A
Kumbum is a multi-storied aggregate of Buddhist chapels in
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
. It forms part of
Palcho MonasteryThe Palcho Monastery or Pelkor Chode Monastery or Shekar Gyantse is the main monastery in Gyantse, Tibet, next to the Dzong or fort. It is most notable for its Kumbum, which has 108 chapels in its four floors....
.
The first Kumbum was founded in the fire-sheep year 1427 by a Gyantse prince. It has nine
lhakangs or levels, is 35 metres (115 ft) high surmounted by a golden dome, and contains 77 chapels which line its walls. Many of the statues were damaged during the
Cultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a period of widespread social and political upheaval in the People’s Republic of China between 1966 and 1976, resulting in nation-wide chaos and economic disarray.It was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, on May 16,...
but have since been replaced with clay images, but they lack the artistic merit of the originals.
A
Kumbum is a multi-storied aggregate of Buddhist chapels in
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
. It forms part of
Palcho MonasteryThe Palcho Monastery or Pelkor Chode Monastery or Shekar Gyantse is the main monastery in Gyantse, Tibet, next to the Dzong or fort. It is most notable for its Kumbum, which has 108 chapels in its four floors....
.
The first Kumbum was founded in the fire-sheep year 1427 by a Gyantse prince. It has nine
lhakangs or levels, is 35 metres (115 ft) high surmounted by a golden dome, and contains 77 chapels which line its walls. Many of the statues were damaged during the
Cultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a period of widespread social and political upheaval in the People’s Republic of China between 1966 and 1976, resulting in nation-wide chaos and economic disarray.It was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, on May 16,...
but have since been replaced with clay images, but they lack the artistic merit of the originals. The 14th century
muralA mural is any piece of artwork painted directly on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface.-History:Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France...
s showing
Newari and Chinese influences, survived much better.
The Kumbum or great
gomang (many-doored) chorten at Gyantse is a three dimensional
mandalaMandala is a concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism...
, meant to portray the Buddhist cosmos. The Kumbum, like other mandalas, which are portrayed by a circle within a square, enables the devotee to take part in the Buddhist perception of the universe and can depict one's potential as they move through it. Mandalas are meant to aid an individual on the path to enlightenment. The Kumbum holds a vast number of images of deities throughout its structure with
VajradharaVajradhara is the ultimate primordial Buddha, or Adi Buddha, according to the Gelug and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
(Sanskrit:Vajradhāra, Tibetan: rdo rje 'chang (Dorje Chang), English: Vajraholder), the cosmic Buddha, at the top.
- "The lhakangs of the nine levels of the Kumbum, decreasing in number at each level, are structured according to the compendium of Sakya tantras called Drubtab Kantu. Thus each lhakang and each level creates a mandala
Mandala is a concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism...
, and the entire Kumbum represents a three-dimensional path to the Buddha's enlightenment in terms of increasingly subtle tantricVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle. The period of Vajrayana Buddhism has been classified as the fifth or final period of Indian Buddhism...
mandalas."
The best known Kumbum is the
GyantseGyantse also spelled Gyangtse, Gyangdzê; is a town located in Gyangzê County, Shigatse Prefecture...
Kumbum, built in 1497 by a prince of Gyantse, but there are other surviving examples at
JonangThe Jonang is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen, a monk originally trained in the Sakya school...
, built by
Dolpopa Sherab GyaltsenDolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen , known simply as Dolpopa, the Tibetan Buddhist master known as "The Buddha from Dolpo," is often seen as the founder of the Jonangpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism...
and consecrated in 1333, and the Chung Riwoche Kumbun at Päl Riwoche which was built by
Thang Tong GyalpoThangtong Gyalpo also known as Drubthob Chakzampa and Tsundru Zangpo was a great Buddhist adept, a yogi, physician, blacksmith, architect, and a pioneering civil engineer.He is said to have built 58 iron chain suspension bridges around Tibet and Bhutan, several of which are still in use today...
who began work on it in 1449. A further Kumbum is at
Kumbum MonasteryKumbum Monastery located in a narrow valley about seventeen miles southwest of Xining is a Buddhist monastery part of the historical Tibetan province of Amdo, now in Qinghai province of China...
(Ta'er Si) near
XiningXining in Chinese or Silung in Tibetan is the capital of Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China.-Geography:...
in
Qinghai' is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest.- History :Qinghai was only relatively recently made a province...
province.