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'''Yarchen Gar''' ({{bo|t=ཡ་ཆེན་སྒར་|w=ya chen sgar|z=Yaqên gar}}), officially known as '''Yaqên Orgyän Temple''' ({{bo|t=ཡ་ཆེན་ཨོ་རྒྱན་བསམ་གདན་གླིང་།|s=Yachen Orgyen Samden ling}}), is a [[Tibetan Buddhist]] monastery complex in western [[Sichuan]] province, China, with Tibetan and Chinese students. The majority of students are nuns, and it is also referred to as the '''City of Nuns'''.<ref name=Scmp>Douglas Hook, ''Sichuan’s remote Yarchen Gar monastery, where Buddhist monks and nuns suffer on the path to enlightenment'', (7 December 2018), https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2176670/sichuans-remote-yarchen-gar-monastery-where-buddhist</ref><ref>''[In Sichuan provence, more than 10,000 monks and nuns live in austerity],'' https://www.todayonline.com/world/sichuan-china-high-mountains-sichuan-province-more-10000-buddhist-monks-and-nuns-live-austere</ref> Yarchen Gar lies in an isolated valley 4000m above sea level in [[Baiyü County|Pelyul County]], {{convert|400|km}} west of [[Chengdu]] in the [[Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture]], also known of as [[Kham]]. The monastery is associated with the [[Nyingma]] school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2018, its estimated [[sangha]] of 10,000 nuns, monks and lay practitioners<ref name=TP/> was considered the largest concentration of [[bhikkhu|monastics]] in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinatrekking.com/destinations/sichuan/yarchen-monastery |title=Yarchen Vddiyana Meditation Monastery, Garze (Ganzi), Kham, Sichuan - China Trekking Guide, Route, Map, Photo |publisher=Chinatrekking.com |date= |accessdate=2012-06-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Yaqing Monastery, {{!}} Facebook|url = https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.173239476079299.42186.143266162409964&type=1|website = www.facebook.com|accessdate = 2015-07-21}}</ref> By the end of 2019, more than half of their residences had been demolished by Chinese authorities. |
'''Yarchen Gar''' ({{bo|t=ཡ་ཆེན་སྒར་|w=ya chen sgar|z=Yaqên gar}}), officially known as '''Yaqên Orgyän Temple''' ({{bo|t=ཡ་ཆེན་ཨོ་རྒྱན་བསམ་གདན་གླིང་།|s=Yachen Orgyen Samden ling}}), is a [[Tibetan Buddhist]] monastery complex in western [[Sichuan]] province, China, with Tibetan and Chinese students. The majority of students are nuns, and it is also referred to as the '''City of Nuns'''.<ref name=Scmp>Douglas Hook, ''Sichuan’s remote Yarchen Gar monastery, where Buddhist monks and nuns suffer on the path to enlightenment'', (7 December 2018), https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2176670/sichuans-remote-yarchen-gar-monastery-where-buddhist</ref><ref>''[In Sichuan provence, more than 10,000 monks and nuns live in austerity],'' https://www.todayonline.com/world/sichuan-china-high-mountains-sichuan-province-more-10000-buddhist-monks-and-nuns-live-austere</ref> Yarchen Gar lies in an isolated valley 4000m above sea level in [[Baiyü County|Pelyul County]], {{convert|400|km}} west of [[Chengdu]] in the [[Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture]], also known of as [[Kham]]. The monastery is associated with the [[Nyingma]] school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2018, its estimated [[sangha]] of 10,000 nuns, monks and lay practitioners<ref name=TP/> was considered the largest concentration of [[bhikkhu|monastics]] in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinatrekking.com/destinations/sichuan/yarchen-monastery |title=Yarchen Vddiyana Meditation Monastery, Garze (Ganzi), Kham, Sichuan - China Trekking Guide, Route, Map, Photo |publisher=Chinatrekking.com |date= |accessdate=2012-06-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Yaqing Monastery, {{!}} Facebook|url = https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.173239476079299.42186.143266162409964&type=1|website = www.facebook.com|accessdate = 2015-07-21}}</ref> By the end of 2019, more than half of their residences had been demolished by Chinese authorities. |
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[[File:Yarchen Gar before and after 2019 demolitions.jpeg|thumb|715x402px|Above, Yarchen Gar monastic center before demolitions of residences. Below, image from after demolitions on 27 August 2019]] |
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The center was established in 1985 by Khenpo Achuk Rinpoche (1927-2011),<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?|title=Akhyuk Rinpoche |publisher=rigpawiki.org |access-date= 2018-05-25}} </ref> one of the senior-most Nyingma masters in Tibet that mainly practiced [[Dzogchen]]. He taught in both Tibetan and Chinese and attracted students from all over China. The community also draws visitors seeking to be cured of illnesses. |
