Changzhug

Changzhug is a Vajrayana Buddhist monastery in Nêdong County of Shannan Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, about seven kilometres south of the county seat Zêtang. [Guójiā cèhuìjú dìmíng yánjiūsuǒ 国家测绘局地名研究所: Xīzàng dìmíng 西藏地名 / bod ljongs sa ming བོད་ལྗོངས་ས་མིང།, Beijing, Zhōngguó Zàngxué chūbǎnshè 中国藏学出版社 1995, ISBN 7-80057-284-6, pp. 70f.]

Founding legends

Changzhug is one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries of Tibet. It is said to have been founded in the 7th century under king Songzain Gambo. According to one legend, Changzhug was one of twelve geomantic temples, Tadü "(mtha’ ’dul)" and Yangdü "(yang ’dul)", which were built to hold down the huge supine ogress Sinmo ("srin mo", Sanskrit "rākṣasi") under Tibet: Changzhug was said to stand on her left shoulder, Gazai "(ka rtsal / bka’ tshal / bka’ rtsal)" bei Gyama ("rgya ma" / "Jiǎmǎ" 甲马) in Maizhokunggar ("mal gro gung dkar rdzong" / "Mòzhúgōngkǎ Xiàn" 墨竹工卡县) on her right shoulder and the Qokang in Lhasa on her heart. [Alex McKay: The History of Tibet (RoutledgeCourzon 2003), ISBN 0-700-71508-8, pp. 340 f.
Guntram Hazod: The Royal Residence Pho brang byams pa mi ’gyur gling and the Story of Srong btsan sgam po’s Birth in Rgya ma. In: Henk Blezer (Hg.): Tibet, Past and Present (Brill 2002), ISBN 90-04-12775-5; pp. 41f.
vgl. Michael Aris: Bhutan. The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom (Warminister, Aris and Phillips 1979), ISBN 0856681997, pp. 3ff.] According to another legend, at the site of the monastery there was originally a lake inhabited by a dragon with five heads. Songzain Gambo was able to call a huge falcon by meditation, which defeated the dragon and drank all the water of the lake, so that the temple could be built. [Jeremy Atiyah, David Leffmann, Simon Lewis: China (Dumont 2004), ISBN 3-7701-6150-5, p. 1039.] This legend would explain the name of the temple.

History

Under the rule of Chisong Dêzain (755–797) and Munê Zainbo, Changzhug was one of the three royal monasteries.

During the persecution of Buddhism under Langdarma ("glang dar ma", 841–846) and during the Mongol Invasion aus from Junggaria (north Xinjiang) in the 16th century, the monastery was heavily damaged.

In 1351, Changzhug was restored and enlarged; during the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama (1642–1682), the monastery got a golden roof and under the 7th Dalai Lama (1751–1757), it was further expanded. In the late 18th century, Changzhug is said to have had 21 temples. Several buildings were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. During the 1980s, the monastery was renovated and in 1988 it was consecrated again. [Gyurme Dorje: Tibet Handbook (Footprint ²1999), ISBN 1-900949-33-4, p. 192.] Today, the complex has an area of 4667 square metres and is under national protection. [Chinas Tibet: Zahlen und Fakten 2005 – [http://www.bjrundschau.com/2006-g/2006-20/2006.20-c-t-1.htm Denkmalschutz] ("Beijing Rundschau / Beijing Review"; in German)]

Architecture and craftwork

The centre of the temple is the innermost chapel, which is said to date back to the original temple built by von Songzain Gambo; according to the legend, it held Buddha statues of stone and a Tara statue. Today, the chapel houses clay figures which are said to contain fragments of the original statues.

The most important treasure of Changzhug is a Tangka embroidered with thousands of pearls, which is said to have been made by princess Wen Cheng herself. It depicts Wen Cheng as White Tara. The Tangka is kept in the central chapel on the upper floor. It is one of only three Tangkas made by Wen Cheng. The two other ones are in the reliquary stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama in the Potala in Lhasa and in Xigazê. There is a famous “talking” statue of Padmasambhava at the age of eight years in the same room in Changzhug.

Changzhug used to have a famous bell, [Hugh Edward Richardson: A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions (Royal Asiatic Society 1985), ISBN 0-904759600/4, p. 82f.] which is not in the monastery any more.

The main building is surrounded by several smaller shrines.

Rituals

Each year in June, ritual dances are staged at Changzhug, known as Mêdog Qoiba ("me tog mchod pa", “flower offering”).

References

* Guntram Hazod, Per K. Sørensen, Gyalbo Tsering: Thundering Falcon. An Inquiry into the History and Cult of Khra-’brug, Tibets First Buddhist Temple (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften / Austrian Academy of Sciences 2005), ISBN 3700134959.
* ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ།: bod kyi deb ther dpyid kyi rgyal mo’i glu dbyangs བོད་ཀྱི་དེབ་ཐེར་དཔྱིད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མོའི་གླུ་དབྱངས།, chapter 6.

External links

* [http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/thumbnails_region_Tradrug.html Tradrug] (British Photography in Central Tibet, 1920–1950; Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford / British Museum)
* [http://www.tibetinfor.com.cn/zt/zt20020021216100950.htm 昌珠寺] (China Tibet Information Center; in Chinese)

Footnotes