New Temple for Guru Rinpoche
Inaugurated on December 13, 2004
2-11-2131 (Dec. 13, 2004): His Holiness the Dalai Lama granted the inauguration blessing of the new temple to Guru Rinpoche, Zangdokpelri, at Namdroling. Because the new temple has less room, the main ceremony was then moved to the Golden Temple where over 12,000 monks gathered including those from Namdroling, the Sera Monastery, and three major Gelugpa Monasteries, Kagyu Monastery and others. The kitchen estimated 16,000 meals were served at lunch including 1,000 outside visitors, 1,000 Indian guests and 2,000 local lay Tibetans. The three-day celebrations follow each afternoon with a Tsog Offering sponsored by the students from overseas. (His Holiness the Dalai Lama is teaching morning sessions at Sera Monastery on Asanga's Jangsa (Bodhisattava Spiritual Levels/Bodhisattava Bhumi) and Maitreya's Do De Gyan (Ornament of Sutra/Sutra Alamkara) until the 7th day of the 11th month (December 18)).
If you have electronic photos from the celebration and would like to submit them for consideration on this site, please send to information @ palyul.org. The images that follow were photographed prior to inauguration.
Zangdokpelri Temple was built on the site of the original temple in the
Namdroling complex. The original temple's statues were preserved during
demolition because of the numbers of great masters who blessed them.
This includes masters such as HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen
Rinpoche and many, many others.
A great deal of hand painted detailing is in evidence throughout the
temple. Featured here is hand work on the exterior (above) and a close
up of the rainbow adornment from the temple roof (below), featuring
figures of the skygoing Dakas and Dakinis.
The bottom floor interior features all the traditional paintings
telling the life story of Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal. Details on
consecration and inauguration celebrations to come!
Click to view
more images.