Kumbum Monastery (sKu-‘bum Byams-pa gling) (also known as Ta'er) located in a narrow valley about seventeen miles southwest of Xining is a Buddhist monastery in Qinghai, China formerly in the Tibetan province of Amdo. It was there in the former that Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetan Buddhism was born in 1357 and was later founded in 1583. Location of Xining Xining (Simplified Chinese : 西宁, Traditional Chinese : 西寧, Tibetan : Ziling) is the capital of Qinghai Province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Qinghai (Chinese: 青海; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ching-hai; Postal System Pinyin: Tsinghai; Tibetan: མཚོ་སྔོན་ mtsho-sngon; Mongolian: Köke Naγur; Manchu: Huhu Noor) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, named after the enormous Qinghai Lake. ... The Gelug School Je Tsongkhapa, whose name means The Man from Onion Valley, also known as Je Rinpoche and by his ordained name Lobsang Drakpa, is recorded as the founder of the Gelugpa school in Tibetan Buddhism. ... The Geluk (dge lugs) School was founded by Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), Tibets best known religious reformer and arguably its greatest philosopher. ... Tibetan Buddhism (Simplified Chinese: 藏传佛教) is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the Himalayan region (including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim and Ladakh), Mongolia, Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia (Russia), and northeastern China (Manchuria: Heilongjiang, Jilin). ... // May 28 - Peter I becomes King of Portugal after the death of his father, Alfonso IV. July 9 - Charles Bridge in Prague is founded King David II of Scotland is released by the English in return for a ransom. ... 1583 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ...

Origins:The Tree of Great Merit

According to one tradition, Tsongkhapa's father took the afterbirth and it buried here, and soon a sandalwood tree grew on the spot. Another version has it that the tree grew up where drops of blood from Tsongkhapa's umbilical cord had fallen on the ground. In any case this tree became known as the "Tree of Great Merit." The leaves and the bark of this tree were reputed to bear impressions of the Buddha's face and various mystic syllables and its blossoms were said to give off a peculiarly pleasing scent. Human blood smear: a - erythrocytes; b - neutrophil; c - eosinophil; d - lymphocyte. ... In placental mammals, the umbilical cord is a tube that connects a developing embryo or fetus to its placenta. ...

Two Catholic missionaries, the Abbes Huc and Gabet who arrived here in the 1840s when the tree was still living were fully prepared to dismiss "The Tree of Great Merit" as just another fanciful legend. "We were filled with an absolute consternation of astonishment," Huc noted in his famous book Travels in Tartary, "at finding that, in point of fact, there were upon each of the leaves well-formed Tibetan characters . . . Our first impression was a suspicion of fraud on the part of the lamas; but after a minute examination of every detail, we could not discover the least deception." Section of this tree are now preserved in a stupa in the Great Golden Temple (see below). // Events and Trends Technology First use of general anesthesia in an operation, by Crawford Long The first electrical telegraph sent by Samuel Morse on May 24, 1844 from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.. War, peace and politics First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February...

History

Foundation

In the 1360s Tsongkhapa's mother with the help of locals had a small temple with a stupa built on the site of his birthplace. Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1360 1361 1362 1363 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 Events and Trends William Langland writes Piers Plowman Categories: 1360s ... Stupa at Samye Ling Monastery, Scotland A stupa (from the Sanskrit) is a type of Buddhist structure found across the Indian subcontinent, Asia and increasingly in the Western World. ...

In 1560, the meditator Rinchen-tsondru-gyeltsen (Rin-chen brtson-‘grus rgyal-mtshan) built a small monastery there, called Gonpalung for intensive meditation practice. At first, it had seven monks at a time, but soon expanded to hold fifteen. Events February 27 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland The first tulip bulb was brought from Turkey to the Netherlands. ... A large statue in Bangalore depicting Shiva meditating Meditation describes a state of concentrated attention on some object of thought or awareness. ...

In 1576, Altan Khan (1507-1583) of the Tumed Mongols invited the future Third Dalai Lama, Sonam-gyatso, to bring Buddhism to Mongolia. After Altan Khan adopted Buddhism, he gave him the title Dalai Lama. "Dalai" is the Mongolian translation of "gyatso," meaning "ocean.". Events May 5 - Peace of Beaulieu or Peace of Monsieur (after Monsieur, the Duc dAnjou, brother of the King, who negotiated it). ... Altan Khan (1507-1582), whose given name was Anda, was the de facto ruler of the Right Wing of the Mongols and exercised his power over whole Mongolia. ...

On his way to meet Altan Khan near Kokonor, the Third Dalia Lama (1543-1588) stopped at the isolated retreat by the holy tree marking the spot where Tsongkhapa had been born. He requested Rinchen-tsondru-gyeltsen to construct a larger monastery at this site and appointed him as the head lama. The monastery was founded completely in 1583 and built a fence around the "Tree of Great Merit". An annual Prayer Festival (sMon-lam) was inaugurated like that held in Lhasa. Lhasa (Tibetan: ལྷ་ས་; Wylie: lha sa; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), sometimes spelled Llasa, is the traditional capital of Tibet and the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

The new monastery was called Kumbum Jampa-ling. "Kumbum" means 100,000 enlightening bodies of the Buddha. It is named after the apprarent 100,000 images of the Buddha Sinhanada on the leaves of the holy sandlewood tree. "Jampa-ling" means "Maitreya Cloister." This refers to the Maitreya temple built by Rinchen-tsondru-gyeltsen to the right of the precious tree.

