Tradruk Temple (, referred to as Changzhu Monastery in Chinese) in the
Yarlung Valley
The Yarlung Valley is formed by Yarlung Chu, a tributary of the Tsangpo River in the Shannan Prefecture in the Tibet region of China. It refers especially to the district where Yarlung Chu joins with the Chongye River, and broadens out into a la ...
is the earliest great
geomantic
Geomancy (Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy inv ...
temple after the
Jokhang
The Jokhang (, ), also known as the Qoikang Monastery, Jokang, Jokhang Temple, Jokhang Monastery and Zuglagkang ( or Tsuklakang), is a Buddhist temple in Barkhor Square in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Tibetans, in ...
and some sources say it predates that temple.
[Dorje (1999), p. 191.]
Tradruk Temple is located in
Nêdong County
Nêdong District (; ) is a district of Shannan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
Tradruk Temple, an important early Buddhist monastery dating to the reign of Songtsen Gampo, is located in the Yarlung Valley in Nêdong as is Yungbulakang ...
of
Lhoka
ShannanThe official spelling according to (), also romanized from Tibetan as Lhoka (; ), is a prefecture-level city in the southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Shannan includes Gonggar County within its jurisdiction with Gongkar Chö Mon ...
in the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of ...
, about seven kilometres south of the county seat,
Tsetang
Tsetang () or Zedang (), is the fourth largest city in Tibet and is located in the Yarlung Valley, southeast of Lhasa in Nedong District of the Shannan Prefecture in the Tibet region of China. It is the capital of Shannan Prefecture (which i ...
.
Founding legends
Tradruk Monastery is the largest and most important of the surviving royal foundations in the Yarlung Valley. It is said to have been founded in the 7th century under king
Songtsen Gampo
Songtsen Gampo (; 569–649? 650), also Songzan Ganbu (), was the 33rd Tibetan king and founder of the Tibetan Empire, and is traditionally credited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, influenced by his Nepali consort Bhrikuti, of Nepa ...
.
According to one
legend
A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...
, Tradruk was one of twelve geomantic temples, the Tadül "Border Subduers" () and Yangdül "Further Taming
emples (), that were built to hold down the huge supine
ogre
An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...
ss (, sa, राक्षसि ''rākṣasi'') under Tibet: Tradruk was said to stand on her left shoulder, Katsel (, or ) and Gyama () in
Maizhokunggar County
Maizhokunggar County or Meldro Gungkar County is a county of Lhasa and east of the main center of Chengguan, Tibet Autonomous Region. It has an area of with an average elevation of over . Most of the people are ethnic Tibetan and are engaged i ...
on her right shoulder and the Jokhang in
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...
on her heart. According to another legend, at the site of the monastery there was originally a lake inhabited by a
dragon with five heads. Songtsen Gampo was able to call a huge
falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
by
meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...
, which defeated the dragon and drank all the water of the lake, so that the temple could be built. This legend would explain the name of the temple.
History
Tradruk is said to have been the second of Tibet's earliest great geomantric temples after the Jokhang, and some sources even place it earlier.
Under the rule of
Trisong Detsen
Tri Songdetsen () was the son of Me Agtsom, the 38th emperor of Tibet. He ruled from AD 755 until 797 or 804. Tri Songdetsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, playing a pivotal role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet and th ...
(755–797) and
Muné Tsenpo, Tradruk was one of the three royal monasteries.
During the persecution of Buddhism under
Langdarma
Darma Udumtsen (), better known by his nickname Langdarma (, "Mature Bull" or "Dharma the Bull") was most likely the last Tibetan Emperor who most likely reigned from 838 to 841 CE. Early sources call him Tri Darma "King Dharma". His domain e ...
(, 841–846) and during the
Mongol invasion
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...
from
Dzungaria
Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang". Bounded by the ...
in the 16th century, the monastery was heavily damaged.
In 1351, Tradruk was restored and enlarged; during the reign of the
5th Dalai Lama
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...
(1642–1682), the monastery got a golden roof and under the
7th Dalai Lama
Kelzang Gyatso (; 1708–1757), also spelled Kalzang Gyatso, Kelsang Gyatso and Kezang Gyatso, was the 7th Dalai Lama of Tibet, recognized as the true incarnation of the 6th Dalai Lama, and enthroned after a pretender was deposed.
The Seventh ...
