Ta’er Temple



The Ta'er Temple is located at the southwest corner of Lusha'er Town in Niezhong County, Qinghai
Province.

Standing in an imposing manner according to the gradient of the mountain, the Ta'er Temple is a wonderful
architectural complex that embraces 9,300 structures, including scripture halls, Buddha halls, lamas'
residences, and Buddhist pagodas. Built in 1622, in the center of the entire complex, the Great Hall of Gold
Tiles is the core structure of the lamasery. The ridges of the hall's roof are decorated with auspicious objects
such as treasure bottles, gold streamers, and gold deer. In the center of the hall is a silver pagoda built
around a pipal tree; and a statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, is
placed in the pagoda. In the hall there also exists a collection of hundreds of works by Tsongkhapa and his
disciples as well as hand-written copies of scriptures in Tibetan and Mongolian.

The Ta'er Temple is one of the six temples of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The whole complex includes the Large Gold Tile Hall, the Small
Gold Tile Hall, the Longevity Hall, the Large Classics Hall, the Manjusri Bodhisattva Hall, the Sakyamuni Hall, the Hall for Warrior Attendants of
Buddha, the Amitabha Buddha Hall, the Time Wheel Tower, the large kitchen, the Eight Towers for Buddha, the Passage Gate Tower and other
buildings, covering over 600 mu (40 hectares).

The most beautiful of the temples is perhaps the Great Hall of Meditation, an enormous, very dimly lit prayer
hall, colonnaded by dozens of carpeted pillars and hung with long silk tapestries (thangkas). Immediately
adjacent to this is the Great Hall of the Golden Roof , with its gilded tiles, wall paintings of scenes from the
Buddha's life and a brilliant silver stupa containing a statue of Tsongkhapa. The grooves on the wooden
floor in front of the temple have been worn away by the hands of prostrating monks and pilgrims. This hall,
built in 1560, is where the monastery began, on the site of the pipal tree that grew with its Buddha imprints.
You will still see pilgrims studying fallen leaves here, apparently searching for the face of the Buddha.

There are four important Buddhist meetings  held in the Ta'er Temple, respectively in each lunar January,
April, June and September. During the period, there are religious activities such as the sorcerer's dance in
trance, bathing the Great Buddha in the sun, and displaying butter sculptures, etc.