| Tradruk Temple | |
|---|---|
ཁྲ་འབྲུག་དགོན་པ | |
 Front gate of Tradruk Monastery | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Tibetan Buddhism |
| Location | |
| Location | Lhoka,Tibet Autonomous Region,China |
  Shown within Tibet | |
| Coordinates | 29°11′38″N91°46′19″E / 29.19389°N 91.77194°E /29.19389; 91.77194 |
| Tradruk Temple | |||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||
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| Tibetan | ཁྲ་འབྲུག་དགོན་པ། | ||||||
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Institutional roles |
History and overview |
Tradruk Temple (Tibetan:ཁྲ་འབྲུག་དགོན་པ།,Wylie:khra-’brug dgon-pa,Lhasa dialect:[ʈʂʰaŋʈʂukkø̃pa], referred to asChangzhu Monastery in Chinese) in theYarlung Valley is the earliest greatgeomantic temple after theJokhang and some sources say it predates that temple.[1]
Tradruk Temple is located inNêdong County ofLhoka in theTibet Autonomous Region, about seven kilometres south of the county seat,Tsetang.[2]
Tradruk Monastery is the largest and most important of the surviving royal foundations in the Yarlung Valley.[3] It is said to have been founded in the 7th century under kingSongtsen Gampo.
According to onelegend, Tradruk was one of twelve geomantic temples, the Tadül "Border Subduers" (Tibetan:མཐའ་འདུལ་,Wylie:mtha' 'dul) and Yangdül "Further Taming [Temples]" (Tibetan:ཡང་འདུལ་,Wylie:yang 'dul), that were built to hold down the huge supineogress (Tibetan:སྲིན་མོ་,Wylie:srin mo,Sanskrit:राक्षसिrākṣasi) under Tibet: Tradruk was said to stand on her left shoulder, Katsel[4] (Tibetan:ཀ་རྩལ་,Wylie:ka rtsal,Tibetan:བཀའ་ཚལ་,Wylie:bka’ tshal orTibetan:བཀའ་རྩལ,Wylie:bka’ rtsal) and Gyama (Tibetan:རྒྱ་མ་,Wylie:rgya ma) inMaizhokunggar County on her right shoulder and the Jokhang inLhasa on her heart.[5] According to another legend, at the site of the monastery there was originally a lake inhabited by adragon with five heads. Songtsen Gampo was able to call a hugefalcon bymeditation, which defeated the dragon and drank all the water of the lake, so that the temple could be built.[6] This legend would explain the name of the temple.
Tradruk is said to have been the second of Tibet's earliest great geomantric temples after the Jokhang, and some sources even place it earlier.[1] Under the rule ofTrisong Detsen (755–797) andMuné Tsenpo, Tradruk was one of the three royal monasteries.
During the persecution of Buddhism underLangdarma (Wylie:glang dar ma, 841–846) and during theMongol invasion fromDzungaria in the 16th century, the monastery was heavily damaged.
In 1351, Tradruk was restored and enlarged; during the reign of the5th Dalai Lama (1642–1682), the monastery got a golden roof and under the7th Dalai Lama (1751–1757), it was further expanded. In the late 18th century, Tradruk is said to have had 21 temples.
Several buildings were destroyed during theCultural Revolution. During the 1980s, the monastery was renovated and in 1988 it was reconsecrated.[7] Today, the complex has an area of 4667 square metres and is under nationalprotection.[8]
Tradruk is a stop on the Yarlung pilgrimage route called "three sanctuaries, three chortens."[9]
Alternate names are: Trandruk, Tradruk, Tradrug, Trandrug, Trangdruk, Trhandruk, Trangdruk, Traduk, 昌珠寺, changzhu si, g.yo ru khra 'brug bkra shis byams snyoms lha khang.[9]
The centre of the temple is the innermostchapel, which is said to date back to the original temple built by Songtsen Gampo; according to the legend, it held Buddhastatues of stone and aTara statue. Today, the chapel housesclay figures which are said to contain fragments of the original statues.
The most important treasure of Tradruk is athangka embroidered with thousands ofpearls which is said to have been made byPrincess Wencheng herself. It depicts Wencheng as White Tara. The thangka is kept in the central chapel on the upper floor. It is one of only three thangkas made by Wencheng. The two others are in thereliquarystupa of the 5th Dalai Lama in thePotala Palace in Lhasa and inXigazê. There is a famous "talking" statue ofPadmasambhava at the age of eight years in the same room in Tradruk.
Tradruk used to have a famous bell on the verandah which is not in the monastery any more with an inscription containing the name of Trisong Detsen, who probably enlarged and embellished the original buildings.[10][11]
The inscription on the bell read:
"This great bell was installed here to tell the increase of the life-time of the divine btsan-po Khri Lde-srong-brtsan. The donor Queen Byang-chub had it made to sound like the sound of the drum roll of the gods in the heavens and it was cast by the abbot, the Chinese monk Rin-cen as a religious offering from Tshal and to call all creatures to virtue."[12]
The main building is surrounded by several smallershrines.
Each year in June,ritualdances are staged at Tradruk known as the Métok Chöpa "Flower Offering" (Wylie:me tog mchod pa).
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