The Lama Temple Temple Education Research

The Yonghe Temple built in the Qing Dynasty has been the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Beijing for nearly270years till now. In history the Yonghe Temple has been originally served as the mansion of Prince Zhen, the mansion of Prince Yong, and then the temple. In1744, the Yonghe Temple officially converted into a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. From the very beginning, the Yonghe temple has created a link between the central government and the Tibetan and Mongolian areas, thus has played a very important role in the religious affairs of Mongolian and Tibetan areas. It has made an invaluable contribution in safeguarding national unification, keeping ethnic unity, promoting cultural exchange between the central China and Mongolian-Tibetan areas, educating Mongolians and Tibetans, enriching Beijing folk cultural, and so on.The great achievements by the Yonghe Temple are due to its comprehensive and systematic monastery education. Since the beginning of its establishment, the temple has set up four colleges which taught the Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and cultures. It has a high religious status and has been recognized as the base of education on keeping the stability and unity of Tibet and Mongolia.In the Qing Dynasty, the Yonghe Temple had a complete education system, and it made a great contribution in promoting the Tibetan Buddhism, advancing the Tibetan calendar, catering the Mongolian and Tibetan masters, cultivating patriotic religious leaders and so on. In the period of Republic of China, the Yonghe Temple inherited the tradition on monastery education, and restored the relationships between Tibet and central government and between the13th Dalai Lama and the central government. After being transformed by the socialism, in addition to the traditional education on patriotism and national unity, the new contents on "practicing the social harmony" has been added into the syllabus. In different periods, functions and features of the monastic education are different. However, the main content of education still belongs to the traditional doctrines and its great contribution is always around the theme of patriotism and national unity.This thesis is organized in five chapters which discuss the content, characteristics and features of Yonghe monastic education in three different historical periods-the Qing Danasty, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China-with a focus on the contribution to the patriotism of the monastic education.I. The construction and conversion of the Yonghe Temple. Firstly in this chapter we will explore the origin of the Yonghe Temple and describe the predecessor, the location and layout of the Yonghe Temple during the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Secondly, we will explore the process how the Yonghe Temple was converted from an imperial palace to a royal temple, and we will analyze the profound root of the conversion by using a large amount of Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan documents on the histories of Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to the conventional researches, the conversion is a result of that Empress Xiaoshengxian wanted to reduce the sin committed by the Emperor Yongzeng through the Buddhist confession, or that Emperor Qianlong inherited the willingness of his father to spread the Buddhism, or that Emperor Qianlong employed the Buddhism to appease the Tibetans and Mongolians. However, very few researches have ever attributed the conversion to the religious belief of Emperor Qianlong to the Buddhism, and to the attempt to ease the religious conflicts in Qinghai.Ⅱ. The monastic education of the Yonghe Temple in the Qing Dynasty. The monastic education of Tibetan Buddhism is the main education form in the Tibetan and Mongolian areas. It has a profound impact on the politics, economy and society of Tibetan and Mongolian areas and it has a broad and deep foundation on the masses. The construction of the Yonghe Temple agreed with historical trend. In1744, when the Yonghe Temple was converted, a complete monastic education system was established in the Yonghe Temple by setting up four colleges, recruiting monks, hiring teachers on scriptures, and adopting a comprehensive management system. Later, with the support of the Qing Government, the Yonghe Temple eventually established its dominant position on the Tibetan Buddhism monastic education in Beijing. The Yonghe Temple adopted the education of Gelug sect, therefore its monastic education was similar to the Gelug temples but with its own features, especially in the setup of four colleges, acquisition of Gexi Degree, the object of education, and so on. This chapter will explore the coverage and features of monastic education of the Yonghe Temple in depth.Ⅲ. The contribution of the monastic education of the Yonghe Temple in the Qing Dynasty. The Yonghe Temple is the largest temple of Tibetan Buddhism, but also the largest official monastic education base in Beijing. In its history of more than200years, the temple reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty in terms of its scale, institution and influence. The Yonghe Temple not only played an important role in the religious affairs by forming a link between the central government and the Tibetan and Mongolian areas, but also had a positive influence on promoting the cultural exchange between ethnic groups, educating the Mongolian and Tibetan talents, enriching the Beijing folk culture, stabilizing the social order in Mongolian and Tibetan areas, and so on.Ⅳ. The monastic education of the Yonghe Temple in the period of the Republic of China. During the period of Republic of China, the national strength declined, the new monastic education appeared, and the suspicious and anti Buddhism emotions accumulated. As a result, the traditional monastic education of the Yonghe Temple was facing an unprecedented distress. The sharp decline of monks, the shortage of funding for education, the transform of traditional education, all so seriously hampered the continuation and development of monastic education in the Yonghe Temple. Although at a period of decline, the Yonghe Temple-as the leading Buddhism temple in Beijing-was still able to held religious events to ensure the continuation of monastic education. This endeavor laid the foundation for the restoration of monastic education in the subsequent new era. In the Republic of China, the political function is the core of the monastic education in the Yonghe Temple. Three Khenpos were dispatched into the temple to teach the scripture and restore the education, which helped to connect the central government and the Dalai Lama, to restore the relationship between the central government and Tibet, to unite the nation, and so on. V. The monastic education of the Yonghe Temple in the new era. In the chapter, we will advocate nowadays how to coordinate the content, institution, teaching method of monastic education of the Yonghe Temple with the socialist system, how to make the education adapt to the trend of modernization and development of science and technology, how to organically integrate the education with the modern education, how to realize the transition from the monastic usage to the populous usage of the education.