Potala Palace
The Potala Palace (T. pho brang po ta la ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་) in Lhasa, Tibet, was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1994.
The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.[1] The 5th Dalai Lama started its construction in 1645[2] after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel (died 1646), pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa.[3] It may overlay the remains of an earlier fortress called the White or Red Palace on the site,[4] built by Songtsen Gampo in 637.[5]
Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet". Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (Wylie: bla ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjusri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Avalokiteśvara.[6]
Gallery
The rooftop of the Potala Palace
On the roof of Potala
Monk at base of Potala, 1993
View of the Potala from the former Lhasa West Gate
View of the Potala from behind, seen from Ching Drol Chi Ling
View of the Potala from the side
The park, pond, and chapel behind the Potala
Snow Lions protect the entrance to the Potala
The walls of the Red Palace
See also
- Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's former summer palace
Notes
- ↑ Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization (1962). Translated into English with minor revisions by the author. 1st English edition by Faber & Faber, London (1972). Reprint: Stanford University Press (1972), p. 84
- ↑ Laird, Thomas. (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, pp. 175. Grove Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.
- ↑ Karmay, Samten C. (2005). "The Great Fifth", p. 1. Downloaded as a pdf file on 16 December 2007 from: [1] Archived 15 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ W. D. Shakabpa, One hundred thousand moons, translated with an introduction by Derek F. Maher, Vol.1, BRILL, 2010 p. 48
- ↑ Michael Dillon, China : a cultural and historical dictionary, Routledge, 1998, p. 184.
- ↑ Stein, R. A. (1972). Tibetan Civilization, p. 228. Translated by J. E. Stapleton Driver. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
External links
Potala Palace, Wikipedia- Potala Palace, UNESCO World Heritage Convention
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