History of Jokhang Temple
In the 7th century AD, China was under the reign of the Tang Dynasty. The time when Emperor Taizong Li Shimin reigned is called “Golden Years of Zhenguan”( Zhenguan, the reign title of Emperor Taizong),and it was a long period of 22 years(627AD-649AD)when the Tang Empire became the first power in Asia. At the same time, Tibet was a small country on the frontier governed by Songsten Gampo who succeeded as the king at the age of 13. However, under the administration of Songsten Gampo, national strength of Tibet was so powerful that no country could parallel it except the Tang Dynasty. Songtsen Gampo was a statesman of vision. First, Songtsen Gampo married the Nepaleae Princess Khidzun and then, twice he sent a minister to Chang’an(present-day xi’an) for a Tang Princess to marry and finally the Princess Wencheng was betrothed to him.
In 641AD, 16-year-old Princess Wencheng and her envoys, maidservants journeyed to Tibet. She brought with her a great number of dowries, advanced culture and techniques. Having endured the hardships of the long journey, the Princess Wencheng reached Lhasa in 643AD and married Songsten Gampo who was 29 years old and has been waiting for her for 3 years. The two beautiful princesses Khidzun, Wencheng were from the countries whose people believe in Buddhism. When they came to Tibet, each of them brought with her a valuable statue of Sakyamuni as the most precious dowry. However, at that time, there was no palace in Lhasa, even no constant house, Tibetans all lived in the tents, so how to house the statue was a tough problem.
With the suggestion of the Princes Wencheng, Songsten Gampo constructed the Ramoche Monastery for her to house the statue of Sakyamuni, the gate of the monastery faced east to show the princess’s nostalgia for her homeland. When Songsten Gampo built the Ramoche Monastery for the Princess Wencheng,the Princess Khidzun wanted to built a monastery to house the statue which was brought by herself too. However, the construction of the monastery fell down at night the moment it was built in the daytime. At her wits’ end, the Princess Khidzun turned to the Princess Wencheng who was graced with both virtues and talents for help. The Princess Wencheng knew “fengshui” very well and had an intimate knowledge of “bagua”, she reckoned that the terrain of Tibet just like a Rakshas witch lying on her back, with the Wotang Lake of Lhasa being her heart and water being her blood. She contended that a monastery should be built on the lake to get rid of evils .Hence came to the existence of the monastery which has a history of thousands years.
The Jokhang Monastery suffered from two serious disasters. One was the campaign of forbidding Buddhism which was initiated by the nobles who believed in the primitive Bon religion in the late of 7th century; the other was the second campaign of forbidding Buddhism which was launched by Langdama in the middle of 9th century. During the campaign, the Jokhang Monastery had come down to a slaughterhouse, or it was forced to close. Twice the statue of Sakyamuni was buried under the ground.