Chakpori

	Chakpori
	; Vue du Chakpori depuis le Potala.
Géographie
Altitude	3 725 m
Massif	Monts Nyainqêntanglha (Transhimalaya, plateau tibétain)
Coordonnées	29° 39′ 08″ nord, 91° 06′ 34″ est
Administration
Pays	Chine
Région autonome	Tibet
Ville-préfecture	Lhassa
	modifier

Le Chakpori ou Chagpori (tibétain : ལྕགས་པོ་རི, Wylie : lCags po ri, THL : chakpo ri, littéralement la « montagne de fer » ; chinois simplifié : 药王山 ; chinois traditionnel : 藥王山 ; pinyin : yàowáng shān ; litt. « montagne du roi de la médecine ») est une colline sacrée de la ville-préfecture de Lhassa en région autonome du Tibet. Elle se dresse au sud du palais du Potala et à gauche de celui-ci lorsque l'on se tient face à lui. Elle est célèbre pour avoir abrité, depuis sa fondation au XVII^e siècle par Sangyé Gyatso, l'école de médecine tibétaine. Transformée en poste d'artillerie par les insurgés tibétains lors du soulèvement de 1959^[1]^,^[2], elle a été détruite par l'artillerie de l'armée populaire de libération. La colline est couronnée aujourd'hui par une grande antenne radio^[3].

Faits en bref Géographie, Altitude ...

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En forme de S, la colline Chakpori court grosso modo d'est en ouest, bordant le nord de la rivière de Lhassa. À l'origine, la crête inférieure orientale était reliée à la colline Marpori, où se dresse le Potala. Du fait de l'expansion de Lhassa, l'artère principale de la ville ouvrit une brèche dans le col^[4].

Cette colline est considérée comme sacrée pour Chagna Dorjé (Vajrapani), et selon la légende, Yutok Yonten Gonpo, le médecin du roi Trisong Detsen, y avait une résidence^[5].

Thangtong Gyalpo séjourne sur le site, après que la femme dirigeante Kalden Rinchen Sangmo lui eut fait construire une résidence en 1430. Il y fonde plus tard un couvent et un temple^[6]. Ce dernier est restauré par Khyenrab Norbu dans les années 1930, puis détruit sous la révolution culturelle. Sa reconstruction débute dans les années 1980^[7].

L'Institut de médecine tibétaine

Considérée comme une des trois montagnes sacrées du Tibet central^[8], la colline de Chakpori fut autrefois le site du Menpa dratsang (tibétain : སྨན་པ་གྲ་ཚང / chinois : 门巴扎仓), ou Chakpori Zhopanling (littéralement, « Institut de la colline du roi médecin pour sauver tous les êtres vivants »)^[9]^,^[10], institut de médecine tibétaine fondé au XVII^e siècle par Lobsang Gyatso, le 5^e dalaï-lama, et son régent, Sangyé Gyatso^[11]. Le 5^e dalaï-lama y créa également un hôpital^[12].

En 1916, le 13^e dalaï-lama, Thubten Gyatso, nomma Khyenrab Norbu directeur du collège médical de Chakpori et d'un institut de médecine et d'astrologie tibétaine qu'il venait de créer, le Mentsikhang (tibétain : སྨན་རྩིས་ཁང་ / chinois : 门孜康)^[13].

En 1959, les deux instituts fusionnèrent au sein des bâtiments du Mentsikhang pour former l'hôpital de médecine tibétaine de Lhassa 拉萨市藏医医院). Cet institut devint en 1980 l'Institut de médecine tibétaine de la région autonome du Tibet (西藏自治区藏医院)^[14].

Pour sa part, le gouvernement tibétain en exil a fondé en 1992, à Darjeeling en Inde, un Institut Chakpori de médecine tibétaine, reprenant le nom de l'institut de Lhassa. On y enseigne et développe la médecine tibétaine.

Les combats de mars 1959

Dans les années 1950, le gouvernement tibétain installa un ou deux de canons sur la colline de Chakpori^[15].

