Guide to Tourism Strategy of Gandan Temple in 2020

Gandan Temple, located in Lhasa, is also known as the First Temple of Yellow Religion. It has a very rich historical and cultural heritage, where you can feel the rich ethnic and cultural customs, attracting a large number of mainland tourists to come for pilgrimage and sightseeing. This is a must-see tourist attraction.

Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism (Yellow Sect) is known as the "six major temples". Three of the six monasteries are in Lhasa, among which Gandan Temple is called the "First Temple of Yellow Religion". Out of the Syracuse under the Potala Palace, I went back to the Youth Travel Service to get the car and went to Gandan Temple, which is known as the "First Temple in the World".

It is said that Gandan Temple is in Lhasa, but it is actually 60 kilometers away from the city. It used to be quite troublesome to visit Gandan Temple when the road was bad. Ordinary tourists can only take a long-distance bus from Lhasa to Gandan Temple, and depart from Jokhang Temple every morning for more than two hours one way. Of course, it's convenient to drive. The car was repaired yesterday, just in time for today's long-distance running.

20 14 July, Labuleng Temple, Xiahe County, Gansu Province.

Gandan Temple is next to Linla Highway from Linzhi to Lhasa. If the clutch hadn't broken the shaft the day before yesterday, it would have been on the road. Now turn around and run 120 km.

This section of Linla Highway is high-speed, with wide road surface and few vehicles. The sky is particularly blue, the kind that only exists in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. White clouds are thick and vast, some like mountains and some like dragons. Looking at heaven and earth, I feel much better. Yesterday's depression will go away with the wind, and a new lonely period will begin again.

When I came to Lhasa two years ago, I wanted to see three temples. Of the six major temples of the Yellow River, Labrang Temple in Gannan, Ta 'er Temple in Qinghai and Rulunbu Temple in Shigatse have all been there, and then the three major temples in Lhasa have been completed.

Ta 'er Temple in Xining, Qinghai, July 20 14.

However, there are four people in a car, and two of them are not interested in temples, so I can't go alone.

The key to traveling together is a word "forbearance", and you can also find like-minded friends or family. The former is easier said than done, but it is actually quite difficult. Friends in daily life may not really tolerate each other (tolerance is higher than like-minded), so friends often go to Tibet together, break up on the way, or endure each other for a month and secretly grind their teeth. Still a family, I have endured it for so many years, and this time it is not bad.

It is said that there is still a kind of confusion, that is, the old king of North China Oilfield I met at the stone slab of Nujiang River: Don't you have a wife or lover?

So there is another saying: couples can go home and get a marriage certificate if they don't fall out for half a month.

I think the easiest thing is to go alone.

20 14, Tashilhunpo Temple in Shigatse, Tibet.

2. The First Temple

Although it is less than 60 kilometers, it takes half an hour to drive to Gandan Temple. The most time-consuming thing is to get off the expressway for more than ten kilometers to Gandan Temple. The road is rugged, and there are some dusty and dilapidated Tibetan houses on the roadside. The fence is full of cow dung. If housing is used to identify the rich and the poor, poverty and depression here are the only things we have seen since we entered Tibet this time. I don't understand how this happened around Lhasa.

Gandan Temple is located on a high mountain overlooking a big house with red, white and Huang San colors. The amazing mountain road leading to the temple can be described as nine bends and eighteen bends. Although the paving quality is excellent, I have made so many detours in Tibet. Somehow, the way to Gandan Temple feels particularly difficult. I think it's the road design. This seems to be a good choice. Actually, the slope is very steep. Although the altitude is less than 4000, the second gear can barely get up. Somehow, this road will distract people's attention, and I am worried that I will rush down the mountain several times.

It is difficult to climb to the top of the mountain, and I can't help sighing. How much manpower and material resources does it take to build this 600-year-old First Temple of the Yellow Sect?

Why is it the first temple of the Yellow Sect? It is necessary to talk about the history of Gandan Temple.

After Tibetan Buddhism was introduced into Tibet from India in the eighth century (Tang Dynasty), four sects successively occupied the dominant position, namely Ma Ning (commonly known as Red Sect) and Sakya Sect (commonly known as Sakya Sect).

Zong Kaba, the founder of the Yellow Sect, was born in Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province (the birthplace of Ta 'er Temple), and later went to Lhasa to preach and establish Gandan Temple, becoming the first abbot of Gandan Temple in Chiba. The establishment of Gandan Temple marked the formal formation of Gelug Sect, and Zong Kaba later died in Gandan Temple. Therefore, Gandan Temple occupies a very high position in Tibetan Buddhism and is called the first temple of Yellow Religion.

Chiba is a very special place. The person with this title is not only the abbot of Gandan Temple, but also the leader of Gelug Sect. Therefore, Gandan Temple is not only the first ancestral temple of Gelug Sect, but also the first temple of Gelug Sect.

Ganden means "fighting" in Tibetan, and fighting is where Maitreya preaches Buddhism. Ganden translated Gao Dan. As the name galdan, you may have heard of it. Galdan, the Mongolian prince who swore to Wei Xiaobao in Duke of Lushan, later became Junggar Khan who rebelled against the Qing Dynasty. In real history, Kangxi levied three taxes on galdan, which led to its defeat and death, thus completely incorporating Xinjiang into the territory. The prince of Galdin studied Buddhism in Tibet. I guess he studied in Lhasa for ten years and must have been to Gandan Temple with his own name.

