From the Ashes, Tibetan Buddhism Rises in the Forbidden City

[Ensapa]

Here's another encouraging sign for us all.

From the Ashes, Tibetan Buddhism Rises in the Forbidden City
By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW



One of a half-dozen newly restored Buddhist buildings at the Hall or Rectitude, or Zhong Zheng Dian, in the Forbidden City, Beijing.

On a freezing Tuesday this week, dozens of special guests from China’s cultural, political and business elites gathered within the blood-red walls of the Forbidden City. They were there for the opening of the newly restored Hall of Rectitude, the center of Tibetan Buddhism during China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing.

After a fire in 1923, the hall and about a half-dozen surrounding buildings that comprise the Buddhist architectural complex lay in ruin for nearly a century in the northwestern corner of the 8,000-room former imperial palace.

After six years of restoration funded by the Hong Kong-based China Heritage Fund, the Zhong Zheng Dian, as it’s known in Chinese, is back, rebuilt from the ground up, though it won’t be open to the public for at least two years according to officials at the Forbidden City’s Palace Museum, the Beijing News said (in Chinese).



A Yamantaka mandala dating from the 18th-century reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty, in one of three galleries in the restored Zhong Zheng Dian, or Hall of Rectitude, in the Forbidden City, Beijing.

The opening comes at a tense time in relations between the Beijing government and people in the Tibet autonomous region. At least three more Tibetans burned themselves to death in protest of Chinese rule this week, according to a Web site run by Tibetan exiles.

This brings the number of self-immolations by Tibetans to about 90, according to overseas-based Tibet advocacy groups. Significantly, the protests are taking place outside the autonomous region in the Tibetan-populated homeland provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, which were once relatively peaceful, said Robert Barnett, a scholar of Tibetan studies at Columbia University. This presents a “very dramatic issue for China and its strategies,” Mr. Barnett said.

As I mingled in the crowd in the Forbidden City on Tuesday afternoon, I heard, once or twice, the words “Dalai Lama” spoken quietly, seriously — and one such mention turned into an impassioned discussion about “why the Dalai Lama doesn’t like China,” among three visitors who looked Chinese and spoke Mandarin, as they looked at Tibetan tangkas, or religious paintings, in one of the new galleries.

Officially, though, the painful state of Sino-Tibetan relations wasn’t mentioned at the event, where the guests included the China-born, naturalized American Nobel laureate, Chen Ning Yang (physics, 1957); a deputy foreign minister, Cui Tiankai; and Shan Jixiang, the recently appointed head of the Palace Museum, who has big plans for the institution.

Historically and religiously, the event was deeply significant.

Much of China’s claim to Tibet rests on the close relationship that existed between Beijing and Lhasa during the reign of three Qing emperors — Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong — in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s religious leader, exercised great influence on the emperors during that time, in a patron-priest relationship.



The still unrestored Yuhua ge, or Rain Flower Pavilion, a Tibetan Buddhist building, next to the restored buildings of the Zhong Zheng Dian in the Forbidden City, Beijing
Artistically, too, it’s significant: the palace’s large collection of Tibetan art and artifacts, including ritual worship objects, once again have a unified home in three galleries, as well as a small research space, the Research Center for Tibetan Buddhist Heritage.

“It’s like a home-coming for the artifacts,” said Gerald Szeto, an architect at the Beijing-based firm of Mo Atelier Szeto, who did the interior design of the galleries. “For a hundred years the whole area was left fallow,” he said.

The Palace Museum says it has about 20,000 Tibetan Buddha statues in its collection dating from the 7th to the early 20th centuries, and over 1,000 tangkas. Some were on display on Tuesday, including an intricate, highly-colored, 18th century, three-dimensional mandala of brass and enamel (above), and tangkas painted in gold.

“The art and ancient artifacts are very mysterious to the outside world because they’ve never been shown before,” Luo Wenhua, a curator and researcher of Tibetan and Buddhist art at the museum, said in a telephone interview.

“There are written records for almost every piece in the imperial collection, including where it is from, which year it was made, and the name of donors, its history and so on,” said Mr. Luo, who has in the past called for greater protection for Tibetan Buddhist history in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai, here in Chinese.

“Some have very detailed information. This makes the pieces more precious, no matter what their artistic or academic value, because compared to other similar stuff in the rest of the world there are clear clues as to their identities,” he said.

“It supports the study of Buddhist culture in Tibet and Mongolia, and its influence in China.”

Just hours after the ceremony Tuesday, around midnight, a 18-year-old Tibetan, Sangay Tashi, set himself on fire and died in protest, Phayul.com reported.

And on Thursday, a father of two, Tsering Namgyal, 31, set himself on fire and died, it reported.

There was no indication that the deaths were connected to the event in Beijing, but the symbolism of re-opening this center of historic Tibet-Chinese relations will resonate.

Also on Tuesday, CNN broadcast an interview with the United States ambassador to China, Gary Locke, who in October traveled to affected areas of Sichuan Province, during which Mr. Locke said there were “high expectations even by the Chinese people” for China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, to improve relations with Tibetans. (Read a transcript of the interview, transcribed by the International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group.)

“His remarks will be welcomed by Tibetans as evidence that their grievances are being heard globally, if not yet in Beijing,” said Todd Stein, director of government relations at the International Campaign for Tibet.

[Klein]

Thanks for sharing this article. It is great to see that the Chinese Govt is restoring the Imperial Palace's  buildings of worship. It  reminds the Chinese that Tibetan Buddism was the Imperial religion for many centuries. It brings postive publicity to  Tibetan Buddhism except for the self immolation.