Selon le site March 10th Memorial mis en place par Jamyang Norbu^[16], lors de l'insurrection de mars 1959, les canons et les mortiers tibétains installés à Chakpori font feu, le vendredi 20 mars, sur les campements chinois à Shugtri Lingka et sur le quartier général de l'armée populaire de libération. Les soldats de Shugtri Lingka se lancent alors à l'assaut de la colline mais sont repoussés. Le samedi 21, l'artillerie de l'APL soumet Chakpori à un bombardement intensif. Le commandant tibétain, qui continue à bombarder Shugtri Lingka, envoie des volontaires chercher des obus de canon et de mortier au dépôt de munitions dit Ghonzdoe Dorjeeling juste derrière Chagpori mais un obus chinois pulvérise celui-ci. En fin d'après-midi, après que tous les bâtiments de Chakpori ont été détruits par l'artillerie de l’armée populaire de libération, le commandant ordonne aux volontaires de quitter les lieux. Ne restent que les soldats de Drapchi pour résister à l'assaut final. Le dimanche 22 au soir, la prise de Chakpori est annoncée ainsi que celle du Norbulingka et du Potala^[17]^,^[18].

Selon Roger E. McCarthy, les Chinois tirent sur le Norbulingka, le Potala, le Jokhang, les monastères avoisinant, avant de tirer sur la faculté de médecine du Chakpori et d'autres endroits à Lhassa, dont le village de Shol. On estime que plus de 15 000 personnes sont mortes ou blessées. Après les tirs d'artillerie, les Chinois inspectent chaque corps à la recherche du dalaï-lama. Les Tibétains résistent vaillamment au début depuis le Chakpori, bien que ne disposant comme armes que de fusils et d'épées, et ils tentent d'utiliser les vieux canons qui s'y trouvaient pour riposter aux Chinois. Ils attaquent et prennent la garnison chinoise à Shukti Lingka, le plus souvent lors de corps à corps, où les épées tibétaines sont utilisées très efficacement. Et avec des cocktails Molotov, les Khambas détruisent l'un des trois chars que les Chinois avaient apportés à Lhassa^[19].

La colline et ses autres monuments

Cette colline, qui a été rebaptisée « pic de la victoire », est maintenant couronnée par une grande antenne radio^[20].

On peut y voir une grotte, dans laquelle un autel comporte la statue du fondateur de l'empire du Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, entouré de ses deux épouses, la princesse Wencheng, chinoise et la princesse Bhrikuti Devi, népalaise. On peut également y voir deux fonctionnaires célèbres, Thonmi Sambhota et Gar Tongtsen^[10].

Derrière la colline se trouve la falaise des mille bouddhas (chinois : 千佛崖 ; pinyin : qiānfó yá)^[21]^,^[22]^,^[23], ou mur des Dix Mille Bouddhas^[10].