(1751–1757), it was further expanded. In the late 18th century, Tradruk is said to have had 21 temples.
Several buildings were destroyed during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
. During the 1980s, the monastery was renovated and in 1988 it was reconsecrated. Today, the complex has an area of 4667 square metres and is under national
protection
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
.
Tradruk is a stop on the Yarlung pilgrimage route called "three sanctuaries, three chortens."
Alternate names are: Trandruk, Tradruk, Tradrug, Trandrug, Trangdruk, Trhandruk, Trangdruk, Traduk, 昌珠寺, changzhu si, g.yo ru khra 'brug bkra shis byams snyoms lha khang.
Architecture and craftwork
![Tradruk 2018 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Tradruk_2018_02.jpg)
The centre of the temple is the innermost
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, which is said to date back to the original temple built by Songtsen Gampo; according to the legend, it held Buddha
statues of stone and a
Tara statue. Today, the chapel houses
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
figures which are said to contain fragments of the original statues.
The most important treasure of Tradruk is a
thangka
A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...
embroidered with thousands of
pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
s which is said to have been made by
Princess Wencheng
Princess Wencheng (; ) was a member of a minor branch of the royal clan of the Tang Dynasty who married King Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire in 641. She is also known by the name Gyasa or "Chinese wife" in Tibet. Some Tibetan historians cons ...
herself. It depicts Wencheng as White Tara. The thangka is kept in the central chapel on the upper floor. It is one of only three thangkas made by Wencheng. The two others are in the
reliquary stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama in the
Potala Palace
The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. 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 palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythic ...
in Lhasa and in
Xigazê
Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the histori ...
. There is a famous "talking" statue of
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
at the age of eight years in the same room in Tradruk.
Tradruk used to have a famous bell on the verandah which is not in the monastery any more with an inscription containing the name of Trisong Detsen, who probably enlarged and embellished the original buildings.
The inscription on the bell read:
"This great bell was installed here to tell the increase of the life-time of the divine btsan-po Khri Lde-srong-brtsan. The donor Queen Byang-chub had it made to sound like the sound of the drum roll of the gods in the heavens and it was cast by the abbot, the Chinese monk Rin-cen as a religious offering from Tshal and to call all creatures to virtue."[Richardson (1985), p. 83]
The main building is surrounded by several smaller
shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...
s.
Rituals
Each year in June,
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...
dances are staged at Tradruk known as the Métok Chöpa "Flower Offering" ().
Footnotes
References
*
Dorje, Gyurme. (1999). ''Footprint Tibet Handbook with Bhutan''. 2nd Edition. Footprint Handbooks. Bath, England. .
*Dowman, Keith. ''The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide''. 1988. Routledge & kegan Paul, London.
* Guntram Hazod,
Per K. Sørensen, Gyalbo Tsering: ''Thundering Falcon. An Inquiry into the History and Cult of
Khra-’brug, Tibet's First Buddhist Temple''. (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften / Austrian Academy of Sciences 2005), .
* Richardson, Hugh Edward. (1985) ''A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions''. Royal Asiatic Society.
* Snellgrove, David and Richardson, Hugh. (1995). ''A Cultural History of Tibet''. Shambhala. Boston & London. . Originally published in 1968 by George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. This 1995 edition with new material.
* 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.
*Vitali, Roberto. ''Early Temples of Central Tibet''. 1990 Serindia Publications. London.
*von Schroeder, Ulrich. 2001. ''Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet''. Vol. One: ''India & Nepal''; Vol. Two: ''Tibet & China''. (Volume One: 655 pages with 766 illustrations; Volume Two: 675 pages with 987 illustrations). Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, Ltd. : Khra ’brug («tradruk») monastery. Yar lung («yarlung») valley, pp. 306, 551, 701; 705 n. 490; 729 n. 577; 732, 733, 883, 913, 1246, 1248; Figs. X–4, XII–8; Pls. 104A, 106A, 300A, 300C–F, 304B, 356E–F.
External links
Tradrug(British Photography in Central Tibet, 1920–1950; Pitt Rivers Museum,
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
/
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
)
昌珠寺(China Tibet Information Center; in Chinese)
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7th-century religious buildings and structures
Buddhist temples in Shannan, Tibet
Buddhist monasteries in Tibet
Gelug monasteries and temples
Buddhist pilgrimage sites in China
Shannan, Tibet
7th-century establishments in Tibet
Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Tibet