Liberation Army invaded the country in 1949-50.” China rejected the idea of Tibetans as an invaded people, stating that “Tibet is an inalienable part of Chinese territory” and has been for hundreds of years. The Tibetan sovereignty debate is longstanding, and the Tibetan assertion that they are a separate and unique people invaded by China has become a central argument for their independence.
Tromzikhang is a historic building in Barkhor, Lhasa in Tibet, China. It is located northwest of Jokhang temple at the corner of the left side of Barkhor Tromshung Jang (street). It was demolished in the 1990s except for the magnificent facade. Today Tromzikhang is a notable market in Lhasa and a housing complex.
Garu Nunnery is a historical hermitage, belonging to Sera Monastery. It is located north of Lhasa, Lhasa Prefecture, in the Tibet region of China. The nunnery has an ancient history traced to Padmasambhava, the Indian Buddhist preceptor, who visited this location. He not only named the place as "Garu" but also ordained that it shall be a "Nunnery" not a monastery of monks on the basis of prophetic visions he had during his visit to the place. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some nuns from the monasteries have made publicized demonstrations for Tibetan independence. Many of the protesting nuns were arrested, incarcerated, brutally handled and released only after protracted detention.
The Two Jowo Statues are the Jowo Mikyo Dorje of Buddha Akshobhya, and the Jowo Shakyamuni Rinpoche of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Jowo Mikyo Dorje was made in Nepal and brought to Tibet c.622 by the Nepali princess Bhrikuti, who is credited with the spread of Buddhism to Tibet. The Jowo Mikyo Dorje was placed in the Jokhang which was purpose built in c.640 for the statue.
The Shigatse Dzong, also known as Samdruptse Dzong, is located in Shigatse, Tibet, China. It is spelt Rikaze Dzong.
Lhasa is noted for its historic buildings and structures related to Tibetan Buddhism. Several major architectural works have been included as UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.
Lhasa is a prefecture-level city, one of the main administrative divisions of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It covers an area of 29,274 square kilometres (11,303 sq mi) of rugged and sparsely populated terrain. Its urban center is Lhasa, with around 300,000 residents, which mostly corresponds with the administrative Chengguan District, while its suburbs extend into Doilungdêqên District and Dagzê District. The consolidated prefecture-level city contains additional five, mostly rural, counties.
