Jokhang

Jokhang
Tibetan transcription(s)
Tibetan: ཇོ་ཁང།
Chinese transcription(s)
Pinyin: Dàzhāosì
Ornate temple, with two poles and people in a courtyard
The Jokhang, with Barkhor Square in front
Religion
AffiliationTibetan Buddhism
SectGelug
DeityShakyamuni; home of the most-venerated statue in Tibet
Location
LocationBarkhor, Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region
CountryChina
Architecture
StyleVihara, Tibetan, Nepalese
FounderSongtsen Gampo
Date established7th century
Official nameJokhang Temple Monastery
Part ofHistoric Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa
CriteriaCultural: (i), (iv), (vi)
Reference707ter-002
Inscription1994 (18th Session)
Extensions2000, 2001
Area7.5 ha (810,000 sq ft)
Buffer zone130 ha (14,000,000 sq ft)
Coordinates29°39′11″N 91°2′51″E / 29.65306°N 91.04750°E / 29.65306; 91.04750
Jokhang is located in Tibet
Jokhang
Location of Jokhang in Tibet
Jokhang is located in China
Jokhang
Jokhang (China)

The Jokhang (Tibetan: ཇོ་ཁང།, Chinese: 大昭寺), or the Ra sa 'phrul snang gtsug lag khang,[1] or Qoikang Monastery, or Zuglagkang (Tibetan: གཙུག་ལག་ཁང༌།, Wylie: gtsug-lag-khang, ZYPY: Zuglagkang or Tsuklakang), is considered the "heart of Lhasa".[2] The Jokhang consists of a Tibetan Buddhist temple, its temple complex, and a Gelug school monastery. Located in Barkhor Square, it was built in c.640 by King Songsten Gampo to house the Jowo Mikyo Dorje,[3] a statue of Akshobhya Buddha, brought to Tibet by his Nepalese queen,[2] Bhrikuti. Another statue, the Jowo Shakyamuni, brought by his Tang Chinese queen Wencheng, is currently housed in the temple[2] and the Jowo Mikyo Dorje is housed in the Ramoche, in Lhasa.

Many Nepalese and Indian artists and craftsmen worked on the temple's original design and construction.[4] Around the 14th century, the temple was associated with the Vajrasana in India.[5] In the 18th century the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty, following the Nepalese Gorkha invasion of Tibet in 1792, did not allow the Nepalese to visit this temple [citation needed] and it became an exclusive place of worship for the Tibetans. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution in Tibet, the Red Guards attacked the Jokhang temple in 1966 and for a decade there was no worship. During the Chinese development of Lhasa, the Barkhor Square in front of the temple was encroached.[6] Renovation of the Jokhang took place from 1972 to 1980. In 2000, the Jokhang became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as an extension of the Potala Palace, which has been a World Heritage Site since 1994.

  1. ^ Gyurme Dorje, Review of Jokhang: Tibet's Most Sacred Buddhist Temple, JIATS, #6, December 2011
  2. ^ a b c "Jokhang". MAPS, Places. University of Virginia.
  3. ^ Dr. Poonam Rana, "The Role of Bhrikuti (Bhelsa Tritsun) in the spread of Buddhism", Sirjana, p.108-114
  4. ^ 印度通史. 世界历史文化丛书 (in Chinese). 上海社会科学院出版社. 2012. p. 112. ISBN 978-7-5520-0013-9. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  5. ^ 西藏密教史 (in Chinese). 中国社会科学出版社. 1998. p. 225. ISBN 978-7-5004-2344-7. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  6. ^ 等贺新元 (2015). 和平解放以来民族政策西藏实践绩效研究 (in Chinese). Social Sciences Literature Press. p. 437. ISBN 978-7-5097-7163-1. Retrieved 2024-08-26.

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