Visit the Canggu Temple, the Oldest Nunnery in Lhasa

To the south of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, there is a Nunnery named Canggu Temple which is hidden in the downtown area of the Barkhor Street. Unlike the lively scene of Jokhang Temple where the incense is strong and tourists gather, Canggu Temple appears quiet and mysterious. It is the only nunnery temple in the old city of Lhasa. It was founded by the disciples of Master Tsongkhapa. It has a long history and is quite influential in Tibetan areas.

Canggu Temple

The Prosperity and Quietness Separated by a Wall

The Barkhor Street surrounding the Jokhang Temple is not only a "pilgrimage" road, but also the busiest commercial street in Lhasa. Strolling on this street, the incense of the simmering mulberry of Jokhang Temple permeates your heart from time to time. There is an endless stream of devout pilgrim holding a prayer wheel and chanting words in their mouths; on the small open-air stalls and shops of all sizes, a dazzling array of various products make you unable to move your feet: Tibetan ornaments, Tibetan incense, as well as scarves and bags from Nepal and India, etc. In short, most of the people who have been to Lhasa will be linger on this charming street.

Canggu Nunnery is in this area of prosperity and noise! Walking into this quiet temple from Barkhor Street, the temperature suddenly drops several degrees. This is a two-story high Yellow Sect (Gelu Sect) temple facing the south. In the main building, the Great Scripture Hall is dedicated to Sakyamuni, Master Tsongkhapa, eleven-faced thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Avalokitesvara statues and so on. On the east and west sides of the scripture hall, there are some yellow houses which are the Buddhist nun’s houses in the temple. To the south, diagonally across from the Scripture Hall, is the location of the kitchen and the Temple Management Committee. In some small messy yards, the most striking thing is the flowers. The nuns dressed in crimson clothes occasionally rest in the yard in the intermission of chanting sutras.

Unlike other Tibetan Buddhist temples where there are crowded visitors, there are very few visitors at the Nunnery. Only local religious people often come here to burn incense and worship Buddha or invite nuns to recite sutras. Ms. Cichenglam, director of the Canggu Temple Management Committee, said that every day from 8 am to 6 pm is the time for nuns to chant and study. During this period, people of believers will come to donate money, ranging from one to two yuan or hundreds of yuan, and to put forward chanting needs, such as praying for their families and wishing for their health. The nuns will chant according to these requirements. Sometimes, when local people hold weddings or funerals at home, nuns are also invited to chant at home. But most of the time, the nuns accept the donation of the donor in the monastery and chant according to the needs of the donor.

Cichenglam said that in Tibetan areas, people's belief in religion is like living without salt. In order to get rid of their troubles, sorrows, joys and sorrows in daily life, they all hope to appeal to the gods they believe in through chanting. The nun or the monk connects people with the gods they believe in. This is probably why many people in Tibetan areas send their smartest children to be monks or nuns in monasteries.

Canggu Temple Prayer Wheel

The Past and Present of Canggu Temple

In the seventh century AD, the 33rd generation of the Tubo Dynasty, Zanpu Songtsen Gampo, married Princess Chizun from Nibula (now Nepal) and Princess Wencheng from Datang, and built the Jokhang Temple and Ramoche Temple for the two Sakyamuni statues brought by the two princesses. At that time, the craftsmen began to build dikes and dams at the mountain mouth of Recun Village in the eastern suburbs of Lhasa, to renovate the Lhasa River, and put several rivers into one channel. In order to prevent the Lhasa River from flooding, Songtsen Gampo once practiced in a cave near the Xinhe Dam with a stone slab as a cushion. In Tibetan, the practice cave is called "Cangkong", and the current Canggu Temple (also known as Cangkong Temple) was developed on the basis of Songtsan Gambo’s practice cave.