Gandan Temple is too remote, with few Han tourists and few Tibetans, and the temple does not accept tickets (it is said that tickets for 50 yuan are now available).

Here, I met a family of four from Lhasa. The couple are in their forties and have two children. The wife is a typical Tibetan, the man looks exactly like the Han nationality, and his Mandarin is also very good. He is a civil servant in Lhasa. He brought his family to the mountain today, so I talked to him while walking.

The most sacred place in Gandan Temple is, of course, the Lingta, which contains the remains of the master Zong Kaba. After their death, every Chiba and ganden will build a stupa in this temple. Up to now, it is said that there are more than 90 pagodas.

Gandan Temple in the afternoon is very quiet, and monks will nod politely when they see us. No one is on duty in Zong Kaba Lingta Hall, so visitors can come in and out at will.

-The Lingta of Gandan Temple is very small compared with the huge silver pagoda of Ta 'er Temple in Xining, the birthplace of Zong Kaba. In the middle of the front is a statue of Zong Kaba, flanked by his disciples. Together, the three are called "three mentoring". Statues of these three people are found in many temples and are easy to identify.

Photography should be banned in such a sacred place. The Tibetan from Lhasa who walked into the temple with me took out his mobile phone and clicked it. In this case, I also raised my camera. Compared with what happened at the Syracuse Treasure Museum this morning, it's a far cry from it.

Photography is not blasphemy, but some behaviors are. I have seen the best 250 in Tibet. He called the people in front of the Buddha to get out of the way, and then clicked, and the flash could open the shutters. Forget the monk, I'm going to go up and kick him. As long as there are many tourists, both Tibetans and monks have a bad attitude towards the Han people, that is, there is too much garbage.

Cuoqin Hall is a place where monks get together to recite scriptures every day, and there is no one at this time. It is said that this temple has a history of 500 years and can accommodate 3300 monks to recite scriptures at the same time. Now it is obvious that everything is wrong from the age of the building to the size.

The figure of 300 is the number of monks in Gandan Temple before the peaceful liberation of Tibet. Actually, the maximum number is 5,000-6,000. With the building scale of Gandan Temple today, I estimate that there will be no more than 1000 monks living here.

Walking to the debate field, there was a noise inside. But in the open-air shade, dozens of monks and nuns are debating the scriptures, in groups of three, some shouting loudly, some bowing their heads, some clapping their hands, and of course some people are chatting and playing mobile phones.

I stood by and raised my camera, and no one cared. Nobody's watching. It is very common for Tibetans to make pilgrimages here. They are more concerned about going to the temple to worship Buddha. We will discuss the debate classics in the next article.

Leaving the debate field, I heard a loud and neat chanting from a building, which was a little immature, like a group of middle school students reading.

I looked for it for a long time, and then I came to a warehouse (sutra depository). Sure enough, there are two classrooms with many shoes left at the door. I went in through the back door of a room and saw dozens of young monks and nuns sitting in two or three rows.

The monks and nuns chanted loudly with the rhythm, clapping their hands while chanting. Sometimes pause, the teacher smiles and prompts, and the students follow suit. Every once in a while, everyone applauds. Teachers and some students also saw me standing at the door with a camera, and no one cared. I watched it quietly for a while and felt really good here.

Most buildings in Gandan Temple can enter and leave at will. Entering the sutra printing office, two Tibetan boys are printing sutras. They saw my arrival, smiled and nodded, and then bowed their heads and worked hard.

Like school. The quiet Gandan Temple is really worth visiting.

Out of the temple to the parking lot, I met a family of four. The man said he would go around the mountain and then go back, and invited me to attend. Because I made an appointment to have a meal (see "Exploring Tibetan Food in China 10 1 Lhasa Andono"), I declined politely because I was afraid that the time was too late and I was worried that the plateau physical strength could not stand it.

I deeply regret it afterwards. In those years of travel, time was always full, with special emphasis on being a loner, unwilling to walk with others and not trying to get in touch with local people. When I met this opportunity to learn about the local culture, I gave it up. If so, what is the significance of traveling?

Passing through the gray village at the foot of the mountain, I remembered a story that the Tibetan told me.

At that time, almost all temples in Tibet except Potala Palace were severely damaged. Among the famous temples, the decline of Gandan Temple can no longer be described by the idiom "disaster". In order to clear the Zuoqin Hall, which has a long history and claims to hold 3,300 people, explosives were even used for blasting. In the end, except for the bare top of the mountain, there was nothing left in the first hall of the Yellow Sect, and countless treasures were never seen again.

The present Gandan Temple was rebuilt only a few decades ago and its scale is too small. As for the remains of the Lingta in the temple now, you can choose to believe those magical legends, which are found in every destroyed and rebuilt temple. You can also choose to trust common sense.

The stone and wood of this temple, which once housed thousands of people, were blown to ashes? No, it's actually distributed to local people who took part in the temple demolition.

It is said that-only paying attention to all Tibet-people hate the residents below Ganzi Temple, thinking that they have committed crimes and will never make a fortune for generations. I think this statement is ridiculous. The descendants of those who are more guilty than at the foot of the mountain are quite rich.