Dordeng Monastery

Dordeng Monastery

Dordeng Monastery is a cultural tourism attraction.

Located within the territory of the Fourth Team of the Tiqiong Brigade under the administration of Warma Township Government, approximately eight kilometers northeast of Aba County in Sichuan Province.

Aba Dordeng Monastery

1) Situated in a serene and beautiful place, as elegant as a fairyland and as auspicious as a white conch shell gathering all blessings.

2) The monastery, which gathers many monks, is also famous as "Meizhu Zhaxi Heshunlin," a sacred site of the White Hat Bon tradition.

3) Dordeng Monastery was established in the Wood-Ox year of the 6th Rabjung cycle, which corresponds to 1385 AD. It was founded by the Bon master Rinchen Nyima Drakpa, who laid the foundation and formed the monastic community. The main hall, supported by 80 pillars, was named "Benlai Jingji Sangdenglin." It was maintained by twelve successive Bon masters. In the Fire-Horse year of the 11th Rabjung cycle, or 1666 AD, Dordeng Yongzhong Chözin entrusted the monastery to the Bon master Phuntsok Wanggyal, who came from Shingdateng in rear Tibet, making it part of the rear Tibetan Bon tradition. With the strong support of Phuntsok Wang...

Aba Dordeng Monastery

...Phuntsok Wang helped establish the "Shingdateng Hall," named "Dordeng Jingji Lunzhu Yeshé Yongzhonglin." It has since been maintained by successive generations of Dordeng Monastery. The eighth Trichen, the Second Chödrön Döndrup Gyeltshen, paid homage to the great rainbow body and strictly standardized the monastery’s teaching and practice regulations, as well as the rules inside and outside the monastery.

4) The doctrinal foundations of Dordeng Monastery are based on the theories of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, the founder of Bon, during the early spread period, and were upheld by Dechen Tenpai Gyaltsen, who wore a silver crown, forming a new Bon monastery.

5) The monastery has three dratsangs (monastic colleges) and four khangtsens (monk dormitories). The three dratsangs are: the Teaching and Study College (Monlam Mezhu Ling), the Achievement College (Drubzhu Yeshé Ling, also known as the Zhangzhung Academy), and the Cultural College (the cultural paradise of both great and small civilizations). The four khangtsens are: Zhikhang, Shiwu Kangtsen, Shenyi Kangtsen, and Ciai Kangtsen.

6) The monastery holds eight major annual festivals, four drubchen (practice offering) ceremonies, and six major holidays. Additionally, regular vinaya recitations and practice offerings are conducted at the beginning of each month.

7) The monastery once had over 600 resident monks; currently, there are 490.

8) From the first Shachen Nyima to the 12th generation, and including Dordeng, a total of 13 generations have continuously maintained the monastery.

9) The monastery houses over 20 volumes of scriptures from successive khenpos, most of which have been preserved as woodblock prints.

10) The monastery has three main chöyis (sacred objects), with the primary one being Denba Chökhorma. It is said to have been consecrated by Confucius on behalf of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche himself. There are also many standard Buddha statues enshrined in the main hall, various chapels, and ladrangs (residences), as well as numerous bronze items brought from eastern and western India, efficacious Buddha statues invited from Mongolia, Nepal, and front and rear Tibet, and over 3,000 images of peaceful and wrathful deities as objects of faith. There are hundreds of texts related to yidams (meditational deities) and other biographies. The scriptures include 20 sets of the Kangyur and 3 sets of the Tengyur, some of which were written in gold ink by the mythical bird Dompé Chenpo. There are also over 80,000 volumes of scriptures from the Sakya, Gelug, Nyingma, Jonang, Zhugpa, and Jorwa traditions. Objects of refuge include the magnificent stupa of Topchen Péma, eight stupas of the Benla family, 25 stupas of successive Dordeng abbots (both large and small), the Tiger Spirit Stupa Zhashi Jangmo Samdrub Kyilwa, and the Harmony Stupa Zhashi Gewa Dawa. These stupas contain relics such as several teeth of Dénba Sangro, the shariras (relics) of Sangyü Shönpa, and several teeth.