Self-driving tour along the Sichuan-Tibet North-South line (11) "The first Gelug temple in eastern Tibet" - Jampa Ling Monastery

Self-driving tour along the Sichuan-Tibet North-South Line (11)
"The First Gelug Monastery in Eastern Tibet" - Qambaling Monastery
Ganzi, Sichuan - Qamdo, Tibet
2024.9.10
Qamdo weather is cloudy, temperature is 9-26 degrees, today's highest altitude is 4253 meters, National Highway 317.

Continue west along G317, it's another long journey.

At 8 o'clock, the car arrived at the Jinsha River, the Sichuan-Tibet border river (Figure 1). The west side of the bridge is Jiangda County, Qamdo City, Tibet. Gangtuo Village on the river bank was the first village that the 18th Army of the People's Liberation Army entered and liberated Tibet (Figure 2).

It is not uncommon to see herds of cattle and sheep strolling leisurely on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. Today, I encountered a group of macaques on National Highway 317 in the Jiangda Nature Reserve. A large family of more than a hundred people, young and old, came in groups (Figure 3), and all the vehicles stopped to give way. Two monkeys even jumped onto our hood. One of them looked like the monkey king (Figure 4), showing off his authority as the "master" and repeatedly peeking into the car. Our honking was ineffective. After more than a minute, they left in disappointment when they saw that they could not receive any "bribe".

Today's total journey is more than 320 kilometers, and it is still National Highway 317, but the road conditions are quite different. After entering the Tibet section, the number of "craters" increased significantly, making it difficult to increase speed. On the way, we passed through the first tunnel in eastern Tibet - Aila Mountain Tunnel (3774 meters above sea level), and crossed the Xuejila Mountain Pass (4253 meters above sea level). There were long uphill and long downhill roads, with an absolute height difference of more than 500 meters. It took a lot of time to go up and down and through twists and turns.

We finally arrived in Qamdo at 3:30 pm and then visited the Jampa Ling Monastery.

Jampa Ling Monastery (3A), known as the "First Gelug Monastery in Eastern Tibet", is located at the confluence of the Angqu and Zhaqu rivers in Qamdo City. It is located at the foot of the majestic Hengduan Mountains and stands on the red soil layer cut by ancient glaciers. The temple was founded by Tsongkhapa's disciple Xirab Songbu in 1444 AD. The main Buddha in the temple is Jampa (Great Compassion) Buddha, so the temple is named Jampa Ling Temple.
The temple does not charge admission and the main halls are open to the public. I tried to find a tour guide but failed.
When we entered, the temple was almost closed and there were very few tourists. We moved freely through various halls, such as the main hall - the Great Sutra Hall (center), the Dharma Protector Hall (right), and the Tara Hall (left) located on the north side of the Jampa Ling Monastery Square (Figure 5). On the upper floor of the Great Sutra Hall, we saw the exquisite "mandala" (Figure 6). In the Zankang Hall (Figure 7), we saw monks chanting sutras and about to have dinner (not convenient for photography), as well as the Tsokchen Hall (Figure 8), Gaden Tangchen Phodrang (Figure 9), etc.

We will stay in Qamdo City (3270 meters above sea level) tonight and head to Dingqing, another county in Qamdo, tomorrow.

Post by Hannah Ramirez | Sep 11, 2024