Xiahe Things to Do

When we walked back to the hotel in the late afternoon, we saw a some monks, all walking in the same direction and we heard horns and cimbals. In front of a door we saw a lot of monks gathering. They beckoned us and invited us to enter the courtyard.
We saw 20 monks dancing, turning around, moving their arms high and low Their colorful clothes were moving like fluttering wings. They looked like "red derwishes in slow motion''.
There were also 20 monks, buzzing and humming in two voices and playing the cimbals. Sometimes two monks also played the large horns. It was breathtaking. We felt very honoured to attend these ceremonial exercises.

We followed also a second part of the 3 KM long pilgrimsroute around the monastery, this time at the south side of the mainstreet.
Here we saw very long halls with hundreds of colorfully painted prayerwheels. In between were also some larger halls with giant prayerwheels.
The pilgrims who walked the pilgrims route clockwise turned all the hundreds of prayerwheels on their way, to bring them luck.

Not only the inside of the temples are beautifully decorated, it's also worth to have a look at the roofs with gilded tiles.
Walking the path along the slope of the Dragon hills you have the gilded rooftops at eye height. On the rooftops you can see the gilded bronze Dharma wheels of life, amrta kalasas or nectar vessels, pendant streamers, Boddhisattvas and miniature animals.
On the picture the double gilded roof of Sakyamuni Temple or Small Gold Tile Monastery.

The Labrang Monastery is one of the most important centres of the Yellow Hat Sect (Gelupka), originating in the 15th century and advocating strict celibacy and discipline. In the past there lived 3600 monks in Labrang, but after the Cultural Revolution the monks were prosecuted because of their belief. In 1980 only 10 monks were left. Now the freedom of religion is restored, there are about 1000 monks, coming from Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia. The monks can study in the different colleges and disciplines. And they exercise in debating and meditation. Nowhere in China or Tibet are so many monks active within one monastery. So Labrang became a very important religious centre for the area in a very short time.

To have a look at the inside of the temples, you have to pay an entrance fee of Y 4.40 and ask a monk for guiding you around. Some monks are speaking English, like Jinba. We found him in a small wooden building in front of the main temple near the place of the bus. He showed us the inside of several temples. We saw many wonderful Buddha's, murals, burning yak butter and incense, much richness in the treasury chambers like gems and golden buddha's. These golden buddha's are made by gifts of rich monks and pilgrims and will be used later as means of payment for restauration or construction of new buildings.
At the end the guiding monk brought us to the Big Hall, where the monks just start their ceremony by singing.

On the walls in the colonnade of the Big Sutra Hall, but nearly everywhere in the Labrang Monastery, you can find the most amazing and intriguing paintings.
This painting, that I saw in the colonnade, intrigued me. I don't know the meaning of it and there was nobody around who could give an explanation. So look for yourself ...

Visiting the temples and colleges you will see an abundance of colors, murals and other details. At every square meter you can find something to discover.
I just enjoyed the whole ambiance and atmosphere and looked only for a few details. Otherwise you need weeks to survey one builiding and you really get overwhelmed.
On the picture a small part of a mural, telling all kind of Buddhist stories.

The colonnade in front of the hall is beautifully and colorfully sculptured and painted. The Big Sutra Hall has inside 140 tall columns and is with its 5140 square meters the most spacious hall and can hold 4.000 people. Like the columns of the colonnade outside, also the tops of the columns inside the hall are all sculptured and painted and their bodies are covered with embroideries and tapestries. Together with the colorful cushions and murals it looked so wonderful !