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Labrang Monastery: Tibetan Buddhism on the Sino‐Tibetan Frontier
Author(s) -
Nietupski Paul K.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
religion compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.113
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1749-8171
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00081.x
Subject(s) - buddhism , frontier , ethnic group , ancient history , politics , geography , identity (music) , history , china , mountain range (options) , ethnology , archaeology , political science , anthropology , sociology , art , law , financial economics , economics , aesthetics
Labrang Monastery was formally founded in 1709 in Amdo, today located in Xiahe County, Gansu Province. It was founded and occupied by the lineage of the Jamyang Zhepas on the central Tibetan Gelukpa model, and grew to be one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries ever built. Labrang supported the full range of Tibetan Buddhist studies, and in addition allowed other Tibetan and non‐Tibetan religious practices in the community at large. The monastery was located on an ethnic borderland, near its Mongol co‐sponsors, Manchu, Chinese, Muslim, and other neighbors. Its location resulted in both assertions of Tibetan identity and dynamic social, political, and economic interaction. The monastic authorities owned an enormous nomadic and agricultural estate that extended over much of southern Gansu Province and into northern Sichuan and eastern Qinghai. Though politically and economically much reduced, Labrang Monastery's influence is still important in present‐day Amdo.