DAY 5 (3/4): SAMYE MONASTERY (བསམ་ཡས 桑耶寺), Shannan (山南), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.20

After lunch, Sangzhu drove us to Samye village where we would visit the famous Samye Monastery and stay the night. We took a short break at Samye Monastery Hotel before heading over to the monastery. We followed its enclosure wall to reach the main entrance of the monastery complex. Beyond the enclosure, we arrived at a large open space with buildings spread out here and there. At first glance, we couldn’t comprehend the building arrangement within the enormous monastery ground. Not until we reached the higher levels of the main building and looked down, then we came to realize the concentric layout of this famous monastery. First constructed in the 8th century, Samye Monastery is known as the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet.

We walked over to the main building’s forecourt, which was dominated by three tall prayer flag poles and incense burners, and started our monastery tour at the main building. The monastery is laid out in shape of a giant mandala with buildings positioned according to the Buddhist cosmology.

Situated at the very centre of the site, the main building is the tallest building in the complex, representing the mythical Mount Meru, the sacred cosmological mountain at the centre of the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain universe.

Before entering the main building, there was an interesting sign about the risk of fire.

We entered the inner courtyard of the main building through a beautifully decorated gateway.

At the gateway, we bought our admission tickets from an old man.

The inner courtyard was actually a cloister surrounded by colonnades and prayer wheels.

Behind the row of prayer wheels, there were Buddhist murals on the walls.

Unfortunately many murals were vandalized during the Cultural Revolution.

At the far corner of the cloister, we found the famous white rooster. According to legends, once upon a time there was a fire broke out during midnight. Luckily all monks escaped unharmed because a white rooster woke them up just in time.

We headed up to the upper level via a steep wooden stair.

We reached the highest level of the main building after climbing several flights of steps. On the highest levels, we could admire the scenery at all four directions.

Many pilgrims left behind offerings at different parts of building, such as leaving money at the joint of wall panels.

Looking out from the top level of the main building, we could see the distant mountains and the spectacular chortens at the four directions. The scattered buildings in the monastery ground actually symbolize the four continents at the cardinal directions, and also the sun and moon.