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Mani Stone
Mani stones are stone plates, rocks or pebbles inscribed with the six-syllabled mantra of Avalokiteshvara (''Om mani padme hum'', hence the name ''mani stone''), as a form of prayer in Tibetan Buddhism. The term mani stone may also be used to refer to stones on which any mantra or devotional designs (such as ashtamangala) are inscribed or painted. Mani stones are intentionally placed along the roadsides and rivers or grouped together to form mounds or cairns or sometimes long walls, as an offering to spirits of place or '' genius loci''. Creating and carving mani stones as devotional or intentional process art is a traditional sadhana of piety to yidam. Mani stones are a form of devotional cintamani. The preferred technique is sunk relief, where an area around each letter is carved out, leaving the letters at the original surface level, now higher than the background. The stones are often painted in symbolic colours for each syllable (''om'' white, ''ma'' green, ''ni'' ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prayers On Stones Outside The Tsuglagkhang Complex, McLeod Ganj
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ancestor. More generally, prayer can also have the purpose of thanksgiving or praise, and in comparative religion is closely associated with more abstract forms of meditation and with charms or spells. Prayer can take a variety of forms: it can be part of a set liturgy or ritual, and it can be performed alone or in groups. Prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person. The act of prayer is attested in written sources as early as 5000 years ago. Today, most major religions involve prayer in one way or another; some ritualize the act, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may be p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India in the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Śarīra
Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. Relics of the Buddha after cremation are termed ''dhātu'' in the '' Mahaparinibbana Sutta''. Śarīra are held to emanate or incite 'blessings' and 'grace' (Sanskrit: adhiṣṭhāna) within the mindstream and experience of those connected to them. Sarira are also believed to ward off evil in the Himalayan Buddhist tradition. Terminology Śarīraḥ (pronounced /ɕɐɽiːɽɐh/) means "body" in Sanskrit. When used in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit texts to mean "relics", it is always used in the plural: śarīrāḥ. The term ''ringsel'' is a loanword from the Tibetan རིང་བསྲེལ (''ring bsrel''). Both of these terms are ambiguous in English; they are generally used as synonyms, although according to some interpretations, ringsels are a sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gsumge Mani Stone Castle
The Gsumge Mani Stone Castle, or Songge Mani-Sutra City ( zh, t=松格瑪尼石經城, s=松格玛尼石经城, first=t, p=Sōnggé mǎní shíjīngchéng, l=Gsumge Mani Stone Sutra City; also referred to as / ) is a massive complex built out of Tibetan mani stone tablets located in the Zachukha Grasslands, Sêrxü, Sichuan. Etymology The place where the castle is located is known as () in Tibetan, () is a modal particle. The building The rectangular castle is facing south, measuring 73 metres long and 47 metres wide. The height of the outer wall is about 9 metres, and the highest point of the castle is 15 metres. It is built in the structure of a mandala, without any supporting frames and construction adhesives. The outer walls are covered with rows of niches that look like countless "windows". Most of the niches are filled with exquisitely carved stone statues and paintings of Buddhist deities. The interior is structured like a maze of corridors. A shrine dedicated to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiti Valley
Spiti (pronounced as Piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tibet and India. Spiti incorporates mainly the valley of the Spiti River, and the valleys of several rivers that feed into the Spiti River. Some of the prominent side-valleys in Spiti are the Pin valley and the Lingti valley. Spiti is bordered on the east by Tibet, on the north by Ladakh, on the west and southwest by Lahaul, on the south by Kullu, and on the southeast by Kinnaur. The valley and its surrounding regions are among the least populated regions of India. Spiti has a cold desert environment. The Bhoti-speaking local population follows Tibetan Buddhism. Administration Spiti forms one of the two sub-divisions of the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, the other one being the Lahaul sub-division. The sub-divisional headqua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zanskar
Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was briefly a part of the kingdom of Guge in Western Tibet. Zanskar lies 250 km south of Kargil town on NH301. The Zanskar Range is a mountain range in the union territory of Ladakh that separates the Zanskar valley from Indus valley at Leh. Geologically, the Zanskar Range is part of the Tethys Himalaya, an approximately 100-km-wide synclinorium formed by strongly folded and imbricated, weakly metamorphosed sedimentary series. The average height of the Zanskar Range is about 6,000 m (19,700 ft). Its eastern part is known as Rupshu. The Zanskar had a population of approximately 20,000 in 2020. There has been demands to convert Zanskar into a district. Etymology Zanskar ( ''zangs dkar'') appears as ''“Zangskar”'' mostly in aca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Then, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir, state of India, located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the vicinity of the Karakoram and westernmost Himalayan mountain ranges. From 1947 to 2019, Ladakh was part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947." Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China." Ladakh is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-administ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemis Monastery
Hemis Monastery is a Himalayan Buddhist monastery (''gompa'') of the Drukpa Kagyu, Drukpa Lineage, in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, it was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honouring Padmasambhava is held there in early June. Hemis village is located 40 km southeast of Leh on Leh-Manali Highway and under-construction Bilaspur–Leh line. History Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century. In 1894 Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch claimed Hemis as the origin of an otherwise unknown gospel, the ''Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men,'' in which Jesus is said to have travelled to India during his 'Unknown years of Jesus, lost years'. According to Notovitch, the work had been preserved in the Hemis library and was shown to him by the monks there while he was recuperating from a broken leg. But once his story had been re-examined by historians, it is claimed that Notovitch confessed to hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lahaul
The Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh consists of the two formerly separate districts of Lahaul () and Spiti (; or ). The present administrative centre is Kyelang in Lahaul. Before the two districts were merged, Kardang was the capital of Lahaul, and Dhankar the capital of Spiti. The district was formed in 1960, and is the fourth least populous district in India (out of 640). It is the least densely populated district of India, according to the Census of India 2011. Geography Geologically located on the Tibetan Plateau, Lahaul and Spiti district is connected to Manali through the Rohtang Pass. ''Kunzum la'' or the Kunzum Pass (altitude ) is the entrance pass to the Spiti Valley from Lahaul. It is from Chandra Tal. To the south, Spiti ends from Tabo, at the Sumdo where the road enters Kinnaur and joins National Highway 5. Spiti is barren and difficult to cross, with an average elevation of the valley floor of . It is surrounded by lofty ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gandhola Monastery
Gandhola Monastery (Gaṅdolā, also called Gondla, Gondhla, Kundlah, or Guru Ghantal Gompa) is about before Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh, India on the road from Manali, Himachal Pradesh. It is located on a hill above Tupchiling Village at the sacred junction of the Chandra and Bhaga rivers, which together form the Chandrabhaga or Chenab River. The village is at 3,160 m (10,370 ft) and is famous for its 7-storey tower fort. History The monastery is said to have been founded by Padmasambhava in the 8th century. It is now connected with the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, but its history long precedes the formation of that sect. According to local tradition and also the terma, the ''Padma bka'i thang'', discovered in 1326 in the Yarlung Valley by Urgyan Lingpa, the site was associated with Padmasambhava. But the site was a Buddhist establishment even earlier than that: A chased copper goblet dated to the first century BC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prayer Flags
A Tibetan prayer flag is a colorful rectangular cloth, often found strung along trails and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes. Prayer flags are believed to have originated within the religious tradition of Bon. Barker, page 14 In Bon, shamanistic ''Bonpo'' used primary-colored plain flags in Tibet. Traditional prayer flags include woodblock-printed text and images. History Nepal Sutras, originally written on cloth banners, were transmitted to other regions of the world as prayer flags.Barker, p. 13 Legend ascribes the origin of the prayer flag to the Gautama Buddha, whose prayers were written on battle flags used by the ''devas'' against their adversaries, the ''asuras''.Beer, p. 60 The legend may have given the Indian '' Bhikṣu'' a reason for carrying the heavenly banner as a way of signifying his commitment to ''ahimsa''.Wise, pp. 11–12 This knowledge was carried into Tibet by 800 CE, and the actual f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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