Zhamei Lamaism Monastery In Yongning
As the largest Tibetan Buddhist (Lamaism)
Monastery in Yongning Area, Zhamei
Monastery used to be a monastery of
Kagupa (White Sect), and was converted
to Gulugpa (Yellow Sect) in
Yongzheng Period of the Qing Dynasty. Karmapa, a
master and living
Buddha, established Zhamei Monastery [Kagupa (White Sect)]
when he
traveled by Yongning in the Ming Dynasty. The full Tibetan name for
Zhamei Monastery is Taluozhameigui. “Zhamei” was once the name for a
place;
it means inevitability. “Taluo”, in Tibetan, indicates the way to
Nirvana.
“Buddha is ubiquitous, everyone gets chance to meet him”.
Zhamei Monastery, different from those
Lamaism Monasteries modified by Naxi
people in Lijiang, is quite similar
to those of its kind in Tibetan Areas. It
has with it spacious but dim
halls, rows of ghee lamps, mysterious colored
statues and praying
wheels. However, Gemu Goddess is enshrined inside, a
situation that
tenaciously highlights the factors of Muosuo people, a branch
of Naxi in
Lugu Lake area. The six frescoes on the walls, as those do in
Tibetan
area of Sichuan, haven’t been exerted on with any influence from
Mahayana (Chinese Buddhism or Big Wheel) and Daoism.
Zhamei Monastery has at present had 100
odd monks (lamas) most of whom are
Muosuo and Pumi people. Normally,
only two monks stay in it on duty, others
carry out Buddhism cultivation
on their own at home. Most of the monks would
gather for major
religious ceremonies including Miluoqimo Ceremony on lunar
January,
Cuoqu Ceremony on lunar March, Yaneng Ceremony on lunar June, and
Gandan’an Ceremony on lunar October to honor Master Tsongkhapa
(1357-1419),
the founder of Gulugpa (Yellow Sect Buddhism) in Tibet.
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