Research Of The Temple Cultural Of Tibetan Buddhism In Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, which includes seven counties named Xiahe, Lintan Zhouqu, Diebu, Zhuoni, Luqu and Maqu, is situated at southwestern part of Guansu Province; it covers an area of about 44,000 square kilometers. The prefecture's central government is located in Hezuo town, Xiahe County. It is bounded on the west by Qinghai Province, on the south by Sichuan Province, on the north by the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture. In there, various minorities such as Tibetan, Han, Tu, Sala, Baoan, Dongxiang etc live together in harmony, and also there are diverse cultures form the different minorities.Primarily the Tibetan, Tu and a portion of Han share the same religion of Tibetan Buddhism in Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture. The primitive belief of Tibetan people of this area is Bon Religion. The Bon religion, based on the theory of'everything has its spirituality'and mixed with Totem-worship and Nature-worship, is a kind of primitive religion which originated form the ancient Tibetan people. In the introduction of Buddhism from about 7th century, Bon religion conflicted with Buddhism for a long time, and then, they harmonized to be a kind of new religion– Tibetan Buddhism, which densely characterized by nationality, regionality. The Tibetan Buddhism of Gannan prefecture contains a few sects; mainly includes Karma, Kagyu, Sakya, Gelu etc. Karma was the one of the earliest sect worshipped by most of the temples, and then, they switched to Gelu sect, only HongJiao Temple and GuoWaTan Temple in Xiahe County still insisted on Karma Sect at all times. From the introduction of Sakya sect in 1295 Yuan Dynasty to 1459 Ming Dynasty people changed their belief to Gelu sect, the Sakya sect existed for 164 years. Gelu sect, created by Master Tsongkhapa, is the last sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and it is primarily prevalent in Labuleng monastery and Chanding monastery etc.The Temple Cultural of Tibetan Buddhism in Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture is a component of the traditional Tibetan culture, it closely related to the history of the local Tibetan Buddhism, the traditional Tibetan folk art and the inheritance of the religious culture. In this article, the writer conducted an interdisciplinary study, used the theory of sociology, religious studies and ethnology etc to analyze the diverse temple culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Gannan prefecture, included the architecture, painting, block printing of Buddhist scripture, education of monk, traditional festival culture of Tibetan Buddhism, religious dance, achievements or works of masters, and tourism culture of temples etc. Furthermore, the writer explained the raising and falling temple culture of Tibetan Buddhism and the new character of temple culture named'secularization'by reason of economy, national quality, technological development and policy. The writer also discussed how to protect and develop the temple culture.