Sunday 3 March 2013

Gedan SongZanLing Lamasery 噶丹松赞林寺

Songzanlin Lamasery - 'mini-Potala Palace' in Shangri-La  噶丹松赞林寺景点

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Admission Fee:  CNY
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The Gedong Festival is held in the late November each year. Buddhists around the region attend to worship. The Cham Dance is the climax, as performers put on masks and clothes that portray deities, ghosts and animals.
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Brief Introduction :
The Guihua Temple is named the Gedan Songzanlin Lamasery in Tibetan. It is located at the foot of the Foping Mountains, 5 km north of Zhongdian County and occupies an area of 500 mu. The monastery is the largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Yunnan Province, and also one of the famous monasteries in the Tibetan area. It now has over 700 Buddhist monks.
The Guihua Temple was built in 1679 under Emperor Kang Xi's authorization after the fifth Dalai Lama sent a report to him, who named the temple "Gedan Songlin".Emperor Yong Zheng granted it the name "Guihua Temple". The temple was made after the Potala Palace in Lasa, hence it has another name "Small Potala Palace". It has hundreds of small houses for Buddhist monks and living Buddhas. Besides the two main temple buildings at the top in the centre, there are 8 wing buildings around them. One main temple has 108 pillars in its main hall, which can hold 1,600 monks sitting and chanting scriptures
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