[1]
(en) Mikel Dunham, Buddha's Warriors, Inde, Penguin Books, 2006, 433 p., p. 276 : « A contingent of Khampas and Lhassans marched up to the top of Chakpori (Iron Hill), a steep ridge where the ancient Medical College looked down over the Vale of Lhasa. Alongside several rusty cannons (which had been set up there in a previous era), they set up mortars and light artillery. [...] Iron Hill, the Medical College, became a turret tower camouflaged in prayer flags. »
[2]
(en) Stephan Talty, Escape from the Land of Snows : The Young Dalai Lama's Harrowing Flight to Freedom and the Making of a Spiritual Hero, Broadway Books, 2011, 320 p., pp. 140-141 : « The Norbulingka was the first battleground in the battle for Lhasa, but skirmishes were being fought across the city. The Tibetan largely held the heights. They were dug in on Chakpori, the mountain overlooking Lhasa, and at the Medical College near its summit, with light artillery guns, mortars, and a few ancient cannons that had sat there for decades. »
[3]
(en) Adrian A. Moon, "The Yaso Generals" (pp. 207-213), in Chö-Yang: The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture, Volume 4, eds Pedron Yeshi & Jeremy Russell, Council for Religious and Cultural Affairs of H.H. the Dalai Lama, 1991, p. 210 : « The medical college on Chakpori was bombarded in 1959, further ruined during the Cultural Revolution and the remains finally leveled in 1984 to make way for a television mast. »
[4]
Victor Chan, Tibet. Le guide du pèlerin, Éditions Olizane, 1998, p. 151.
[5]
(en) Keith Dowman, The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., Londres, 1988 (ISBN 0-7102-1370-0), p. 49 : « Chakpo Ri (ICags po ri): Medical College Hill. To the south of the Potala, Chakpo Ri 3 is now easily identified by the steel telecommunication transmission tower on its bare summit. This hill is sacred to Chagna Dorje (Vajrapani), and legend has it that the Master-Doctor Yutokpa Yonten Gompo, the Emperor Trisong Detsen's doctor, had a residence here. This was the location of the famous medical college, or Mentsikang, called Rikche Dropenling, which was conceived by the Great Fifth Dalai Lama in (17th c.) and completed by Sangye Gyatso. It adorned this ridge until its destruction by artillery fire during the 1959 Lhasa Uprising. Also destroyed was its temple containing, most notably, a coral image of Tsepame made by Tangton Gyelpo (p. 137), a mother-of-pearl image of Tujechempo, and a turquoise statue of Drolma. In 1913 the thirteenth Dalai Lama built another Mentsikang. This was built on the site of the post-revolutionary traditional hospital near the Jokang. The present impressive modern building houses some of the treasures of the old. particularly a set of tankas depicting human anatomy that is used as a teaching aid. On its south-west side Chakpo Ri terminates in a spinal ridge, and here sculptors took advantage of a sheer rock wall to carve every square metre of rock surface to form a mosaic of engraved Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Tsepame, the so-called Blue Buddha, is the outstanding ligure. Previously these figures were painted immaculately with a considerable amount of gold; today the painting is crude but still effective. »
[6]
(en) Cyrus Stearns, King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo, voir p. 634 et p. 71 (Lady Shakhama (Dpon mo Shag kha ma) is an epithet of Kalden Rinchen Sangmo referring to the fact that she was from the Shakhapa line of rulers from Gyantsé in Tsang.)
[7]
Stephen Batchelor, The Tibet Guide, foreword by the Dalai Lama, Wisdom Publications, 1987 (ISBN 0861710460), p. 160.
[8]
(en) R. A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, traduit par J. E. Stapleton Driver, Stanford University Press, Stanford, Californie, 1972, p. 228.
[9]
(en) « Tibetan medicine and pharmacology take on a new lease of life », sur CCTV.com, 28 avril 2008
[10]
(de) « Wichtige Sehenswürdigkeiten in Lhasa », sur eu-asien.de
[11]
Histoire de la médecine tibétaine.
[12]
Roland Barraux, « Lobsang Gyatso », Histoire des dalaï-lamas, Quatorze reflets sur le Lac des Visions, édition Albin Michel, 1993 ; réédité en 2002 chez Albin Michel (ISBN 2226133178), p. 91.
[13]
(en) Men-Tsee-Khang. History. Rev. Khyenrab Norbu (1883-1962 A.D.), Official website of Tibetan Medical & Astrology Institute of H.H. the Dalai Lama.
[14]
(zh) « 西藏自治区藏医院 », sur zangyao.roboo.com (中国藏药 médicaments tibétains de Chine)
[15]
(en) Lobsang Gyatso, Memoirs of a Tibetan Lama, Snow Lion Publications, 1998 (ISBN 1559390972), p. 262 : « The Tibetan government had one or two canons on the top of the Chakpori hill near the Potala, [...] »
[16]
(en) Jamyang Norbu, The mystery of the March 10 photographer, 8 mars 2017
[17]
(en) Jamyang Norbu, Chronology. Timeline of Events, March 10th Memorial.
[18]
(en) Keith Dowman, The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., Londres, 1988, p. 49 (ISBN 0-7102-1370-0).
[19]
(en) Roger E. McCarthy, Tears of the lotus: accounts of Tibetan resistance to the Chinese invasion, p. 184 : « [...] they fired on the Norbulingka, then on the Potala, then on Jokhang, then on the nearby monasteries, then on the Chakpori medical school and other places in Lhasa, and the adjacent village of Shol. The estimate was that more than 15,000 were dead or wounded, for there were bodies of men, women and children strewn everywhere. After the barrages of heavy fire by artillery, mortars and machine guns were finished, the Chinese then inspected each body, looking for the Dalai Lama. At first, the Tibetans had given strong resistance on the Iron Hill located behind the medical college, but the only weapons they had were their rifles and swords. They even tried to use the old cannons located there to return fire against the Chinese. They made Molotov cocktails and fired mortars and other weapons captured from the Chinese. They attacked and took out the Chinese garrison at Shukti Lingka, mostly in hand-to-hand fighting, where the Tibetan swords were used very effectively. And with Molotov cocktails the Khambas destroyed one of three tanks that the Chinese had brought into Lhasa. »
[20]
(en) Lhasa - God’s own Land : « Gone also, since 1959, is the original Tibetan Medical College that stood on the peak of Chakpori, the small hill facing the Potala - topped now with bare metal towers and the stark building of the radio transmission station ».
[21]
(zh) « 藥王山千佛崖，這裡滿山都是摩崖佛像 », sur 每日頭條,‎ 26 septembre 2016
[22]
(zh) « 千佛的住所——拉萨药王山（含旅游攻略 », sur 卓玛小屋,‎ 25 février 2007
[23]
(zh) 许万虎, 赵玉和, « 探访拉萨“千佛崖” », sur tibet328.cn,‎ 6 décembre 2013

