Gedan Songzanlin

Gedan Songzanlin Temple



"Gedan Songzanlin, sitting at 5 kilometers to the Northwest of Zhongdian County Township, with the Kari Mountain surrounded at the back, and Shika jokul standing to its west. It is the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Yunnan, which belongs to the Gelu religious sect. It is also one of the thirteen famous woods in Kong regions. There is a clear lake, the Lamuyongcuo which means 'the lake of the fairies', in front of the temple. This is the place where the earliest morning sunshine touches the Zhongdian Town, and also the only propitious place where peonies bloom in Jiantang snow area.

The temple was approved by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty in 1679, and the location was selected by the Fifth Dalai Lama. It's a mimicry architecture of of Budala Palace, standing against a mountain, which took three years to complete its construction. Emperor Yongzheng bestowed the Han name 'Gui Hua Si'. The Emperor's brother, Prince Heshuoguo, presented the Gold Board which reads 'Kind clouds cover vast territory'.

The temple covers an area of 500 mu. The center of the temple is the Zhacang grand hall, with eight large Kangcangs distributed as eight petals of lotus flower managing the eight religious boroughs. It is the medium of culture in Shangri-La's highland snow area, and a medium in combination of politics and religion. Together with the Zonggeba Hall, The Law Protection God Hall, Buddhist monastery, and the clean chambers where Living Buddha and monks cultivated themselves, the whole temple constructs a group of splendid glorious architectures.

There are numberless of precious treasures hiding in depth of the temple. There were many profound monks with high morality in the history wide known in the Zang area. Three highest Zang Buddha of the Gelu sect, Gandan-Chiba, were born here during the 17th-18th century.

Dear friends from afar, welcome to Gedan-Songzanlin! Leave your kind hearted prayers here and the Buddha be with you in return!"

From the Chinese official ticket



These files are rather large, so the download times of the images might be excessive if you have a slow modem. And some of them are fuzzy. Hey, what did you expect. I'm a shitty photographer.

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