中国西藏日喀则市的扎什伦布寺 Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse City, Tibet, China.

*WS 124：中国西藏日喀则市的扎什伦布寺 Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse City, Tibet, China.*

扎什伦布寺位于西藏自治区日喀则市的尼色日山下，是该地区最大的寺庙。扎什伦布藏语是“吉祥须弥”的意思，它创建于明朝，公元十五世纪中叶。创建者是后来被追溯为一世达赖喇嘛的根敦朱巴。它是藏传佛教格鲁派(黄教)的“四大寺”之一，也是历世班禅喇嘛的驻锡地。鼎盛期在十七世纪中叶，那时是第四世班禅喇嘛驻锡，僧人多达四、五千人。文革时建筑和文物都受到严重破坏。 

扎什伦布寺占地面积15万平方米，周围筑有宫墙，周长三公里。我2010年曾到此一游。

第一张照片所示是寺门，第二张是僧侣住所，第四張是一位老喇嘛和一位年輕團友的合照。 第五张是藏着经文的三座白塔。第六张是措钦大殿， 即大经堂，是整个寺院中最大的建筑物，殿前有一个500平方米的讲经场，中间竖立着一根擎天的经幡柱。

第七、八张照片所示的是强巴佛殿外貌，建于1914年，是座五层大殿，高三十米，是寺里最宏伟的建筑。供奉的是强巴佛，即是汉族佛教的弥勒佛，佛教中的未来佛。据说强巴佛像高26米，是世界上最高大的铜塑佛像，可惜我准备工作没做好，不知有此佛像，没有进去佛殿，走宝了。第九张是强巴佛殿和措钦大殿之间的一线天布局。 

第十张照片所示的是强巴佛殿的一角，我用来讲解藏式建筑的特殊点。窗边的黑色边框是上小下大，寓意为“牛角”，吉祥之物。在视觉上加大了门窗的尺度，增强了建筑造型的稳重。门框也是如此。在门窗上部悬挂的打褶短布帘，称为“香布”，也是藏式建筑的特色。藏人崇尚白色、红色、黄色，所以他们的建筑大多以这三种颜色来配搭。 

Tashilhunpo Monastery, located in Shigatse City, Tibet, China was founded by the First Dalai Lama in the Ming Dynasty in the mid-15th century. It is the largest temple in the region and one of the "Four Great Temples" of the Gelug Sect (Yellow Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism and the residence of the Panchen Lamas.  Its heyday was in the middle of the seventeenth century, when there were as many as four to five thousand monks. 

Tashilhunpo Temple covers an area of 150,000 sq m, surrounded by a wall 3 km long. I was here in 2010. The 4th photo shows an old monk with a young member of our group. The 6th photo shows the Great Scripture Hall, the largest building in the complex. The 7th and 8th photos show the 5-story main temple hall built in 1914 housing several famous big statues of the Buddha. 

The 10th photo shows a corner of a temple building which I would use to highlight some unique features of Tibetan architecture. The window frame is not truly rectangular, but always smaller at the upper part and bigger at the lower part, to enhance stability visually. Door frames are often designed that way. The short pleated curtains hung on the doors and windows, are called "fragrant cloth". And the favourite colours of the Tibetans are white, red, and yellow, so most of their buildings are matched with these three colours.