Qualla: Tradruk Temple https://qualla.com/tradruk-temple en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/1/q/tradruk-temple-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Tradruk Temple https://qualla.com/tradruk-temple Tradruk Temple: Introduction https://qualla.com/tradruk-temple/ Photo credit Laika ac from UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. Before the temple could be built, a dragon had to die. The story goes that a lake once occupied this site in the Yarlung Valley, and in the lake lived a dragon with five heads. King Songtsen Gampo sat in meditation until he summoned a massive falcon, which attacked the dragon and drank every drop of water from the lake. The dry ground became the foundation for Tradruk Temple, and the name itself, which evokes the hawk that subdued the serpent, preserves the legend in every syllable.

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Image: Laika ac from UK | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/1/q/tradruk-temple-wp/wj1q-tradruk-temple-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Tradruk Temple: Pinning Down an Ogress https://qualla.com/tradruk-temple/ Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. Tradruk belongs to a network of twelve geomantic temples said to have been built across Tibet to hold down a huge supine ogress, a rakshasi, whose body lay beneath the land. The Jokhang in Lhasa stands on her heart. Katsel and Gyama in Maizhokunggar County pin her right shoulder....

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Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/1/q/tradruk-temple-wp/wj1q-tradruk-temple-pinning-down-an-ogress.mp3 0:06 2 full Tradruk Temple: Older Than Lhasa's Holiest https://qualla.com/tradruk-temple/ Photo credit Esiymbro, CC BY-SA 4.0. Some sources rank Tradruk as the second of Tibet's earliest great geomantic temples, built after the Jokhang. Others place it earlier. The ambiguity makes it one of the most debated sites in Tibetan architectural history. What is agreed upon is that King Songtsen Gampo ordered it...

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Image: Esiymbro | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/1/q/tradruk-temple-wp/wj1q-tradruk-temple-older-than-lhasas-holiest.mp3 0:06 3 full Tradruk Temple: The Bell and the Queen https://qualla.com/tradruk-temple/ Photo credit Photo taken by Fanghong, CC BY-SA 3.0. An ancient bell at Tradruk carries an inscription that captures the temple's devotional purpose in a single passage. It reads: 'This great bell was installed here to tell the increase of the life-time of the divine btsan-po Khri Lde-srong-brtsan. The donor Queen Byang-chub had it...

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Image: Photo taken by Fanghong | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/1/q/tradruk-temple-wp/wj1q-tradruk-temple-the-bell-and-the-queen.mp3 0:06 4 full Tradruk Temple: Flowers for the Falcon https://qualla.com/tradruk-temple/ Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. Each June, ritual dances are performed at Tradruk in a ceremony called the Metok Chopa, the Flower Offering. The main building stands surrounded by several smaller shrines, and the complex forms a stop on the Yarlung pilgrimage route known as the three sanctuaries, three chortens...

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Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/j/1/q/tradruk-temple-wp/wj1q-tradruk-temple-flowers-for-the-falcon.mp3 0:06 5 full