The center was established in 1985 by Khenpo Achuk Rinpoche (1927-2011),<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?|title=Akhyuk Rinpoche |publisher=rigpawiki.org |access-date= 2018-05-25}} </ref> one of the senior-most Nyingma masters in Tibet that mainly practiced [[Dzogchen]]. He taught in both Tibetan and Chinese and attracted students from all over China. The community also draws visitors seeking to be cured of illnesses. |
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Revision as of 17:21, 30 September 2020
Yarchen Gar (Tibetan: ཡ་ཆེན་སྒར་, Wylie: ya chen sgar, ZYPY: Yaqên gar), officially known as Yaqên Orgyän Temple (Tibetan: ཡ་ཆེན་ཨོ་རྒྱན་བསམ་གདན་གླིང་།, THL: Yachen Orgyen Samden ling), is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery complex in western Sichuan province, China, with Tibetan and Chinese students. The majority of students are nuns, and it is also referred to as the City of Nuns.[1][2] Yarchen Gar lies in an isolated valley 4000m above sea level in Pelyul County, 400 kilometres (250 mi) west of Chengdu in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, also known of as Kham. The monastery is associated with the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2018, its estimated sangha of 10,000 nuns, monks and lay practitioners[3] was considered the largest concentration of monastics in the world.[4][5] By the end of 2019, more than half of their residences had been demolished by Chinese authorities.
The center was established in 1985 by Khenpo Achuk Rinpoche (1927-2011),[6] one of the senior-most Nyingma masters in Tibet that mainly practiced Dzogchen. He taught in both Tibetan and Chinese and attracted students from all over China. The community also draws visitors seeking to be cured of illnesses.
The nuns at Yarchen Gar are also known for their practice of Tummo in the winter, in individual retreat cabins on the hillsides.[1]
Yarchen Gar has periodically been closed to foreigners, and was again closed in April 2019. Beginning in May 2019, 7000 of the monastic dwellings have been demolished, and their residents forced out by the Chinese authorities. The nuns confined in Jomda county and forced to attend "patriotic re-education" campaigns are beaten and not allowed to wear their robes.[7][8]
As of August 2019, a large swathe of the nun's area has been demolished, likely to pave the way for tourist infrastructure.[9]
The monastic and layperson community at Larung Gar might have been larger, but its population has also recently declined due to the demolition of housing by Chinese authorities.[10] Many of the displaced monks and nuns from Larung Gar had been relocating to Yarchen Gar.
As of 2018, the road to Yarchen Gar has been paved and the complex has built amenities for visitors, including a restaurant and at least two hotels, but the number of beds sometimes falls short during summer when many tourists visit. At times, foreign visitors have reported harassment and/or being forced to leave. As of late 2018, a police checkpoint at the entrance to the settlement was checking the identification of all visitors but was not preventing them from entering. Men are not allowed to enter the nuns' area on the west side of the river, which separates the female and male practitioners.
Footnotes
- ^ a b Douglas Hook, Sichuan’s remote Yarchen Gar monastery, where Buddhist monks and nuns suffer on the path to enlightenment, (7 December 2018), https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2176670/sichuans-remote-yarchen-gar-monastery-where-buddhist
- ^ [In Sichuan provence, more than 10,000 monks and nuns live in austerity], https://www.todayonline.com/world/sichuan-china-high-mountains-sichuan-province-more-10000-buddhist-monks-and-nuns-live-austere
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
TPwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Yarchen Vddiyana Meditation Monastery, Garze (Ganzi), Kham, Sichuan - China Trekking Guide, Route, Map, Photo". Chinatrekking.com. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
- ^ "Yaqing Monastery, | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
- ^ "Akhyuk Rinpoche". rigpawiki.org. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
- ^ Craig Lewis, New Images Reveal Extent of Demolitions at Yarchen Gar Buddhist Monastery, (6 September 2019), https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/new-images-reveal-extent-of-demolitions-at-yarchen-gar-buddhist-monastery
- ^ David Thomas, New photos of Yachen Gar shedding more light on China's repression in Tibet, (28 August 2019), http://thetibetpost.com/en/news/tibet/6595-new-photos-of-yachen-gar-shedding-more-light-on-china-s-repression-in-tibet
- ^ "China has destroyed large areas of one of Tibet's biggest Buddhist sites, satellite images reveal". Free Tibet. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Thousands of Tibetan monks and nuns ordered to leave remote encampment
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