(en) Stacey Van Vleet, « Strength, Defence, and Victory in Battle: Tibetan Medical Institutions and the Ganden Phodrang Army, 1897–1938 », Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 27, Le bouddhisme et l'armée au Tibet pendant la période du Ganden Phodrang (1642-1959) / Buddhism and the Millitary in Tibet during the Ganden Phodrang Period (1642-1959),‎ 2018, p. 173-210 (DOI 10.3406/asie.2018.1511, lire en ligne)

Sur les autres projets Wikimedia :

Chakpori, sur Wikimedia Commons

[1] [1]
(en) Mikel Dunham, Buddha's Warriors, Inde, Penguin Books, 2006, 433 p., p. 276 : « A contingent of Khampas and Lhassans marched up to the top of Chakpori (Iron Hill), a steep ridge where the ancient Medical College looked down over the Vale of Lhasa. Alongside several rusty cannons (which had been set up there in a previous era), they set up mortars and light artillery. [...] Iron Hill, the Medical College, became a turret tower camouflaged in prayer flags. »

[2] [2]
(en) Stephan Talty, Escape from the Land of Snows : The Young Dalai Lama's Harrowing Flight to Freedom and the Making of a Spiritual Hero, Broadway Books, 2011, 320 p., pp. 140-141 : « The Norbulingka was the first battleground in the battle for Lhasa, but skirmishes were being fought across the city. The Tibetan largely held the heights. They were dug in on Chakpori, the mountain overlooking Lhasa, and at the Medical College near its summit, with light artillery guns, mortars, and a few ancient cannons that had sat there for decades. »

[3] [3]
(en) Adrian A. Moon, "The Yaso Generals" (pp. 207-213), in Chö-Yang: The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture, Volume 4, eds Pedron Yeshi & Jeremy Russell, Council for Religious and Cultural Affairs of H.H. the Dalai Lama, 1991, p. 210 : « The medical college on Chakpori was bombarded in 1959, further ruined during the Cultural Revolution and the remains finally leveled in 1984 to make way for a television mast. »

[4] [4]
Victor Chan, Tibet. Le guide du pèlerin, Éditions Olizane, 1998, p. 151.

[5] [5]
(en) Keith Dowman, The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., Londres, 1988 (ISBN 0-7102-1370-0), p. 49 : « Chakpo Ri (ICags po ri): Medical College Hill. To the south of the Potala, Chakpo Ri 3 is now easily identified by the steel telecommunication transmission tower on its bare summit. This hill is sacred to Chagna Dorje (Vajrapani), and legend has it that the Master-Doctor Yutokpa Yonten Gompo, the Emperor Trisong Detsen's doctor, had a residence here. This was the location of the famous medical college, or Mentsikang, called Rikche Dropenling, which was conceived by the Great Fifth Dalai Lama in (17th c.) and completed by Sangye Gyatso. It adorned this ridge until its destruction by artillery fire during the 1959 Lhasa Uprising. Also destroyed was its temple containing, most notably, a coral image of Tsepame made by Tangton Gyelpo (p. 137), a mother-of-pearl image of Tujechempo, and a turquoise statue of Drolma. In 1913 the thirteenth Dalai Lama built another Mentsikang. This was built on the site of the post-revolutionary traditional hospital near the Jokang. The present impressive modern building houses some of the treasures of the old. particularly a set of tankas depicting human anatomy that is used as a teaching aid. On its south-west side Chakpo Ri terminates in a spinal ridge, and here sculptors took advantage of a sheer rock wall to carve every square metre of rock surface to form a mosaic of engraved Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Tsepame, the so-called Blue Buddha, is the outstanding ligure. Previously these figures were painted immaculately with a considerable amount of gold; today the painting is crude but still effective. »

[6] [6]
(en) Cyrus Stearns, King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder Tangtong Gyalpo, voir p. 634 et p. 71 (Lady Shakhama (Dpon mo Shag kha ma) is an epithet of Kalden Rinchen Sangmo referring to the fact that she was from the Shakhapa line of rulers from Gyantsé in Tsang.)

