travel : 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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