Buddha Exhibition Festival

July 14th, there will hold annual Buddha exhibition festival in Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse which attracts large amount of common people and visitors come to join in. Buddha exhibition festival is famous Tibetan festival in the world. The time to hold Buddha exhibition festival is among May 14th to 16th in Tibetan calendar.

The Buddha exhibition festival lasts three days. The Buddha images will exhibit from 10 o'clock in the morning to 12 o'clock in the noon in the three days. Then, it will be collected and take out in the next year. In Tashilhunpo Monastery, in the first day, there will exhibit "Past Buddha" which also named Amitabha to let people recall the past; in the second day, will exhibit "present Buddha" which is the Sakyamuni image made by the ninth Panchen to make people to pray for happiness in this life; in the third day, will exhibit "Future Buddha" which is Jampa Buddha to make people longing for the future.

There is Buddha exhibition tradition in every big monastery. For example, Drepung will exhibit Buddha in Shoton Festival which is larger than in Tashilhunpo Monastery in scale. The attendance can reach ten thousands. Buddha exhibition festival is annual important event in Tashilhunpo Monastery, also important content of culture tourism in Shigatse district.

The Buddha exhibition platform was built by the first Dalai to commemorate Sakyamuni in 1468. It is made by stones. The base of the platform is stick into the rocks of Nima Mountain, the giant platform standing on the mountain waist of Nima Mountain, in Shigatse City. It looks very grand and magnificent; you can see it in tens kilometers away. Although the whole Buddha exhibition platform has exposing wind and rain for five hundreds years, it is very stable until now. When the thousand square meters Buddha image was exhibited at here, pious believers will grovel under the Buddha. Although you are not Buddhism believer, you will be moved by the piety.

In this sense, Buddha exhibition festival becomes a tourism festival. Not only the local Buddhist monks and common people will gather here, but also the Tibetans in Nagqu, Lhasa, Lhoka, Qinghai Province, Gansu Province and Sichuan Province will come to there. Just a while, thousands tents are propped up around the Tashilhunpo Monastery, looks very grand. Many foreign visitors also come here to enjoy the pomp of the festival.