Tsongkhapa Butter Lamp Festival

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Tsongkhapa or Tsongkapa (Je Tsongkapa Lobsang Drakpa, 1357-1419) was one of the greatest religious figures of Tibet. He is said to have died on either the 15th or 25th of the 10th month in the lunar-based calendar, with the 25th being the most commonly acknowledged day. He founded the Gelug sect or order, which revived the Buddhist religion in a purer form.

Distinguished by their yellow hats, Tsongkhapa’s followers are well known for their celibacy, monastic discipline, and scholarship. Both the Dalai Lamas and the Panchen Lamas belong to this order.

The Gelugpa and the Mongols came to depend on one another for support and power. The Gelugpa offered a religion that the khans used to unify the Mongols. In return, the Gelugpa were given military assistance so they could rise to power in Tibet. It was the Mongol Emperor Altan Khan who in the 16th century conferred the name Dalai on the Dalai Lamas.

The China-Tibet Information Centre, an official government bureau, has a quite extensive entry on Tsongkhapa in which the origins of the Butter Lamp Festival is explained:

"According to records written in Tibetan language, in 1409 AD, the initiator of Tibet's Yellow Sect (also the Geluk School), Tsong Khapa, dreamed that he arrived at a hillside full of withered grasses and thorns, but suddenly all the withered grasses became flowers and all the thorns became bright lamps, among which all kinds of jewelleries were shining brilliantly. Such a wonderful scenario perplexed Tsong Khapa. Later, he asked the lamas to light butter lamps before the sculpture of Sakyamuni and shape all kinds of flowers with butters decorated with jewelleries to create a scenario similar to his dream."

Each year on the anniversary of Tsongkhapa’s death, people of the Gelug sect light butter lamps on their roofs and chant scriptures in praise of him. The lamas in temples and the common people form butters of different colors into butter flowers and hang them on flower stands along both sides of the Jokhang.

The Jokhang is the spiritual center of Tibet, the holiest of all the holy places, and the destination of millions of Tibetan pilgrims. Unlike the lofty Potala, the Jokhang has intimate, human proportions, bustling with worshippers and abounding with mystery.

At night, the butter-flower lamps are lit, creating a beautiful and unforgettable scene. The lamps are also decorated with all kinds of flowers, immortal figures, and birds and beasts; whilst under the lamps, people dance and sing the whole night long. On this day it is also tradition for Tibetans to eat dumplings for their main meal.

The outer courtyard and porch of the temple are usually filled with pilgrims making full-length prostration towards the holy sanctum. Its innermost shrine contains the oldest, most precious object in Tibet - the original gold statue of Sakyamuni - the historical Buddha, which Princess Wen Cheng brought with her from Chang'an at the time of her wedding (some 1,300 years ago).