Rongbu Temple
Rongbu temple is divided into new and old temples. The old temple is located 3 kilometers south of the new temple, close to Mount Everest. It is the practice cave of master shangcunlian peanut in that year, as well as the stones and stone pagodas with the footprints of lotus students. The new temple was built in 1902. Rongbu temple was once large in scale. There were more than ten temples, some of which were still in Nepal. Later, it was destroyed due to historical reasons.
Layout structure
Rongbu temple, now there are eight subordinate temples under the main temple, including a nunnery. As Rongbu temple is about 20 kilometers away from the top of Mount Everest, it has become the base camp for climbing Mount Everest from the north slope. Looking south from here, it's a great place to watch and photograph Mount Everest. There is a turning road around Rongbu temple.
Rongbu temple, in front of the main hall is a carved and painted stage. Every important festival, the local people will come here to watch the Lama perform. The mani mound outside the gate is usually used by photographers as a foreground for shooting Mount Everest. In 1983, the temple underwent large-scale construction. The murals here are worth watching carefully.
Main building
The whole Rongbu temple is built on the mountain, with five floors in total and only two floors in use. It is said that the main reason why the temple was built so high was that it was quiet and easy to rest. Ningma school is believed here. Manidui under the White Pagoda outside the temple is a place where local Buddhist believers pray for good luck. There are Buddha statues such as Sakyamuni and lianhuasheng on the front of the main hall of Rongbu temple. Monks and nuns lived in the same temple to carry out Buddhist activities. In its heyday, there were more than 300 monks and more than 300 bhiksunis, and more than 20 halls; there were 11 monks and eight bhiksunis, with a chanting hall and a hall.
Rongbu temple is the base camp for climbing Mount Everest from the north slope. Looking south from here, you can see that Mount Everest is like a huge pyramid, towering among the peaks, which is daunting. When the weather is fine, you can see a milky cloud on the top of the mountain, like a white flag flying over Mount Everest. It is known as "the highest flag cloud in the world", which can be called one of the wonders of the world. Rongbu temple is about 20 kilometers away from the top of Mount Everest. Since ancient times, Tibetan people have respected Mount Everest as a God.
Milarepa (1040-1123), the founder of Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu sect, practiced in caves around Mount Everest for nine years. In Tibetan Folklore, Mt. Qomolangma and the four peaks on both sides are known as the "five sisters of longevity" (namely, the five goddesses, namely, zhaxizirenma, tingjixisanma, miyulosangma, juebanzhengsangma and daga zhuoyousangma). Mt. Qomolangma is known as the "third goddess", "empress goddess" and "Xiangshou goddess".
In Tibetan Buddhist paintings, the goddess of Mount Everest is white, riding a white lion, holding a yellow nine pointed diamond pestle in her right hand and a long vase in her left hand.
geographical position
Rongbu temple, located in the south of Basong Township, Dingri County, Xigaze Prefecture, Tibet, is located at the top of Zhuoma (Tara) on the East and west side of Rongbu Valley on Mount Qomolangma. It is 90km away from the residence of the county, with an altitude of 5800m. The terrain is steep and cold. It is the highest temple in the world, so the landscape is wonderful.
Best travel season
There will be strong wind in the morning and evening, and the temperature can be as low as minus 15 to 20 degrees (December to March). It's better to take warm clothes. From April to October, there are accommodation tents along the road to the base camp, with each bed about 30-40 yuan / person. In the peak tourist season of May to August, there will be a difficult phenomenon. Every year, a three-day God skipping activity is held on April 15 of the Tibetan calendar, and a grand exorcism ceremony is held on November 29 of the Tibetan calendar. It is said that April 15 of the Tibetan calendar is the day when Sakyamuni was born, became a Taoist and passed away. Therefore, a variety of activities will be held in the month to commemorate. Over time, these activities have evolved into festivals with large-scale conversion as the main activities.
tourist guide
The monks of Rongbu Temple mainly depend on incense money for their daily life, and they have started to open hostels to earn money. In the peak season of mountaineering, it is usually full and difficult to live in. In the past, the only place near the base camp of Mt. Everest where tourists could stay was Rongbu temple. The conditions of living in Temple hotels were poor, but it was convenient to watch the scenery of Mt. Everest in the morning and evening. For many years, it has been rumored that some world-famous hotel chains are trying to build new hotels here, but for the sake of environmental protection, they have not been successful.
