Ramoche Temple issecond onlytoJokhang Templein religious importance inTibet, and is often called "Little Jokhang Temple". It is located in NorthLhasa City, about a kilometer from the Jokhang.
Ramoche has a longhistory, and was founded at the same time as the Jokhang. Throughout history it has suffered destruction by fire and theMongol invasion,and has been rebuilt several times.
Ramoche Temple
In the days of KingSongtsan Gampo(617-649), founder of the Tibetan Empire, Ramoche Temple was originally built to house the famousstatue of Sakyamuni, now found in the Jokhang, which was brought to Tibet by Princess Wen Cheng.
Legendhas it that whenPrincess Wen Chengand her entourage arrived at the north gate ofLhasa, her carriage got stuck in the mud. Her assistants could not remove the statue and so they covered it temporarily with 4 pillars and white brocade.
Ramoche Temple
Later, the Princess ordered the construction of Ramoche as a shrine for the statue.
Twenty years later, in 652 AD, the leader of Tibet was concerned with rumors that the Chinese Emperor was considering an invasion of Tibet.
As a protection, he moved theSakyamunistatue from Ramoche to theJokhang,and hid it from view. It had remained there ever since.
In exchange Ramoche Temple received a smallerbronze statueof Sakyamuni, which was brought to Tibet by Songtsan Gampo's other wife, theNepalese PrincessChizun. This can still be seen at Ramoche Temple today.
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