Attractions of Samye Monastery
Padmasambhava chose the construction site while the design was done by Santarakshita. Trisong Detsen hosted the foundation stone laying ceremony. After Samye Monastery was completed, Trisong Detsen declared that all Tobu people must believe in Buddhism so as to establish the noble status of Samye Monastery.
The layout of Samye Monastery was designed to represent the ideal universe described in Buddhist scriptures. “Utse”, the Great Hall symbolizes “Sumeru” in perfect Buddhist universe. The Sun and Moon chapels encircled represent sun and moon separately. The four “stupas” standing at each corner of the Hall represent the four Heavenly Kings. Four larger halls and eight smaller ones evenly distributed around “Utse” embody four continents and eight eparchies. A circular wall surrounding the monastery represents a mountain near the border of the universe.
With trees growing luxuriantly, rivers flowing around the monastery, black neck cranes looking for food leisurely, it may be called a haven of peace and oasis of the Plateau. Samye Monastery covers an area about 110,000 square meters, including more than ten main halls. “Utse”, the Great Hall is as large as about 4,900 square meters and consists of two parts: the main hall and the winding corridors. Its structure and the decoration combine the styles of India, China and Tibet. There are three entrances facing east, south and north of the winding corridor. The magnificent main entrance in the east is decorated with stone pillar inscribed with Buddhist scripture on both sides and a huge “xianbu(a piece of cloth)”hanging under its porch. The left and right walls beside the main entrance are decorated with relief sculptures named “zhaxita knot” which stand for good luck and richness. The relief sculptures on the left wall are: the wheel of the law, milk bucket, “zhaxidele”, Tibetan rice, conch, celestial grass, tsampa and barley. On the right are: treasure umbrella, double fish, conch, flowers, auspicious knot, wheel of the law and stone pillar inscribed with Buddhist scripture.
Outside the main entrance of “Utse”, the Great Hall is a Tobu stele which is 3.8 meters high with a pedestal of 0.8 meter. The inscription on it is Tibetan (which is translated into Chinese as “tufanjinshilu”). On both sides of the main entrance is a pair of stone lions. The lions are 1.2 meters high, 0.47 meter wide and 0.76 meter long. The pedestal is of square shape and carved with square lotus pattern. The pair of marble stone statues in the monastery is 1.05 meters with a carving style of Tang Dynasty and their shape are simple and unsophisticated. They are treasures of the monastery. There is a bronze bell of 1.1 meters with a diameter of 0.55 meter. On the bell is ancient Tibetan script. It is very precious because it’s rare to see bronze wares with minority’s script.
In the hall, there are two bronze Buddha, one is Cibamen Buddha, the other is “Xiajituba”. Both are statues of 1.75 high and 1.1 meter wide.
The winding corridor has three gates and is connected with the gateway. There are double-posts under the corridor whose bases are carved with upside down lotus pattern or knot pattern and the heads are carved with clouds and painted with colorful patterns. All together there are 184 posts under the winding corridor, which looks very solid and grand. There are beautiful murals in other halls and they are of distinctive characteristics.