[7] [7]
Stephen Batchelor, The Tibet Guide, foreword by the Dalai Lama, Wisdom Publications, 1987 (ISBN 0861710460), p. 160.

[8] [8]
(en) R. A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, traduit par J. E. Stapleton Driver, Stanford University Press, Stanford, Californie, 1972, p. 228.

[9] [9]
(en) « Tibetan medicine and pharmacology take on a new lease of life », sur CCTV.com, 28 avril 2008

[eu-asien-10] [10]
(de) « Wichtige Sehenswürdigkeiten in Lhasa », sur eu-asien.de

[11] [11]
Histoire de la médecine tibétaine.

[12] [12]
Roland Barraux, « Lobsang Gyatso », Histoire des dalaï-lamas, Quatorze reflets sur le Lac des Visions, édition Albin Michel, 1993 ; réédité en 2002 chez Albin Michel (ISBN 2226133178), p. 91.

[13] [13]
(en) Men-Tsee-Khang. History. Rev. Khyenrab Norbu (1883-1962 A.D.), Official website of Tibetan Medical & Astrology Institute of H.H. the Dalai Lama.

[14] [14]
(zh) « 西藏自治区藏医院 », sur zangyao.roboo.com (中国藏药 médicaments tibétains de Chine)

[15] [15]
(en) Lobsang Gyatso, Memoirs of a Tibetan Lama, Snow Lion Publications, 1998 (ISBN 1559390972), p. 262 : « The Tibetan government had one or two canons on the top of the Chakpori hill near the Potala, [...] »

[16] [16]
(en) Jamyang Norbu, The mystery of the March 10 photographer, 8 mars 2017

[17] [17]
(en) Jamyang Norbu, Chronology. Timeline of Events, March 10th Memorial.

[18] [18]
(en) Keith Dowman, The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., Londres, 1988, p. 49 (ISBN 0-7102-1370-0).

[19] [19]
(en) Roger E. McCarthy, Tears of the lotus: accounts of Tibetan resistance to the Chinese invasion, p. 184 : « [...] they fired on the Norbulingka, then on the Potala, then on Jokhang, then on the nearby monasteries, then on the Chakpori medical school and other places in Lhasa, and the adjacent village of Shol. The estimate was that more than 15,000 were dead or wounded, for there were bodies of men, women and children strewn everywhere. After the barrages of heavy fire by artillery, mortars and machine guns were finished, the Chinese then inspected each body, looking for the Dalai Lama. At first, the Tibetans had given strong resistance on the Iron Hill located behind the medical college, but the only weapons they had were their rifles and swords. They even tried to use the old cannons located there to return fire against the Chinese. They made Molotov cocktails and fired mortars and other weapons captured from the Chinese. They attacked and took out the Chinese garrison at Shukti Lingka, mostly in hand-to-hand fighting, where the Tibetan swords were used very effectively. And with Molotov cocktails the Khambas destroyed one of three tanks that the Chinese had brought into Lhasa. »

[godown-20] [20]
(en) Lhasa - God’s own Land : « Gone also, since 1959, is the original Tibetan Medical College that stood on the peak of Chakpori, the small hill facing the Potala - topped now with bare metal towers and the stark building of the radio transmission station ».

[21] [21]
(zh) « 藥王山千佛崖，這裡滿山都是摩崖佛像 », sur 每日頭條,‎ 26 septembre 2016

[22] [22]
(zh) « 千佛的住所——拉萨药王山（含旅游攻略 », sur 卓玛小屋,‎ 25 février 2007

[23] [23]
(zh) 许万虎, 赵玉和, « 探访拉萨“千佛崖” », sur tibet328.cn,‎ 6 décembre 2013

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