Lhasa, Tibet

In the 17th Century, the 5th Dalai Lama established Trode Khangsar (also known as Trokhang) as the first Protector chapel of Dorje Shugden. To this day, it still stands on the outer perimeters of the Barkor, the circumambulation route that surrounds Jokhang Cathedral of Lhasa. Desi Sangye Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama’s regent, later entrusted the chapel to the care of Riwo Choling, a Gelug monastery. This became the first link for Dorje Shugden’s practice to enter the Gelug tradition.

The chapel’s first floor is built slightly below the floor level but the actual shrine is on the second floor. A flight of steps leads up to the main entrance, which is on the second floor of the building. The chapel used to have a third floor which housed an oracle of Dorje Shugden but that was removed during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. As with most Buddhist temples and monasteries, murals of the four directional Protectors are painted on the portico walls.

The entrance leads to an eight-pillar hall with little rooms to the side for resident monks. Behind the main hall is the actual chapel where the monks perform their daily rituals. The main statues on the altar are of Je Tsongkhapa, Gyaltsab Je and Khedrup Je while another statue of interest is of Dorje Shugden, who sits magnificently with lots of khata offerings.

Another interesting feature of this hall is an elaborate ritual model of Dorje Shugden’s three-storey mansion called Gyalchen Tendoe. The walls here are painted in black and outlines of wrathful Protector deities, including Dorje Shugden, can be seen around the hall.

During the reign of the 11th Dalai Lama, Khedrub Gyatso, a Chinese official by the name of Che Trungtang heard of the Dorje Shugden oracle of Trode Khangsar. He brought important questions written in Chinese to be answered by the oracle. In front of the statue of Dorje Shugden, he burned the questions and demanded that clear prophecies be given the following day during an invocation.

The next day, Dorje Shugden was invoked into the oracle and gave clear prophecies according to the order written. The official was delighted and very much convinced, and informed the Chinese Emperor Daoguang of this consultation. Consequently, Daoguang rewarded Dorje Shugden with a pandit’s hat and official praise of enthronement. The 11th Dalai Lama, Retreng Rinpoche, the Chinese official, the Dorje Shugden oracle and various official monks received the pandit award in a grand ceremony in the courtyard of Trode Khangsar.

Today Trode Khangsar is in full use and located behind the main Chapel of Jowo Buddha or central Cathedral of Lhasa just off the 
main circumambulation circuit or barkor. Many pilgrims visit and monks are available daily performing
pujas/ceremonies to Dorje Shugden daily. This 350 year old chapel is located in the heart of Lhasa and is open to tourists.

More information on Trode Khangsar can be found in the book The Temples of Lhasa, page 195-199.

From the front flap of this book:
The Temples of Lhasa is a comprehensive survey of historic Buddhist sites in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. The study is based on the Tibet Heritage Fund’s official five-year architectural conservation project in Tibet during which the author and his team had unlimited access to the buildings studied. The documented sites span the entire known history of Tibetan Buddhist art and architecture from the 7th to the 21st centuries.

The book is divided into thirteen chapters, covering all the major and minor temples in historic Lhasa. These include some of Tibet’s oldest and most revered sites, such as the Lhasa Tsuklakhang and Ramoche, as well as lesser-known but highly important sites such as the Jebumgang Lhakhang, Meru Dratsang, and Meru Nyingpa. It is illustrated with numerous color plates taken over a period of roughly fifteen years from the mid-1980s to today and is augmented with rare photographs and reproductions of Tibetan paintings.

This book also provides detailed architectural drawings and maps made by the project. Each site has been completely surveyed documented and analyzed. The history of each site has been written — often for the first time — based on source texts and survey results, as well as up-to-date technology such as carbon dating, dendrochronology, and satellite data. Tibetan source texts and oral accounts have also been used to reconstruct the original design of the sites. Matthew Akester has contributed translations of Tibetan source texts, including excerpts from the writings of the Fifth and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas.

This documentation of Tibetan Buddhist temple buildings is the most detailed of its kind, and is the first professional study of some of Tibet’s most significant religious buildings. The comparative analysis of Tibetan Buddhist architecture covers thirteen centuries of architectural history in Tibet.

Book Details:
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Serindia Publications; illustrated edition edition (November 15, 2005)
Language: English