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Gonchen Monastery Tibet Derge Parkhang Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
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大藏经经板 Templates of the Tibetan Tripitaka (Kangyur)
Dege (16)
金刚杵和佛经 Vajra & Buddhist Scripture
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经书 Buddhist Scripture
Dege (24)
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经页 Scripture Pages
不是最快的印经人 Printing worker
德格印经院 Derge Monastic Printing House
经板库 Scripture Templates of the Derge Monastic Printing House
经板与经页 Pages & Templates
德格印经院经板库 Scripture Library of the Derge Monastic Printing House
德格印经院经板库 Scripture Library of the Derge Monastic Printing House
Buddhist Scripture 甘珠尔
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Derge Parkhang

The Derge Parkhang, (pronunciation "Dehr-geh", alternative names Dege Parkhang, Derge Sutra Printing Temple, Dege Yinjing Yuan, Derge Barkhang, Dege Barkhang, Barkhang, Parkhang, Bakong Scripture Printing Press and Monastery) is one of the foremost cultural treasures of Tibet. Derge is a county seat in a high valley in Kham, an eastern districts eastern district of traditional Tibet which is now part of China's Sichuan Province. The Derge Parkhang is a living institution devoted to the printing and preservation of Tibetan literature, a printing temple that holds the greatest number of Tibetan woodblocks in the world.

The Derge Sutra Printing Temple (Parkhang in Tibetan) is one of the most important cultural, social, religious and historical institutions in Tibet. Founded in 1729 by Dongba Tseren, the fortieth King of Derge (1678–1739), the Derge Parkhang is an active center for publication of Tibetan Buddhist sutra, commentaries, and thangka as well as works of history, technology, biography, medicine and literature. Books are still being made in the same way as they have been for almost three hundred years: handprinted from hand-carved wooden blocks. Cinnabar is used to colour the text red, in which workers can print eight to fifteen pages manually a minute, 2500 in a day, from wooden blocks that have already been engraved with text. Thirty printers are in working condition where printers work in pairs, one puts ink on wooden press, later cleaned in a trough, while the other rolls a piece of paper using a roller which is imprinted red with sayings of Buddha.

The history of the Derge Parkhang is closely bound to the history of the Kingdom of Derge. From a mythical ancestor in the eighth century, the Derge royal dynasty rose to found and rule an influential independent Tibetan kingdom in the Kham area of Eastern Tibet, controlling a large area straddling the Drichu River (called the Jinsha River in Chinese and forming the upper reaches of the Yangtse River) on what is now the border between the Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan. Astute politicians, the Kings of Derge maintained political power through generous patronage of religious institutions: their unusual pattern of patronage for all five schools of Buddhism meant strong support for monasteries, learning and art in the area under their political control. They were also able stay on good terms with both of their powerful neighbors, the governments of Lhasa and Beijing. A gradual weakening of the family through the nineteenth century followed by a succession struggle in the early twentieth century brought about the effective end of their political control, but they remained in nominal power until the annexation of Tibet by the Chinese Communists in 1950.

TEXT FROM WIKIPEDIA, cba SOME RIGHTS RESERVED.
Gonchen Monastery

Gonchen (also known as Dege Gonchen or Derge Monastery) is a large Sakya Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the town of Derge, in Sichuan, China. Historically this area was in Tibetan region of Kham.

Gonchen Monastery was founded by Thang Tong Gyalpo (or Tangton Gyelpo) (1385-1464), a Buddhist yogi and polymath, physician, and treasure finder, renowned for founding of Ache Lhamo, the Tibetan opera, and the numerous iron suspension bridges he constructed throughout the Himalayan region. He is said to have made 108 of them, the most celebrated being the one over the Yarlung Tsanpo near modern Chushul. He is often shown in murals with long white hair and holding some chain links from his bridges.

The monastery was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

The monastery was restored in the 1980s and the three inner sanctums are dedicated to Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), Sakyamuni Buddha (Sakya Thukpa) and the future Buddha, Jampa or Maitreya. On the way downhill to the printing press there is a small alley which leads off to the left to the Tangton Gyelpo Chapel (Tangyel Lhakhang).

The main chapel of the monastery is an extensive complex which resulted in it being called the "great monastery". The monastery has a notable design, with striped walls of white, dark red and gray, colors unique to the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

TEXT FROM WIKIPEDIA, cba SOME RIGHTS RESERVED.
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