Legend of Johkang Temple

Legend has it that Lhasa was a wasteland at that time. By observing the environment of Lhasa, the Princess Wencheng reckoned according to Chinese astrology that the wasteland which Lhasa located was the gate of dragon,so a monastery should be built on the wasteland to get rid of the dragon. Thus, the Jokhang Monastery, which was the first monastery to enshrine the statue of the Buddha was built with the support of Songtsen Gampo. The monastery is the product of Han, Tibetan and Nepalese architectural techniques. Visitors will be excited to see various exotic and sacred sculptures. For example, on the southeastern corner of the Jokhang monastery, standing a statue of Heavenly King carved out of stone , and a big eagle engraved from stone standing on the southwestern corner; a stone tower is built on the western part and stone lion stands erect on the northern part.

Visitors can see these relics on each part of the outside wall of the Jokhang Moastery. When the monastery was built, it attracted pilgrims from every corner of Tibet to worship the Buddha. Afterwards, inns, residences for workers were gradually emerged around the monastery, thus the Barkhor Street came into being as the monastery being in the center. That was the embryonic form of Lhasa. Originally, the monastery was named Ruosa and the Lhasa named after Ruosa. “Ruosa” was translated into Chinese “Ro” according to pronunciation. So Lhasa was called “Rosa” in some historical books. That is why we know the Jokhang Monastery before Lhasa.

There was a legend that the site which the Jokhang Monastery located was a lake at the earliest time. Songtsen Gampo made a promise to the Princess Khidzun by the lake that a monastery should be built where the ring has fallen .It so happened that the ring dropped into the lake ,immediately, the surface of the lake was full of light net and a 9-level white tower appeared among the light net. So an immense construction works began on the basis of thousands of goats who carried clay for the construction of the monastery. It took 3 years to built the Jokhang Monastery, the monastery was originally named Ruosa in memory of the achievements of goats , for “goat” means “Ruo” and “clay” means “Sa” in the Tibetan language. The monastery was renamed “Zhulakang”( the sutra hall) and also called “Juekang”( the Buddha hall) meaning the monastery was built by the goats who carried clay. It is said that the name “Jokhang” has a relationship with the “the Great Prayer Festival” which began in 15 century.

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