Butter flower (butter flower of qiangbarin Temple)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: butter flower

Applicant: Changdu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region

Item No.: 347

Project No.: Ⅶ - 48

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Tibet Autonomous Region

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Changdu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region

Protection unit: Management Committee of qiangbarin temple, Changdu, Tibet

Brief introduction of butter flower (butter flower of qiangbarin Temple)

Applicant: Changdu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region

Butter flower is a special technology with butter (butter) as material. When making, it can mix all kinds of mineral pigments in white and fine butter, and then make various kinds of shapes to form a theme art full of auspicious festive. Butter flower is a unique folk sculpture art of Tibetan people, among which butter flower of qiangbarin temple in Changdu is one.

Gherkin was originally a small decal on the Bonist food supply in Tibet. According to the traditional Indian Buddhist custom, there are six colors of offerings (flowers, incense, holy water, tile incense, fruit and Buddha lamp) for Buddha and Bodhisattva. But at that time, there were no fresh flowers in the cold and withered grass, so we had to use butter to make flowers for Buddha, thus forming an artistic tradition. In 1463, the eighth year of raojishui in the Tibetan calendar, when the duilong man dudun longkabava presided over the Kanbu of qiangbarin temple, the creation of butter flowers for the God Reform Association began to pray. By 1640, there were 37 pieces of buttered butter for praying every year. After 1640, due to various reasons, the annual number of praying butter flowers decreased to 23. In 1982, the temple was repaired and expanded. The following year, on the 15th of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, three praying butter flowers were offered, which officially restored the tradition of the God reform society. Since then, every year on the third day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, there will be a 21 day Dharma meeting of Shenbian. In the meantime, the Sutra halls, mainly the main hall of the Dharma Association, offered complete offerings, and gathered more than 1000 monks to recite the Sutra of the sixteen masters in unison. On the 15th day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, five pieces of praying butter flowers with color, shape and spirit were displayed in front of and around the main hall.

Due to the fact that the work of butter flower is easy to deform and cannot be preserved for a long time, it is not easy for the traditional butter flower art to get a fixed model in the inheritance. Therefore, we should further strengthen the protection of butter flower production technology.