We could not visit Jokang temple for a pretty long time. The Jokang temple was closed for around 6 months after the Covid-19 has been spread all over the world even though Tibet does not have Corona virus at all.
The Jokang temple was founded in the 7th century by the 33rd kind of Tibet called Songtsan Gampo who married Princess Bhrikuti Devi from Nepal, Princess Wencheng from Tang dynasty and his Tibetan princess from Toelung county.
Jokang temple nowadays, is considered as the most sacred temple of Tibet and all the Tibetans from Kham, Amdo and central Tibet come to Lhasa and visit Jokang temple. There are hundreds of old statues and lots of old paintings in the temple and the most sacred statue inside the temple is the statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, brought by Princess Wencheng from Tang Dynasty in the seventh century as a dowry of the princess Wencheng.
Visit Joking temple during your Tibet tour is a must because it is located in the center of the old section of the city and it is listed in the UNESCO world heritage site. The temple is surrounded by the ancient Bharkor Bazzar with lots of colorful shops and restaurants. You can see lots of different people from different regions of Tibet, wearing different kinds of Tibetan traditional clothes, walking around Bharkor Bazzar, known as Khora, doing prostration in front of the Jokang temple to pay homage and respect to the statue of the Buddha Khakyamuni.
During high season, there are thousands of thousands tourists visit Jokang temple and if you are lucky enough, you can see monks in the temple are chanting and doing monastery ceremony. There is a very big ritual ceremony in Jokang temple during the winter time that all the Tibetan women gather inside the Jokang temple on 15th of 10th Lunar month of Tibetan calendar. It is the day of offering to the deity of Pel Lhamo and many Tibetan women in a beautiful dress, gathering inside the courtyard of the Jokang temple, singing songs, dancing, offering Chang ( Barley beer ) to Pel Lhamo deity and after that they celebrate the day by considering as a women’s day in the present day.
If you like to buy souvenirs from Tibet, the best place is to go to the Bharkor Bazzar near Jokang temple and you can walk around through the Bharkor Bazzar which is around the Jokang temple. You can get different kinds of souvenirs from Bharkor Bazzar. Whenever you visit Lhasa city, the Jokang temple is something that you always want to visit.
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