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Nepal

Samling

General view from the north-western hill range. Auer 2018
Samling monastery seen from northwest. Auer 2018
Samling Monastery seen from south. Auer 2018

Samling Monastery

Coordinates: 29°25’52.59” N , 82°54’27.44” E, elevation 4166 meters.

Samling is located on a grassy plateau which hangs above the gorge of the river valley on its western side. The monastery, usually called Samling Gompa or Yangton Gompa, turnted into a chief monastery of Bon for the region. The foundation goes back to the 12th century, the heredity line of the Yangal lineage provides the abbot up to the present day. At the present day Lama Sherab Tenzin leads Samling monastery.
Today the complex consists of thirteen buildings and numerous chörten as well as large mani-walls. The Serkhang is located in the north of the ensemble, its entrance faces southeast where a forecourt gives space for assemblages. The walls are made of solid stone masonry which was redwashed, expect the upper whitewashed part. The wooden construction of the flat roof and the attic which is fastened with dried plants and stone slabs protrudes above the whitewashed part.
Through a bricked up front area and a wide door opening with wooden fixtures one can enter the anteroom, from where the entrance door to the assembly room lies straight ahead, while the door on the left side leads to the staircase to the upper floor. Above the entrace door to the assembly room a lanten lights up the room. In the right corner another door gives access to the second side room, which is used as a strage room. The altar and bookshelves cover the raer of the room. The ceiling is supported by four columns with carved and colorfully painted capitals. On the upper floor lie residental and storage rooms, which are all accessed via a small open anteroom in front of the lantern´s window. Via a ladder one can get from there up to the roof.

References: Kind, Marietta. The Bon Landscape of Dolpo: Pilgrimages, Monasteries, Biographies and the Emergence of Bon. Berlin: Peter Lang 2012: 190-194, 195-212. Snellgrove, David. Himalayan Pilgrimage. A study of Tibetan religion by a traveller through Western Nepal. Oxford 1961: 110-129.

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