The Art of Tibetan Buddhism Religious Architecture

The Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of 4,000 meters, has long been known as the Roof of the World, where the weather is cold, rainfall is limited, natural conditions are rather harsh, and there are not many forests but plenty of stone.

Among Tibet s buildings, the achievement of Tibetan Buddhist buildings is the highest. In the seventh century, the Tubo Tsampo Kingdom emerged on the Tibetan Plateau. Along with the development of Tibet s relationship with the inland areas and Southeast Asia, Buddhism was introduced from India and the central plains.

The two wives of TSongsang Gampo, king of Tubo Tsampo, namely, Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty (entered Tibet in 641) and Princess Chizun of Nepal, both worshipped Buddhism. Organized personally by Princess Wencheng, the Reshazu Lakang, the first Buddhist structure in Tibet, built in Luoxie (present-dayLhasa), is the predecessor of the still existing Gtsug-Khang Monastery. In the year 762, Khri-sron-btsan, king of Tubo Tsampo built Tibet s first formal temple, Bsam-yas Monastery, and seven Tibetan youths were tonsured to become monks.

Before Buddhism was introduced into China, Tibet had already had a primitive religion, Bon, which was later blended with Buddhism. In addition, due to the strong influence of Tantrism of Indian Buddhism and elements of Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism developed a very strong mystical color obviously different from Buddhism in the inland areas. In Tibetan Buddhism, commonly called Lamaism, the temple is called a Lama temple, and the pagoda is called a Lama pagoda.

Beginning from the Yuan Dynasty, Tibet was formally included into Chinese territory WC can say that there is no other place in China like Tibet, wherein religion stands above all else, where life is full of a strong religious flavor and culture contains a strong theological atmosphere. Tibetan Buddhism was introduced into the Mongolian region in the Yuan Dynasty and was gradually widely accepted by the Mongolian people.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emperors also built some Lama temples and Lama pagodas in Beijing and north China in order to unite the Tibetan and Mongolian nationalities.