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Jokhang temple
The Jokhang temple, a massive building
consisting of three floors and an open roof all filled with
chapels and chambers, has undergone extensive reconstructions
and additions since the 7th century, particularly during
the 17th century reign of the 5th Dalai Lama. While parts
of the existing temple structure date from earlier times,
most of the murals are from the 18th and 19th centuries
and few statues (with the notable exception of the Joyo
Shakyamuni) are older than the 1980's. The temple was sacked
several times during Mongol incursions but its worst treatment
has been at the hands of the Chinese since their genocidal
occupation of Tibet in 1959.
The sacred image of Jowo Shakyamuni, also
called Yishinorbu (meaning 'The Wish-fulfillling Gem'),
is the most venerated - and perhaps the most beautiful image
- in all Tibet. Housed in the Jowo Lhakhang shrine (on the
ground floor of the Jokhang), the statue is 1.5 meters tall,
cast from an alloy of gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron,
decorated with many huge glittering jewels, and represents
the Buddha as an adult man (the Akshobhya statue in the
Ramoche is of the Buddha as an eight year old boy). Traditionally
believed to have been crafted during the Buddha's life by
the celestial artist, Visvakaram with the guidance of the
god Indra, the Jowo Shakyamuni statue originally belonged
to the king of Magadha (Bengal, India) who gave it to Wencheng's
father, the king of the Tang empire in China.
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The Jokhang is the most venerated and
visited shrine in all of Tibet. Because the temple has never
been controlled by any one particular sect of Tibetan Buddhism
it attracts adherents of all the sects as well as followers
of Bon-Po, Tibet's indigenous shamanistic religion. Three
pilgrimage circuits exist in Lhasa which guide the pilgrim
to the Jowo Shakyamuni statue. First there is the great
Lingkhor which encircles the city's old sacred district;
within this lies the Barkhor which encloses the Jokhang
temple; and finally, within the temple itself is the Nangkhor,
a ritual corridor around the inner chapels of the Jokhang.
Every day throughout the year thousands of pilgrims will
circumambulate each of these three circuits. Some pilgrims
will cover the entire distance by prostrating every few
feet, others will walk slowly while chanting sacred mantras
and spinning hand-held prayer wheels. For more than a thousand
years millions of pilgrims have trod these sacred paths
with devotion in their hearts; this cumulative focusing
of intention and love has charged the Jokhang with an enormously
powerful field of sanctity.
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