Ringha Temple

Photo of the Ringha Temple

Introduction of the Ringha Temple

According to the legend, a venerable Buddhist monk has taken the way to Tibet to carry out a pilgrimage with his goat in the countryside. After 3 years of the whole trip, they stayed in the valley of Ringha where the goat refused to continue the way any further more. The monk then counts that it had found there as a sacred place, and decided to build a temple right there on the hill in the middle of this marvelous valley.

Except this legend, the origin of the Ringha temple (also named as “Temple of the 5 Wisdom Buddhas” and Da Bao Si) still remain the mysterious, it keeps an essential place in the Tibetan community that they consider there as the one of the five most important Tibetan monasteries among Yunnan.Date back for at least 700 years; the temple was visited by the 5th Dalai Lama. While the principal buildings were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the villagers raised the funds to rebuild the principal lobby, with a simple and modest structure. Unfortunately, there are only 3 small original statues in the temple nowadays.Several religious practices are associated with the Ringha Temple. The worshipers come here to pray to obtain a good health, heal the diseases and bless for their children. To accumulate a good karma, chickens and the other animals are taken and left in liberty. After that, the worshipers do the kora in clockwise around the hill and pray for their greetings.There are thousands of Tibetan prayers’ flags floats in the wind around the monastery. It blows in continues on the prayers and inscribed mantras on the flags in offering to the gods, perpetuating the please by putting these flags on the hill.While descending, you will go through a trimmed stairway of prayer wheel, with the inscriptions of the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hung” on every cylinder, invoking the attention and the blessings of Chenresig, the incarnation of compassion. The Tibetan think that every rotation of the prayer wheel tells to places them the mantra that there is inscribed. While turning these flags and wheels, the faithful ones accumulate merit, replace their negative actions by positive actions, and improve their karma for their next life.The access carries out itself by car from Shangri La (40-50 minutes). A Jeep is necessary to rejoin the Ringha Temple because the road is in poor condition; it becomes slippery when it rains. From Shangri La, it is also possible to access there by bicycle. This is a beautiful trip by going through several Tibetan towns in which you will be able to stop anywhere you want and to revitalize with a good cup of Yak butter tea!