After Songtsan Gampo, many Tibetan Buddhist masters practiced in the cave where he practiced. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the disciple of Tsongkhapa, Gujue Duodengsangje Beisang, practiced for a long time in Songtsan Cave. In order to impart his spiritual virtues to more than a dozen nuns who mainly practice Avalokitesvara chanting, he presided over the construction of a large scripture hall with a stone structure with eight pillars, and created eleven-faced Avalokitesvara clay statues, Wuliangguang Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, Green Tara, and other main offering Buddha statues, and eight prayer silos were built on the earthen platform, and Canggu Temple was initially completed. After that, the Living Buddha Pabungka Deqing Ningpo expanded the temple to two floors, with a porch and skylights. In addition to maintaining the original statues of the Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara , Wuliangguang Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, Green Tara, etc., the temple also painted exquisite murals of Tsongkhapa's three masters and Shakyamuni Buddha on the eaves of the skylight, and repaired them. The ornaments and instruments in the sutra hall have been added, and the items to guarantee the daily expenses of the ceremonies have been added. Since then, the Canggu Temple has been gradually improved, the number of nuns has been increasing, and the nun’s houses have been continuously expanded.

According to reports, in history, the number of nuns in the Canggu Temple was the largest number of nearly 200. The dignitaries and merchants in old Tibet were willing to send their wives, concubines and daughters into the monastery for a period of Buddhist-style study and life in order to improve Buddhist knowledge and cultural level. Therefore, Canggu Temple was quite influential among the female believers in Lhasa.

By 1959, there were more than 120 nuns in Canggu Temple. However, during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, some cultural relics in the temple were destroyed and the nuns were also demobilized. In 1983, under the initiative of five or six old nuns, Canggu Temple was repaired and basically restored to its original appearance. The old nuns who were scattered in the community returned to the temple one after another, resumed Buddhist activities, and trained new nuns. In the past 30 years, Canggu Temple has been continuously restored and perfected. The original Songtsen Gampo practice cave in the temple and the eleven-faced thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Avalokitesvara statue shaped in the early 15th century are still regarded as the treasures of the temple for people to admire and worship.

Canggu Temple Shop

Strict Entry Procedures and Management

In the face of the prosperity and temptation of modern society, how many women are still willing to become a nuns? In response to our questions, Ms. Cichenglam, director of the temple management committee, said that in recent years, many women want to be nuns in the temple, but the houses and facilities in the temple are limited, and only a strict examination system can be implemented to select outstanding talents to be nun in the temple. Specifically, one must be able to recite 500 pages of scripture fluently. It takes a long time to recite the scriptures, and some women fail to pass the test after 16 years of recitation. Now, there are 87 nuns in the temple, the oldest is 82 years old and the youngest is 30 years old.

Cichenglam said that after being a nun of the monastery, the nun have to memorize many scriptures and continue to study. A series of activities, from reciting scriptures to practicing rituals, practicing scriptures, making tributes, blowing and playing Dharma music, were all completed by the old nuns who taught them to the new nuns based on their own knowledge. This is a habit in the temple.

Nowadays, the financial source of Canggu Temple mainly relies on the offerings of donors and donations from religious people. In addition, to make up for the shortcomings, the temple also opens tea houses, restaurants, clinics nearby the temple. However, most of these business entities are charitable, not only high in quality and low in price, but also good in service. Most of the nuns’ houses in the temple were built by the nuns, and the property rights belong to the temple. After the nun died or returned to the secular life, if there is no apprentice who can inherit the nun’s house, the property will be taken back by the monastery, resold to other nuns, and the sale of the house will be added to the accumulation fund in the monastery. The personal source of living for the nuns is that the nuns with better family conditions are provided by the family; other nuns rely on income from going out to engage in Buddhist activities; a small number of extremely poor nuns also rely on the meager income of washing other people’s clothes.

Canggu Temple Tea House

As the management organization of the Canggu Temple, the Temple Management Committee consists of four members, namely the director, the deputy director and two committee members. Each has a division of labor and is in charge of the temple's religious and business affairs. In addition, according to the level of practice, the temple has a deacon instructor and Weng Ze (that is a sutra teacher), who are responsible for daily disciplinary supervision and Buddhist activities. There is a warehouse in charge of giving, and the three younger nuns will take turns every two years according to the level of training. The remaining finances of the donation must be handed over to the next round. In addition, there are 20 young nuns who are in charge of daily affairs such as the temple kitchen.

The director Cichenglam said that people will encounter many difficulties in the world. Canggu Temple has convenient transportation, and people will come to the temple to express any dislikes or wishes. As Buddhists, nuns are to help believers resolve their worries and realize their wishes through chanting.

When you have a free time visiting in Lhasa, you can go to explore the Canggu Temple.