Chupzang Nunnery (Chu bzang dgon) by José Ignacio Cabezón (January 30, 2006) Section 1 of 2 Distributed under the THDL Digital Text License.

Location and Layout The main temple at Chu bzang. The phrase chu bzang means “good waters,” indicating that this was probably the site of a spring in former times. Chupzang Nunnery is located in the foothills of the northern section of the suburb of Nyang bran, directly north of Lha sa and northwest of Se ra. It takes about forty minutes to walk from Se ra to Chu bzang. The hermitage (ri khrod) faces south in the direction of Lha sa.

The site can be divided into three major areas:

•Farthest north (and uphill) one finds a field of stūpas and large boulders with carvings or self-arisen images (rang byon). •Directly below (south of) the field of stūpas in the northernmost area of the hermitage are the main temple complex, the dharma courtyard (chos rwa), and the secondary temple. •Below the temples, farther south on the hillside is the residential (and by far the largest) area of the nunnery that contains dozens of private nuns’ huts. The two temple complexes are located just below the stūpa field. These are:

•The upper (main) temple,[1] where the nuns gather for communal rituals. To the left of the main temple there is a small butter-lamp offering house (chos me khang, built in 2004), and a kiosk where tourists and pilgrims can buy snacks and religious memorabilia. The main temple has a two-wheel mani [wheel] temple (ma ṇi lha khang) at its southwest corner (access to which is from outside the temple). The principal figures on the main altar of the assembly hall (’du khang) are Tsong kha pa (1357-1419) and his two disciples. At the northwest corner of the temple (entrance through the assembly hall) there is a protector deity chapel (mgon khang) that contains a small statue of Gnas chung, as well as statues of Lha mo, Six-Armed Mahākāla (Mgon po phyag drug), Dharmarāja (Dam chen chos rgyal), Rdo rje g.yu sgron ma, and of the two tutelary deities (yi dam) of the nunnery, Vajrabhairava (Rdo rje ’jigs byed) and Vajrayoginī (Rdo rje rnal ’byor ma). •West of the main temple complex one finds the dharma enclosure (chos rwa), an area where nuns sit when they want to memorize texts outdoors. Inside this courtyard there is also a small chapel to the protector deity Rdo rje g.yu sgron ma. •The reception room and the secondary (Stone Buddha) temple – located south (downhill) from the dharma enclosure – share a courtyard. This temple contains the stone image (rdo sku) of the Buddha said to have been “discovered as treasure” (gter nas ston pa) by the Fifth Dalai Lama. The interior of the main temple.

Notes [1] We have some idea of the images that existed in this temple early in its history. Bshes gnyen tshul khrims, Lha sa’i dgon tho rin chen spungs rgyan [A Catalogue of the Monasteries of Lhasa: A Heap of Jewels; hereafter Lha sa’i dgon tho] (Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang, 2001), 74-75, cites Sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho’s (1653-1705) Bai ḍūrya ser po concerning the religious images found in the main temple at the end of the seventeenth century:

•The Buddha •The Medicine Buddha (Sman bla) •Avalokiteśvara •The Fifth Dalai Lama (Da lai bla ma sku phreng lnga pa, 1617-1682) In the Chapel of Deathlessness (’Chi med lha khang), there were statues of the Nine Deities [related to] Amitāyus (Tshe dpag med lha dgu). There was also a Tārā Chapel (Sgrol ma lha khang).