Rangdor Monastery

Rangdor Monastery

Rangdor Monastery is a cultural tourism attraction.

Legend has it that during the 7th century, when the Bon religion held power in the Tibetan region, the eminent Bon monk Kangqing Raolang passed through the area near Yongzhulazi Mountain on his way to the inland. He discovered seven mountains, seven lakes (or "haizi"), seven pastures, and seven small rivers — a landscape very similar to that of Xiangshan in the Xiangxiong region, where the Bon religion flourished. He then built a temple at the foot of the mountain in Gongnilongba as a base for developing the Bon tradition in the Minya region, naming it Yongzhusangpo Monastery. It was later relocated to Pugong.

Around the fifth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (1012 AD), Zhuogui Jiawang presided over the construction of Yongzhusangpo Monastery in Duoruo. After many years, Minya Daodeng Raojianzan took charge of the monastery’s religious affairs and renamed it Minya Duorao Monastery. During the Yuan Dynasty, it is said that a lama with a flower-shaped horn named Langrong Wangge Gubo, who was not only well-versed in the scriptures of the Sakya school but also studied Bon texts and achieved a deep level of knowledge in Tibetan Buddhism, came to this monastery to give sermons and resided there for many years. In his later years, he received an imperial decree to be summoned by the emperor to perform a “Buddha longevity ritual.” He traveled to Beijing with the Rangdor Monastery monks to meet the Yuan emperor and performed the rituals for him. Upon departure, the emperor bestowed upon them 16 Buddhist scriptures including the “Rain Invocation Sutra” and the “Wind Control Sutra,” as well as a rain-prayer prayer wheel, which became the monastery’s treasured relics. Soon after, Rangdor Monastery became a Bon pilgrimage center for Danba, Kangding, Jiulong, and the local county, enjoying lasting fame.