It is currently impossible for Tibetans to ask for independence.  China is too powerful economically . No country would want to upset China. I wish the Tibetans would accept their karma and embrace the dharma instead. Ultimately, it's not important whether Tibet becomes independent. What's more important is  practicing the dharrma to become Enlightened. The y can be Tibetan this life, but they can be born as Chinese in their future lives.

The following are pictures of Zhong Zheng Dian and the relics there. We can see that the Emperors were tantric practitioners who predominantly practiced Yamantaka, an emanation of Manjushri.
 

[diablo1974]

Been to Beijing twice, during my first trip to the imperial palace, these buildings mentioned in this post were under renovations. I didnt got the chance to appreciate these leftover legacy. 

Tibetan Buddhist palaces and buildings are located in the northwest corner of the Forbidden City, currently the Palace Museum in Beijing, have been reconstructed after a disastrous fire nearly 90 years ago.

Zhongzheng Palace and Yuhuage and other Tibetan Buddhist palaces were heavily furnished as it has been protected under the chinese law after the cultural revolution.

The reconstruction strictly followed the tradition of materials, procedures and techniques to restore the appearance in the Qianlong Period (1736-1795). The palaces and buildings served as the central area for Tibetan Buddhist activities inside the Forbidden City during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). However, they were burnt down in a fire in the summer of 1923, which also destroyed the Jianfu Palace Garden to the north.

There were a total of 24 emperors lived in the Forbidden City since 1420, and it was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage list in 1987. 

[Big Uncle]

Oh dear! I dunno why but I am very excited about this. I wished there were more pictures of the artifacts and statues exhibited within the temple complex as I love Buddha images, statues and thangkas. There is an astounding 20,000 statues and 1,000 thangkas, some of which are exhibited there! Wow! All of which are antiques rescued from a fire a century ago.

I think the reopening of the temple within the forbidden city is very significant because to the Chinese, the Forbidden City is right in the heart of Chinese culture. That means Tibetan Buddhism has taken a step closer towards being rediscovered as part of rich Chinese cultural heritage. That would be a big step for more Chinese to accept Buddhism in the future. Therefore, I am not surprise if the self-immolation is targeted during the time of the opening of this part of the Forbidden City.

I don't agree with self-immolation but I can see how the sheer frustration of the Tibetan people. They may not understand that their struggles will fuel more and more Chinese coming into contact with Buddhism indirectly and with the Dalai Lama. I think the general Chinese population are concerned with the spate of the self-immolation and will add pressure towards the new Chinese government in solving or easing the tensions between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government. I believe that somehow everything is inter-connected with Dorje Shugden to bring Buddhism to the masses.

[Positive Change]

This is wonderful... It is part of the Chinese Heritage and should be treated as such. If we are all to alienate our past, then we are essentially destroying our culture... We move with the times but we do not forget from where we came from.

Restoration of the Zhongzheng Dian complex has been completed in a six-year protective project. The complex, a Tibetan Buddhism shrine in the Forbidden City, was burnt down by a fire in 1923.

Here are more beautiful pictures:



Photo taken on Nov. 27, 2012 shows the restored Xiangyunting (Pavilion of Fragrant Clouds) in the Zhongzheng Dian (Hall of Rectitude) complex at the Forbidden City, Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 27, 2012.




Visitors tour the restored Zhongzheng Dian (Hall of Rectitude) complex at the Forbidden City, Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 27, 2012.




A visitor looks at a Buddhist sculpture in the restored Zhongzheng Dian (Hall of Rectitude) at the Forbidden City, Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 27, 2012.




Photo taken on Nov. 27, 2012 shows the Yuhuage (Pavilion of Raining Flowers) in the Zhongzheng Dian (Hall of Rectitude) complex of the Forbidden City, Beijing, capital of China.




A visitor takes photos of a Buddhist sculpture in the restored Zhongzheng Dian (Hall of Rectitude) at the Forbidden City, Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 27, 2012. What a beautiful and intricate Yamantaka statue!!!!

[Galen]

This is a very good reason to visit Beijing again, just to see the artefacts that are displayed at the newly restored buildings. The restoration shows that China is in fact promoting Tibetan culture as part of its history. No doubt that TIbetan Buddhism plays a huge part in the Emperor's daily life and practice. With this restoration, more of the world will get to know Tibetan Buddhism because the Forbidden City is the most visited places in the world where millions of tourist local and abroad visits the complex. THis is such a great way to promote Buddhism.

China has done a lot for the Tibetan community, not only in Tibet but in China as a whole where they are restoring historic buildings and promoting it to their own people and the world. They have always say that TIbet is part of China and should be be separated from the mother land. They have developed Lhasa into one of the bustling city in China. THerefore, the self immolation of TIbetans are uncalled for. China is also not suppressing their religious practices where all can practice Dorje Shugden if they choose to, not like the Dalai Lama who forbids the practice.

What could the CTA do for Tibet with the current administration? China gives the Tibetan no reason for them the reject the China Government as they are doing so much for their people.

[vajrastorm]

The restoration of the Zhong Zheng  Dian (Hall of Rectitude) in the Forbidden City is very heartening news indeed and augurs well for the future of Tibetan Buddhism in China.The fact that there was an official visit to the site by representatives of the Chinese government is another good piece of news.It raises hopes that Tibetan Buddhism will find its place in Chinese culture and religion, just as it once did under the reign of the 3 Qing emperors- Kiangxi, YongZheng and Qianlong.

In the wake of the growing popularity of Protector Dorje Shugden there , can we not look forward to the spread of Je Tsongkapa's lineage teachings?

Something else to look forward to  is the announcement made by the US Ambassador to China,Gary Locke, that " there were high expectations even by the Chinese people" for China's new leader, Xi Jinping, to improve relations with Tibetans" .