In fact, it's about 8 kilometers from Rongbu temple to the Everest base camp. If you have camping equipment, it's possible to live in the Everest base camp, but you need to bring your own stove to cook. During the mountaineering season, there are liaison officers of the Tibet Mountaineering Association stationed in the base camp. At that time, you can buy a small amount of food and drink from the liaison officers. But you should be prepared for the amazing price, which is about three times more expensive than Lhasa.
Food and housing facilities
There are 30 Hotels with more than 100 beds in the temple, which receive Chinese and foreign tourists. There are also restaurants and canteens. Although the conditions are relatively simple, every passenger can eat hot noodles, rice, fried vegetables and other ready-made meals, as well as all kinds of convenient and canned food. If tourists don't have mountain reaction, they can still drink beer and other alcoholic drinks, but the price is higher, because the things here are transported from Shigatse, Lhasa and other places thousands of miles away, and some even long-distance trafficking from the mainland.
Cultural customs
Qiangmu Dance: the weather is very fresh on April 15 of Tibetan calendar. This is a festival to commemorate Sakyamuni's birthday, and "Qiangmu" will be held the next day. On that day, many tents were stationed under Rongbu temple, where the villagers who came to see the Qiang Mu dance lived one day ahead of time. People are surging inside and outside the newly decorated Rongbu temple. New green prayer flags are fluttering in the wind on the mountain. Colorful flags, prayer flags and decorations are hung everywhere in the temple.
Most of the Tibetans who came to watch brought butter tea and Zanba. At ten o'clock, the Cham dance, which is going to dance for a day, officially begins. First, the monks with yellow cockscomb shaped hat began the prelude. The first monk, Awang, slowly turned down the wooden stairs on the left side of the yard, stood in the yard and knocked the cymbals to welcome the monks who came down the stairs. Except for Kanbu, they play according to their age. In the Buddha Hall above the stairs, monks and nuns will read "ganzhur" here in May every year, and monks from other temples in zhaxizong township will also come here to chant scriptures. Today, more than a dozen "Qiangmu" games will be held here as a starting point.
The monks were in groups of two, and the crowd cheered as they jumped around the yard in gorgeous vestments. There was a high pillar in the courtyard, hung with yellow, red and blue prayer flags, and they danced around it. Eight monks wearing high hats, they gathered to walk together, looking wonderful. The third scene is just a few, but the dress is lovely, some cartoon flavor: skirt, pants, colorful masks and the tricolor flag on the head. Half of the people take green drums and dance as they play. In the long sound of FA Hao, suona and FA cymbals, the monks of Rongbu Temple immerse themselves in every gesture and dance step.
Almost every "Cham" costume has to change a completely different set of colors. A Wang is wearing a huge red face mask. He seems to play a noble king of the Dharma. His steps are solemn, and his hind feet follow his front feet to jump in different directions. In this process, the "king of the Dharma" has his left hand pinned to his waist, and his right fingers are changing and stretching into the air.
Rongbuk Glacier
Rongbu temple is built close to the mountain. The Rongbu river at its foot is an ice water river formed by some springs of three glaciers on the north slope of Mount Qomolangma: East Rongbu glacier, middle Rongbu glacier and West Rongbu glacier. There are 15 mountain glaciers with an area of more than 10 square kilometers on Mount Everest. The largest Rongbu glacier is 26 kilometers long, with an average thickness of 120 meters, and the thickest part is more than 300 meters. These glaciers are of various types, with an upper limit of 7260 meters. The glaciers are mainly supplied by the metamorphism of snow cover in the Indian Ocean monsoon belt. Among them, the largest and most famous is the compound valley glacier Rongbu glacier. The average width of Rongbu glacier tongue is 14 km, with an area of 86.89 square kilometers.