The First Throne Holder of Kumbum was Duldzin Ozer-gyatso (‘Dul-‘dzin ‘Od-zer rgya-mtsho), born in 1557. In 1603, the Fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten-gyatso (1589-1616), stopped at Kumbum on his way from his native Mongolia to Central Tibet. At that time, he proclaimed the need for a study division to be built and for Duldzin Ozer-gyatso to be appointed as the head of the entire monastery. At Kumbum’s Monlam Prayer Festival of 1612, Duldzin Ozer-gyatso first ascended to the throne of Abbot and opened the Debate College, Pelden Shaydrubling Dratsang (dPal-ldan bShad-grub gling Grva-tshang). Events Spain is effectively bankrupt. ... Year 1603 (MDCIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Monastic colleges

Statue of Tsongkhapa at Kumbum monastery

Kumbum has four monastic colleges. The largest is the Debate College. Most of its divisions use the textbooks of Jetsunpa Chokyi-gyeltsen (1469-1544), as at Ganden Jangtsey and Sera Jey Colleges near Lhasa. A few of the divisons follow the textbooks of Kunkyen Jamyang-zhaypa Ngawang-tsondru (1648-1722), as at Gomang College of Drepung Monastery and Labrang Monastery. The highest degrees of Geshe Rabjampa and Geshe Shayrampa are awarded at the Kumbum Monlam Prayer Festival each year. The Gelug School Je Tsongkhapa, whose name means The Man from Onion Valley, also known as Je Rinpoche and by his ordained name Lobsang Drakpa, is recorded as the founder of the Gelugpa school in Tibetan Buddhism. ... Drepung monastery Drepung Monastery (Tibetan: འབྲས་སྤུངས་; Wylie: Bras-spungs; ZWPY: Zhaibung) is one of the great three Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. ...

The Tantric College, or Sangngag Dechenling Datsang was founded by Chojey Legpa-gyatso in 1649. The curriculum follows that of Gyumay Lower Tantric College of Lhasa. After study of the major texts and commentaries of the Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara (bDe-mchog), and Vajrabhairava ( systems, monks receive the Geshe Ngagrampa degree. Lhasa (Tibetan: ལྷ་ས་; Wylie: lha sa; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), sometimes spelled Llasa, is the traditional capital of Tibet and the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

In 1711, Chuzang Lozang-tenpay-gyeltsen built a new Tantric College, Ngagpa Dratsang. In 1723, the combined Manchu and Chinese armies severely damaged the four great monasteries of the Kokonor region – Kumbum, Gonlung, Serkog and Chuzang and many monks fled. Soon afterwards, the Manchu commander asked the Twenty-first Throne Holder to convert the new Ngagpa Dratsang into a Medical College, and this was done. With the appointment of several famous doctors, the Medical College, Menpa Dratsang Sorig-dargyey-zhenpen-norbuling was opened in 1725. It became a separate college during the time of the Twenty-second Throne Holder. The doctors who are graduated receive the Menrampa degree. 1711 (MDCCXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Events February 16 - Louis XV of France attains his majority Births February 24 - John Burgoyne, British general (d. ... The Manchu (Manchu: Manju; Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: , Mongolian: Манж) are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria (todays Northeast China). ...

The fourth college at Kumbum is the Kalachakra College, Dukor Dratsang Rigden Losel-ling. It was founded in 1820 by Ngawang-shaydrub-tenpay-nyima. Monks at this college also study astrology and receive the Tsirampa degree upon completion of their education.

Current situation

Before 1958, Kumbum had 3,600 monks. At present, there are 400, as the monastery was affected by the PRC policies from the late 1950s. Of these, 300 are at the Debate College and the rest are distributed evenly among the other three colleges. Traditionally, the majority of the Kumbum monks have been Tibetans from Amdo. As at Labrang Monastery, the rest have been Outer Mongolia Mongols (phyi-sog), Inner Mongolia Mongols (smad-sog, nang-sog), Kokonor Mongols (stod-sog) from the Amdo region east of Kumbum and Yellow Yugurs (yu-gur) from Gansu. Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... PRC is a common abbreviation for: Peoples Republic of China Palestinian Red Crescent Popular Resistance Committees This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Tibetan can refer to: A place or item from Tibet. ... Amdo (Tibetan: ཨ༌མདོ, Chinese: 安多, Pinyin: Ä€nduō) is considered the northern part of Tibet by Tibetans and is the place from where the present Dalai Lama comes from. ... Outer Mongolia makes up Mongolia (presently a sovereign state) and Tannu Uriankhai (the majority of which is the modern-day Tuva Republic, a federal subject of the Russian Federation), while Inner Mongolia (内蒙古; Nèi MÄ›nggÇ”) is an autonomous region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Honorary guard of Mongolia. ... Inner Mongolia (Mongolian: ᠥᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠨᠺᠤᠯᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠺᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ r Mongghul-un bertegen Jasaqu Orun; Chinese: 内蒙古自治区; Hanyu Pinyin: N... Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, or Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Kumbum is now a major pilgrimage for scholars and tourism site, visited by many thousands of people a year. Arjia Rinpoche is currently the Abbot of the monastery.

The Kumbum monastery is still very much a repository of Tibetan culture and art, including various [sculpture]]s, statues and religious artefacts. Tibetan women demonstrating use of the butter churn at the Field Museum The Tibetan civilization boasts a rich culture. ...

External links

• http://www.passcal.nmt.edu/~bob/passcal/china/china06.htm
• http://www.belfun.com/Amaury/xining_kumbum.htm