Thrangu Monastery | |
---|---|
Tibetan transcription(s) Tibetan: གཡེར་པ Chinese transcription(s) Traditional: 創古寺 Simplified: 创古寺 Pinyin: Chuànggǔ Sì | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Tibetan Buddhism |
Sect | Kargyu |
Leadership | Thrangu Rinpoche |
Location | |
Location | Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai, China |
Country | China |
Location within Qinghai province | |
Geographic coordinates | 32°57′30″N97°01′0″E / 32.95833°N 97.01667°E Coordinates: 32°57′30″N97°01′0″E / 32.95833°N 97.01667°E |
Architecture | |
Founder | the Seventh Karmapa |
Thrangu (or Trangu) Monastery is located about 7 km south of Jyekundo in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province, China, or the traditional Tibetan cultural region of Kham.
Prior to the huge earthquake on 16 April 2010 (see next section), the monastery, which was magnificently located on grasslands backed by a huge wall of granite, [1] consisted of two buildings about 70 metres apart, known as the upper and lower monasteries. The monastery was approached from the road past a row of eight stupas.
The "lower monastery" had a renovated assembly hall with 80 pillars, gilded images of the 'Buddhas of the Three Times', and murals showing the previous 16 Karmapa Lamas. There were also images of Milarepa, a four-armed Avalokiteshvara, Padmasambhava and Shakyamuni seated on a throne.
The "upper monastery", completely destroyed in the 2010 earthquake, had been restored in 1998, and had an image of Shakyamuni Buddha, flanked by the 'Thousand Buddhas' and an image of Vajradhara. The fine Repkong-style murals depicted the 'Twelve Deeds of Shakyamuni'. The outlying buildings were used by people from the neighbouring village to store grain. [2]
About 10 km northwest up a side road one comes to the rock inscriptions in both Tibetan and Chinese at Bida, some of which are claimed to have been naturally produced, linking the region with the Chinese Princess Wencheng who is said to have stayed here for one month on her way to marry king Songtsen Gampo, circa 640 CE, in Lhasa. There is a large engraved image of Princess Wencheng on a cliff behind the monastery. The Tibetan name for the site is Nampar Nangdze Lhakang. [3] There is a temple here which was previously under the care of the Drigung Kagyu school but, more recently had been looked after by the monks from Thrangu. [4]
Thrangu Monastery and the surrounding areas, including nearby Jyekundo or Gyêgu town, the regional capital, were severely damaged in the 2010 Yushu earthquake. Many monks and thousands of laypeople died. A report filed on 16 April 2010 stated:
The earthquake struck on April 14, 2010, and registered a magnitude of 6.9Mw [6] [7] (USGS, EMSC) or 7.1Ms [8] [9] (CEA, CENC). It originated in Yushu, Qinghai, China, at 7:49 am local time. [10] [11] According to the Xinhua News Agency, 2,698 people have been confirmed dead, 270 missing, and 12,135 injured of which 1,434 are severely injured. [12] The epicenter was located in Rima village (日玛村/日麻村), Upper Laxiu township (上拉秀乡) of Yushu County, [13] [14] in remote and rugged terrain, near the border of Tibet Autonomous Region. The epicenter is about 30 km from Jyekundo or Gyêgu town, the seat of Yushu County, [15] and about 240 km from Qamdo. [6] The epicenter was in a sparsely populated area on the Tibetan plateau that is regularly hit by earthquakes. [16]
For the monastery's reconstruction a new site a few kilometres further south was chosen. Its location near Mahavairocana Temple, also known by the name "Wencheng Temple", which Thrangu's monks traditionally take care of, is at the entrance of the small gorge to the main valley. The reconstruction work was financially supported by the Chinese government. The new monastery was completed in mid-August 2015.
Thrangu Monastery, Canada's first traditional Tibetan Buddhist monastery, was officially opened in Richmond, British Columbia, on 25 July 2010 by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, the worldwide leader of Thrangu Monasteries. [17]
The Assembly Hall of the new monastery contains a four-metre tall gold-plated statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, "filled with precious offerings including scriptures, scrolls and sacred stones and pebbles from 108 different countries, including China, Hong Kong, India, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Canada. The shrine hall can comfortably accommodate up to 500 people." [18]
Thrangu Rinpoche was born in 1933 in Kham, Tibet. He is deemed to be a prominent tulku in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, the ninth reincarnation in his particular line. His full name and title is the Very Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge. "Khenchen" denotes great scholarly accomplishment, and the term "Rinpoche" is an honorific title commonly afforded to Tibetan lamas.
Surmang refers to a vast alpine nomadic and farming region, historically a duchy under the King of Nangchen, with vast land holdings spreading over what is today the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province. In Tibetan King of Nangchen's realm was called the "nyishu dza nga" or the 21 (provinces). Since 1959 it is mainly within the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province in China. Yushu Prefecture is 97% ethnic Tibetan. The Surmang region is one of the poorest regions in China ranking it among the world's highest infant and maternal mortality, almost 100% illiteracy, and personal income of less than US 14¢/day. It is part of the catchment in China of the 30 million ultra-poor.
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Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, also transliterated as Yüxü or Yulshul, is an autonomous prefecture of Southwestern Qinghai Province, China. Largely inhabited by Tibetans, the prefecture has an area of 188,794 square kilometres (72,894 sq mi) and its seat is located in the town of Gyêgu in Yushu County, which is the place of the old Tibetan trade mart of Jyekundo. The official source of the Yellow River lies within the prefecture. Historically, the area belongs to the cultural realm of Kham in Eastern Tibet.
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Yushu (Yüxü) is a county-level city of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Southern Qinghai Province, China. It comprises a surface area of 13,462 square kilometres (5,198 sq mi). In 2010, the overall city's population was 120,447 and 56,802 live within the city core. Yushu is the fourth largest city in Qinghai.
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The 2010 Yushu earthquake struck on April 14 and registered a magnitude of 6.9 Mw or 7.1 Ms. It had a maximum felt intensity of IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale. It originated in Yushu, Qinghai, China, at 7:49 am local time. According to the Xinhua News Agency, 2,698 people were confirmed dead, 270 missing and 12,135 injured, 1,434 of them severely. The epicenter was located in Rima village (日玛村/日麻村), Upper Laxiu township (上拉秀乡) of Yushu County, in remote and rugged terrain, near the border of Tibet Autonomous Region, about 30 km from Gyêgu town or Jyekundo, the seat of Yushu County, and about 240 km from Qamdo. The epicenter was in a sparsely populated area on the Tibetan plateau that is regularly hit by earthquakes.
Thrangu Monastery, Canada's first traditional Tibetan Buddhist monastery, was officially opened in Richmond, British Columbia, on July 25, 2010 by the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, the worldwide leader of Thrangu Monasteries.
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