Batang Sky Burial Platform

Batang Sky Burial Platform

Introduction The Batang Sky Burial Platform is located on the southeastern slope of the Princess Wencheng Temple, more than 20 kilometers from Jiegu Town, the seat of Yushu Prefecture. Covering an area of about 10 acres, its main structures include several large and small stupas, a small prayer hall, a “Prayer Wheel” hall, the “Gengren” Buddha Hall, a corpse placement platform, and dozens of rooms used by monks and laypeople for retreats and scripture recitation.

The Batang Sky Burial Platform was chosen in 1100 AD by Jowo Juedeng Sangye Gon, the founder of the Drikung Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, as one of the largest and most sacred sky burial platforms in the Kham region. It is said to be an auspicious land described in Buddhist scriptures as “the earth bearing the form of an eight-petaled lotus, and the sky adorned with nine umbrella-like canopies.” Beneath the center of the platform lies a hidden treasure of the “Tenfold Powerful Symbol” along with three mandalas representing the upper, middle, and lower realms, among other auspicious signs. As a result, it has been an ideal site for sky burials for local devotees from Batang, Jiegu, and surrounding areas for thousands of years.

Qinghai Yushu Prefecture

Streets of Jiegu Town: Jiegu Town, the seat of both the prefecture and county governments, is located in the eastern part of the county. With a population of 23,000, it is predominantly Tibetan, accounting for 79% of the total. The town covers an area of 807.7 square kilometers and administers three neighborhood committees—East Town, South Town, and North Town—as well as eleven pastoral committees: Unity, Red Guards, Liberation, Democracy, Pioneer, Leap Forward, Victory, East Wind, Advance, Gandar, and Guoqing. Established as the district-level Jiegu City in 1951, it became the First XiaoGe (district) in 1952, was designated as Jiegu Town in 1956, transformed into the Hongqi Commune in 1958, reverted to Jiegu Township in 1963, restored as Jiegu Town in 1965, and was restructured again in 1972... Detailed information on the streets of Jiegu Town++