Located at the foot of Mount Bumpo in Sakya County, Shigatse region, Sakya Monastery is a Sakya monastery of Tibetan Buddhism and the main monastery of the Sakya sect.
Sakya, tibetan for grey and white earth. In 1073 AD, Kun Gong Cho Jeb, a descendant of the Tubo noble Kun family, discovered a hillside on the south side of The Benbo Mountain, the soil was white, shiny, and in the shape of the end, that is, he funded the construction of the Sakya Monastery and gradually formed the Sakya Sect.
Sakya Monastery paints the temple walls with red color symbolizing Manjushri Bodhisattva, white symbolizing Guanyin Bodhisattva and cyan symbolizing Vajrapani, so the Sakya sect is also commonly known as "Flower Sect".
The most impressive thing about Sakya Monastery is the Great Prayer Hall, which is 66.4 meters wide, 23.3 meters deep and has an area of 1547.12 meters. The three walls of the prayer hall are all walled with scriptures, and the prayer frames reach the top of the temple, and the scriptures on the shelves are hand-written in gold, silver, and treasure powder, such as "Kangyur", "Pa Ba Jie DongPa", "Golden Ring Sutra" and other Buddhist classics, which can be described as an encyclopedia.
The prayer hall is supported by 40 tall and thick wooden pillars, of which 4 pillars are very famous, known as the 4 famous pillars. They are called Kublai Khan's Pillar, Bison Pillar, Ink Blood Pillar and Tiger Pillar. These pillars stand on top of the sky and are natural, and they need three or four people to hug each other to surround them.
Sakya Monastery was the political and cultural center of Tibet during the Yuan Dynasty, preserving many precious scriptures, murals and so on. The number of these treasures is large enough to rival Dunhuang, so Sakya Monastery is also called "Snow Dunhuang".
The conch, one of the treasures of the Sakya Temple, is said to have been given to the Sakya Monastery by Kublai Khan himself. This rare right-handed conch, which is said to have been used by Shakyamuni, later fell into the hands of the ancient Indian kings, who later gave it to Kublai Khan as a great gift.
Most of the murals at Sakya Monastery reflect the buddhist life of the Yuan Dynasty, because they were painted with mineral pigments, and even now the color has not fallen off, and it is quite well preserved.
These art classics preserved by Sakya Monastery make it deservedly become the Dunhuang of the Snowy Land, and people who come to Sakya Monastery will be in awe when they see these classics.
This is Tibet, to be continued...