Kandze Monastery

Kandze Monastery
Kandze Monastery Garzê County Kandze.
Coordinates	31°38′4″N 99°59′7″E / 31.63444°N 99.98528°E
Monastery information
Location	Garzê Town, Garzê County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Kham region), Sichuan Province, China
Founded by	Qosot Mongols
Founded	c. 1642 CE
Type	Tibetan Buddhist
Sect	Gelugpa
Number of monks	c. 700

Kandze Monastery (also Ganzi or Garze Monastery or Gompa) is situated 2 km north of Garzê Town on a hilltop overlooking the town,^[1] in Tibet.^[2]

History

The monastery was built c. 1642 CE by the Khoshut or Qosot Mongols overlooking their castles known as Mazur and Khangsar. It once housed 1,500 monks making it, with Chamdo, the largest in Kham. The pilgrimage circuit around the monastery was almost eight kilometres long. In the 1909-1918 war the castles were occupied by Chinese troops and are now in ruins.

It has been extensively renovated since 1981 and now houses about 700 monks, including three tulkus - one of whom returned from Switzerland and established a girls' school.^[3]

Description

Garzê (Kandze) Monastery facade.

Assembly Hall

The main Assembly Hall is striking building with a golden roof from which there is a magnificent view of the valley and nearby town. It is approached by a long flight of stairs and the inner sanctum is reached though long passageways formed by red wooden columns.

Inside three sets of images are displayed high up in glass cabinets representing the founders of the Nyingmapa, Kadampa and Gelugpa lineages. There are also a number of fine tangkas representing the meditational deities, Guhyasamaja, Cakrasamvara, and Yamantaka.^[4]

Maitreya Hall

The Maitreya Hall contains a huge image of Jampa (Maitreya), the Buddha-to-come, flanked by images of Shakyamuni, Tsongkhapa, Dipamkara and Sitatapatra.

Other rooms

Upstairs is a library containing the Kangyur and old images of the eleven-faced form of Avalokiteśvara and the great Gelupa teacher, Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419). There is also Gonkhang room dedicated to the guardian deities mentioned above which is entered through spectacular black and gold door, and recently painted images of protector deities.

To the northeast of the monastery on a hill is a reconstructed white chorten (stupa).^[5]

Footnotes

1. Dorje (1999), p. 496.
2. Leffman, et al. (2005), p. 949.
3. Dorje (1999), p. 496.
4. Dorje (1999), pp. 496-497.
5. Dorje (1999), p. 497.

A monk in Kandze Monastery.

References

• Dorje, Gyurme. (1999). Footprint Tibet Handbook with Bhutan. (2nd Ed.) Footprint Handbooks, Bath, England. ISBN 0-8442-2190-2.
• Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. Tibet. (2005). 6th Edition. Lonely Planet. ISBN 1-74059-523-8.
• Leffman, David, Simon Lewis and Jeremy Atiyah and others. (2005). The Rough Guide to China. 4th Edition. Rough Guides, New York, London, Delhi. ISBN 978-1-84353-479-2.

External links