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Jiegu Temple

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It is called “Jiegudunzhuleng” in Tibetan language meaning “Jieguyichengzhou”. It lies in the Mutameimashan Mountain in the east of Jiegu Town and belongs to the Sakya School of temple of the formal Zawu tribe in this area. It is said that long time ago there were a temple of Ben School. In the end of the Yuan Dynasty it disappeared, instead that there were two small temples here which belong to the Gemagerju School (one of them is a Buddhist Nunnery) and also a Red Hall built by Zhawutou people. In the 31st year in the reign of Honwu in Ming Dynasty (in 1398) the Grant Lama of Tibetan Sakya School Dangqinwa· Jia’angxiraojianzan ( 1376-?) came here to missionize and gained Zhawutou people’s support and the Buddhists and Buddhist nuns of the original two temples which belonged to the Geju School had to move to other place. Therefore, the Grant Lama Dangqinwa built Jiegu Temple on the base of the former buildings. In the history Jiegu Temple, being the main temple of Sakya School in the north area of Yushu, was famous for its grand buildings, its large number of Buddhists and its plenty of cultural relics and many famous persons were all come from here. The whole temple was set according to the run of the mountain and the well-arranged halls and meditation abodes looks like lofty multi-leveled pavilions in a far view. Its main Building “Duwensangzhoujiacuo” Lecture Hall was designed by the Grant Khenpo Badeqiujun of Sabian Temple and the First Jiana Living Buddha Duoxiangsongpawen and supported by the Degezuoqin Temple and built under the charge of the Living Buddha Zhawumaigen. It can contain 1000 Zhawa (a kind of Buddhist) to recite the Buddhist scriptures. Furthermore the Lectures Hall (which they give a lecture on the Buddhist scriptures), the Jokhang Hall, the Jiana Hall and the Living Buddha Wenbao Hall are all in a relative large scale and with their own features. In the most prosperous period of this temple the number of the adult Zhawa was as many as 780 and more than 400 Wande. There were many knowledgeable Bhikshus in charge of the Lecture Hall as Khenpos (Tibetan monastic preceptor) and they were respected as “Lama” (Shang shi) here. The more famous ones are the Lama Nangga who wrote five works like “The Explanation of Prajnaramita-hridaya-sutra”, the famous doctor Lama Jiangcai at that time in Yushu, the Lama Rihuo who was good at history and wrote “Records of Dari Tathagata Hall” and “Records of the Historical and Cultural Relics in Tibetan Area” and so on. In this temple there were many precious things collected here such as Ga’anidangba’s yak Flag (made by the skin of yak); the Tangkar of Sakyamuni Buddha (a traditional Tibetan painting, which is usually framed in a rich colorful silk; Tibetan painted scrolls) and the mask and the tara made by sandalwood ( Tibetan Drolma ) presented by Babasi; the Vajra and bell from ancient Indian; the Chaibo used by Gesaer, the precious falchion brought by the people of Zhawu tribe from their formal living place Xiangju. Since Jiegu Temple has high reputation adding the advantage of its location in Jiegu Town, many famous Buddhists had come here for worship. On Dec.1st, 1937 according to the Tibetan Calendar, The ninth Great Master of Banchan Quejinima had passed away when he was on his journey back to Tibet.