Dongzhulin Monastery

It is located in Shusong Village, Benzilan District, Deqin County, and 105km from the seat of Zhongdian County. The Yunnan-Tibet Road passes behind the temple and cars can get straight to the temple. The Dongzhulin Monastery was built in 1667, the sixth year of the Kang Xi Period. Its original name was ¡°Chongchongcuogang temple", meaning ¡°the temple by the crane lake¡±. It was renamed "Gedandongzhulin Temple" after a combination of seven small temples, meaning ¡°benefit others and oneself". It is also one of the "thirteen most well-known monasteries", and can hold 2,000 monks sitting and chanting scriptures. The present temple was rebuilt in 1985 when the prefecture and the county offered money. The main building is a four storied structure. In the first floor is the place where the Lamas chant scriptures. In the front stand the statues of the Three Saints. On the second floor stands a statue of Qiangba Buddha, 6¡¤8 meters in height. The statue of Sakyamuni in the Sakyamuni Hall is 10¡¤5 meters tall, whose Buddhist crown and the pearls and gems inlaid on the front are gifts from the Sela Temple in Lhasa . This temple has a precious painted scroll, which is 8¡¤5meters in length and 5¡¤2 meters in width, is a Gaurdian God woven with colorful silk threads. It will be worshiped only once every year when the grand ceremony is held. Now there are many figures of Buddha and treasures for tourists to appreciate. Every year a grand Buddhist celebration ceremony is held in the monastery and it has became a Buddhist Holy Land where people go on a pilgrimage.