Tagong Grassland and Tagong Monastery 塔公草原与塔公寺

About Tagong Grassland and Tagong Monastery

The prefecture's 2015 introduction places Tagong monastery on the Upper Muya pasture north-west of Kangding and reports a tradition that it was built when Princess Wencheng passed this way on her journey to Tibet in 641. Its main hall holds an image of Sakya Pandita, and a separate hall to the right of the main hall holds the figure called Tagong Juewu. Behind the monastery stands a forest of nearly a hundred stupas of differing shapes, said to hold relics of successive Sakya masters, and stupas stand at the four quarters of the monastery, white to the east, yellow to the south, red to the west and green to the north, with a well beside them; the same account records that pilgrims drink from the well, wash their hair in its water and carry it home in bottles brought for the purpose, to give to old people and children. A separate item on the monasteries of the Muya area, carried by the prefecture, records Tagong monastery as a Sichuan provincial key cultural relic protection unit, and counts it with Zhimanakong among the influential old monasteries of the area attributed to the Tang and Song.

The grassland itself covers 712.37 square kilometres, with gently rolling ground, rich grass and water and herds of cattle and sheep. Yala Snow Mountain, whose full Tibetan name the prefecture gives as Xiaxue Yala Gabo, meaning eastern white yak mountain, spans Daofu, Kangding and Danba counties, adjoins the Tagong grassland on its north-west side and rises to 5,820 metres under snow all year; Garze prefecture has listed it as one of the prefecture's eighteen ecotourism areas, under the name Yala Snow Mountain natural ecotourism area. The introduction counts the mountain among the four sacred mountains of the Tibetan areas of China.

Seven or eight kilometres from Tagong, at Gerima, stands a mani pile belonging to the Sejiage nunnery of Tagong. It is built of large stone slabs carved with the six-syllable mantra and piled up in the shape of a stupa, covering 324 square metres and standing 15 metres high; the prefecture credits it with 1.8 billion repetitions of the mantra and 28 sets of the Tibetan canon. Beside it lies a walled ground able to hold a hundred thousand people for religious observance, with more than 400 small stupas set into the wall.

What to look for

• The image of Sakya Pandita in the main hall, and the figure called Tagong Juewu in the separate hall to its right.
• The forest of nearly a hundred stupas behind the monastery, said to hold relics of successive Sakya masters.
• The four coloured stupas at the quarters of the monastery, white to the east, yellow to the south, red to the west and green to the north, and the well beside them.
• Yala Snow Mountain at 5,820 metres, adjoining the grassland on its north-west side and under snow all year.
• The stupa-shaped mani pile at Gerima, seven or eight kilometres away, 324 square metres in plan and 15 metres high, with more than 400 small stupas on the wall of the ground beside it.

Location & getting there

Getting to Tagong Grassland and Tagong Monastery

Confirm the road and activity operator, weather and return transport. Stay on permitted routes and do not treat open land as unrestricted access.

• Search for 塔公草原与塔公寺 with 甘孜藏族自治州 and 康定市.