Tsinghai Kumbum Monastery has a very long history. It is a Buddhist holy place located in the northwest of China. Here you can feel the sacred Buddhist sounds and let your soul be purified instantly. Below is a detailed travel guide to Tsinghai Kumbum Monastery.
With devout faith, the car gradually drove out of Gansu and into Qinghai Province. If you look carefully, you will see that the scenery and landforms are slowly changing.
Two years ago, I came to Qinghai for a seven-day trip to the west of the sea. The sharp contrast between the unmanned area and Chaka Salt Lake amazed everyone who passed by.
Tsinghai Kumbum Monastery, the last stop of the first leg of the “Walking China, Smart West Journey” event of the new generation of Dongfeng Yueda Kia Zhipao, will be where I end my work.
The place where the convoy passed always aroused the curiosity of the passersby. They either looked on or talked and smiled with others.
It was past lunch time when we arrived at Kumbum Monastery, so we found a noodle shop on the side of the road.
These pan-fried dumplings look very similar to the steamed buns in Northeast China, and they are full of meat filling.
Kumbum Monastery, also known as the Kumbum Temple, got its name because the tower was built before the temple.
The afternoon sun was warm and a little too much, so most people were taking a nap in the shade, looking at the white pagoda, prayer flags, and flowing clouds in front of them.
Kumbum Monastery has more than 1,000 courtyards, including palaces, temples, scripture halls, bedrooms, living quarters for lamas, and gardens. They are all harmoniously integrated.
Monks can be seen everywhere in the temple. They live a life that seems unusual to us but is their everyday life. We met a young monk who was climbing the steps with a playful gesture. Such a childhood is something I can only dream of.
An old woman’s steps were slow, and she used one hand to support herself against the wall. The sign next to her said: “Steps ahead, please walk carefully.” The power of faith must be great.
The architecture of Kumbum Monastery combines the style of Chinese palaces and Tibetan flat-roofed buildings. It ingeniously blends the Chinese three-eave gable roof with the Tibetan eaves, where the whip-hemp walls are cleverly built, with Sanskrit mantras and copper mirrors inlaid in the middle and bricks inlaid at the bottom, forming a harmoniously perfect architectural complex that combines Han and Tibetan artistic styles.
Kumbum Monastery is extremely rich in cultural relics accumulated over history. The buildings, religious artifacts, Buddha statues, and literary collections make the temple an artistic treasure trove.
Kumbum Monastery has four major colleges: the Exoteric, Esoteric, Kalachakra, and Medicine, and the Deba Zatsang. They study Buddhism and Tibetan language, writing, astronomy, calendrical science, medicine, dance, sculpture, painting, architecture, and other aspects of knowledge.
I arrived at just the right time and happened to encounter a debate lesson.
A Tibetan child playfully imitated various actions and couldn’t help but laugh. The monks sitting quietly under the pillars of the hall in the distance were listening to the sounds of the afternoon sun. The devout people were shuttling between the various temples. This is the afternoon at Kumbum Monastery, with a strange sense of familiarity.
The main buildings of Kumbum Monastery include the Great Golden Roof Temple, the Great Sutra Hall, the Maitreya Hall, the Nine-Room Hall, the Flower Temple, the Small Golden Roof Temple, the Juba Zatsang, the Dingke Zatsang, the Manba Zatsang, the Dala Lang, the Great Kitchen, and the Wish-Fulfilling Pagoda, forming a huge architectural complex combining Han and Tibetan styles.
Butter sculptures, murals, and thangka are known as the “Three Wonders of Kumbum Art.” The temple also houses many Buddhist scriptures and academic works on history, literature, philosophy, medicine, and legislation.
The four hours at Tsinghai Kumbum Monastery were short but unforgettable, leaving a strange sense of familiarity in my mind.
Let’s take a photo of the new Kia Zhipao with Kumbum Monastery to record this wonderful trip.
Goodbye, new Zhipao! Goodbye, Kumbum Monastery!
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