Then, the Potala Palace is such a vivid example. Its construction has a long history, and its story is touching, touching and unforgettable. But it is such a magnificent building that there are still many secrets we still don't know.
Then, next, let's take a look at the secrets and mysteries of Potala Palace with Bian Xiao!
Why has Potala Palace been rock-solid for thousands of years?
The majestic Princess Cloth Building has 13 floors, and the height is over 170 meters. This palace made of countless stones is still rock-solid after thousands of years of wind and rain. How did the Potala Palace achieve stability with such a high height, such a large volume and such a long time?
Originally, the Potala Palace was built on the red hill, and the wall foundation that went deep into the rock stratum was more than 5 meters thick, and gradually contracted upward. When it reached the top of the palace, the wall thickness was only about 1 m. Iron juice is also injected into the interlayer of some walls. All these ensure that this palace will stand for 1300 years.
It is said that the east wall of the palace was completed by masons in Lhasa, and the corner was as sharp as a knife and axe. The western wall was completed by the post-Tibetan stonemason, emphasizing smoothness. And there is a legend that if you drop a whole sheep from the east wall to the bottom of the wall, you can split it in half; An egg dropped from the western wall rolled to the bottom but remained intact.
Why is garbage piled up in such a sacred place?
In the eyes of Buddhist believers, Potala Palace is sacred and inviolable. But this sacred place has accumulated a lot of rubbish. In the 1980s, when the Potala Palace was in the first phase of maintenance, the staff thoroughly cleaned the Potala Palace because all the items had to be counted.
According to their memories, trucks with a load of 5 tons always take away more than a dozen cars of garbage from here.
These rubbish are very rich, and some of them can even be preserved for hundreds of years. The garbage here is mainly distributed in the field or left in the warehouse.
In the process of building the ridge, some abandoned building materials were left on the ridge. Because some ridges have no practical value, these wastes have not been cleaned up.
Some garbage is the product of weathering of ridge walls: solidified clay is crushed after thousands of years; Rafts also play a connecting role, and fall off after rotting and breaking, thus forming garbage on the roof.
The garbage in the warehouse is due to the local life concept and understanding. Tibetans believe that the cloth palace is a sacred place of Buddhism, and everything in the cloth palace is sacred. It is unlucky to throw away garbage. Therefore, some rubbish will be piled up in warehouses that are not commonly used.
After a long time, mice and other small animals come uninvited, and the garbage dump becomes their paradise, which will naturally contribute some excrement.
Potala Palace is full of treasures. For a long time, no one can remember what else is in these warehouses. In addition, some valuable small objects are easily mixed with garbage, and the garbage in the warehouse is even more afraid to be dumped casually. Otherwise, if you are not careful, you will probably throw away a rare treasure as garbage.
Is there an underground palace in Potala Palace?
It is said that the underground palace of Potala Palace is full of all kinds of treasures and precious classics, and the whole underground palace is like a maze.
However, there is no underground palace in Potala Palace.
The so-called "underground palace" is the roof, that is, the foundation of the palace, leveling the well-shaped space between the ridge walls built by the mountain. Not all ridges are connected, and some ridges are very narrow, which is by no means a "maze" as the legend goes.
How many rooms are there in Potala Palace?
How many rooms are there in Potala Palace? Some people say that there are 999 secret rooms of practice in Songzan Gambu-Wangfadong, just 1000 rooms. In fact, this statement is not accurate
There are documents that are consistent with the above statement, but it refers to the Potala Palace, which was built in the 7th century. After the completion of the cloth palace, after war and lightning, there are few left. The present Cloth Palace was rebuilt during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama in the17th century, but there is no literature to record how many rooms there were in this period.
Later, the Dalai Lama was rebuilt and expanded. For example, after the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama, his regent expanded the Cloth Palace and built the Red Palace. After the death of the eighth and ninth Dalai Lama, his bedroom was transformed into a mourning hall. There are countless such transformations, so the structure of the cloth palace is extremely complicated.
During the first-phase maintenance of Bugong more than 20 years ago, the old craftsmen tried to check the rooms one by one, but the results were all in vain. Because Tibetan architecture measures the number of rooms according to the number of columns, the structure of cloth palace is extremely complicated, including suites, compartments and the complex of suites and compartments, and the traditional algorithm simply doesn't work.
Later, the management of the Potala Palace sent several cultural professionals, who also tried to know the specific number of rooms in the Potala Palace, but the result was still helpless. Because modern measurement methods are useless to these buildings. So, up to now, there is still no exact number of rooms in Potala Palace.
