Tibet: Jokhang Temple, Potala Palace, Norbulingka

Our stay in Lhasa included visits to three of the most important sites in Tibetan Buddhism. Because photography is prohibited inside these sacred places, we can only share a few pictures of exteriors. The first and most important site is the Jokhang Temple in the center of the oldest section of Lhasa, the Barkohr.

The Jokhang Temple dates from the year 639 CE. It was built by a Tibetan king to house a statue of the Buddha as a child that was brought from Nepal by one of his two brides. His other bride, the Chinese princess Wencheng, selected the site for the new temple to be built. According to legend, she threw her ring into a lake and declared that was the spot where the Buddha should reside. A white goat, now much honored in Lhasa, carried loads of dirt to fill in the lake. The interior of the incense-filled temple features numerous small chapels dedicated to different manifestations of the Buddha and a large inner sanctum where hundreds of monks can assemble for daily prayers and special ceremonies. Every day, hundreds of pilgrims prostrate themselves outside the temple and walk clockwise kora routes around the temple complex.

The Potala Palace is without doubt the most famous place in Tibet. Just open your wallet, take out a 20 yuan note, and you will find a picture of it right on the back of the bill. (Mao Zedong is on the front, of course, since his picture graces all the currency.) The Potala Palace was established in 631 CE by the same king who built the Jokhang Temple. The small cave chosen by King Songsten Gampo as his favored place of meditation can now be seen within the palace. The Palace was vastly expanded in the 17th century. It now includes more than 1000 rooms and was the residence and burial place of every Dalai Lama from the 5th to 14th, an imporant place of worship, a monastery, and the seat of Tibet's government. Vistors can see the stupa covered with more than 6000 pounds of gold that contains the body of the 5th Dalai Lama, huge three-dimensional mandalas covered with gold and jewels, numerous chapels for meditation and prayer, and the living quarters, meditation room, and throne room of the Dalai Lama.

Norbulingka is the pleasant summer palace of the Dalai Lama at the western edge of Lhasa, the last residence occupied by the current Dalai Lama before his flight to India in 1959. It features beautiful parks and gardens, open-air study rooms situated in a small pond, and grassy lawns where families can picnic. The rooms of the small residence are preserved exactly as they were when the Dalai Lama went into exile.

The album has pictures of all three locations.
http://picasaweb.google.com/SteveDC505/Potala#