Tuoling Monastery

A Brief Introduction to Tuolin Monastery

Tuolin Monastery is located on the bank of the Xiangquan River in the northwest of Zhada County of Nagri area. It is the first monastery built by the Guge Kingdom (from the 10th century to the 17th century) in the Northern Song Dynasty in Nagri area. In 1996, Tuolin Monastery was listed as one of the first national key cultural relics protection units.

History of Tuolin Monastery

Tuolin Monastery was originally built in the year of 996 during the Guge Kingdom period. At that time, Tuolin Monastery was the center of Buddhist activities.

In the year of 1036, Tuolin Monastery was expanded as the head of the Chaoyan Monastery-A'dixia (982-1054) came to Tibet and lived in the Tuoling Monastery to spread Buddhism.

In the year of 1076, with the support of the Guge king, a meeting was held in the Tuolin Monastery. 1076 is the Huolong (fire dragon) year of Tibetan calendar, so this meeting is called the Fire Dragon Prayer Meeting. Since then, Tuolin Monastery was more popular.

Attractions of Tuolin Monastery

Tuolin Monastery is a collection of Indian, Nepalese and Tibetan architectural styles. It is a precious material for studying the architectures, sculptures, painting art and so on.

Buildings in the Tuolin Monastery are strip-shaped, including three parts – the halls, monks' dormitories and towers. The buildings are Sakya Hall, the White Hall (a nuns' hall), stupas, the Arhat Hall, the Maitreya Hall, the Assembly Hall and Sekang Hall and so on.

The main building of Tuolin Monastery is the Sakya Hall composed of the interior round and the outer round. The interior round consists of the big hall in the center and four small halls. The big hall in the center is in the shape of a square, in which the Mandala and the statue of Sakyamuni are enshrined. There are altogether 16 halls in the outer round. A Circumanbulation can be found in the middle hall. On the four corners of the outer round built four red-brick tower with a height of 13 meters.

The essence of Tuolin Monastery is the murals in it. Murals in Tuolin Monastery are similar to that of Guge Kingdom. Influenced by the styles of murals in Nepal, Kashimir and India, styles of the murals in Tuolin Monastery are quite different from that in other areas of Tibet.