Potala Palace is located on a hill about two kilometers north of Rassasi, the capital of Xizang Autonomous Region. In the hearts of local people who believe in Tibetan Buddhism, this mountain is like Putuo Mountain where Guanyin Bodhisattva lives, so it is called Potala (meaning Putuo) in Tibetan.
Palace wall
Potala, Sanskrit means Buddhist holy land. Potala Palace was built in the period of Zangpu Songzangambu in the 7th century. It was built by Songzan Gambu in the Tang Dynasty to marry Princess Wencheng.
According to the records in Tibetan history, it was built on a large scale. There is a big red palace on the top of the mountain, and there are 990 attics on the mountainside, surrounded by three palace walls.
Today's Potala Palace was rebuilt by the Fifth Dalai Lama on the ruins of the original Potala Palace more than 300 years ago. The main building of Potala Palace 13 floor, height178m. It is the most mysterious palace wall, which makes Chinese and foreign architects call it "unique" Potala Palace is divided into two parts by color: the Red Palace and the White House, which are made of granite.
It is said that the east wall of the palace was completed by masons in Lhasa, and the corner was as sharp as a knife and axe. The western wall was completed by the post-Tibetan stonemason, emphasizing smoothness. Legend has it that if a whole sheep falls from the east wall, it can be split in half at the bottom of the wall; An egg dropped from the western wall rolled to the bottom but remained intact.
The Potala Palace is built on the red hill, and the wall base deep into the rock stratum is more than 5 meters thick, and gradually shrinks upward. At the top of the palace, the wall thickness is only about 1 m. Iron juice is also injected into the interlayer of some walls. All these ensure that this palace will stand for 1300 years.
Interestingly, Potala Palace also has white grass (scientific name Tamarix) wall, grass blank wall and cow dung wall, which has a unique plateau style.
wall painting
Murals, scrolls, thangkas, woodcuts, etc. are painted on the walls of the main halls of Potala Palace (* *1000 rooms), with delicate brushwork and smooth lines. It can be said that the Potala Palace is a huge museum of Tibetan painting.
Murals are the most precious part of this museum. Among the earliest existing "Qujie Chabu" Buddhist temples, the murals dating back to 1300 years ago are still colorful. Historical and religious themes are the main contents of murals.
In addition to Buddha statues and Buddhist stories, the legend of "the monkey turned into a human being", the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama to Beijing and Princess Wencheng's visit to Tibet, which are well known to Tibetan women and children, can be found in the murals of Potala Palace.
Priceless collection
Among the 1000 rooms in Potala Palace, the most striking one is the narrow and low temple Jiazhupu (Guanyin Buddha Hall), which is the only room left in the 7th century. It is said that Songzan Gambo married Princess Wencheng.
There is a statue of Princess Wencheng in the room. Although it is only over a foot high, its image is beautiful. Because it is the oldest house so far, it is particularly precious.
Lingta is the most brilliant place in Potala Palace, where believers worship the most. Among them, the Pagoda of the Fifth Dalai Lama in Gyatso, Lausanne is the largest, and it is about five stories high, all wrapped in gold foil, resembling the White Pagoda in Beijing Beihai Park.
According to experts, when building this stupa, * * * used 165438+ 10000 gold, and more than 65438+5000 diamonds, pearls, jadeites and corals were inlaid. In addition to the dharma body of the Fifth Dalai Lama, there are countless sandalwood, silks and satins, precious stones and extremely precious scriptures in the Lingta.
There are eight stupas of the Dalai Lama in the Potala Palace, which contain the Dalai Lama's dharma body and various precious Tibetan medicines.
Potala Palace can be described as the world of Buddha, and there are countless large and small Buddha statues. There are statues of Sakyamuni in the Sui and Tang Dynasties in the palace. In addition, there are a large number of Buddha statues and statues of Buddhist masters made of gold, silver, copper, jade, horns and mud.
There are a large number of scriptures in the Potala Palace, including the lost Bayeux Sutra in India, Ganjul of the Tripitaka written in gold powder (Buddhist Sutra Department) and Danjul of the Tripitaka written in several kinds of gold and silver jewelry.
There are also many historical relics in the palace that reflect the relationship between Tibet and Han, including the gold seal, gold album and jade album of the Dalai Lama in the Qing Dynasty, which are priceless and dizzying.
This magnificent building, because there are too many secrets, makes people yearn for it even more, and it has some mysterious feelings, just like a thousand-year-old mountain peak. It is very old, and people can see that there must be many stories here.