Potala Incense

Potala Incense - 20 10 inch sticks. One can easily believe that this sublime incense was burned by the wise monks of the monasteries of Lhasa, in meditation, or mindfully sweeping the cavernous halls, or perhaps in front of the countless shrines. This incense is named after the onetime palace of the Dalai Lama. Under Chinese rule the Potala is now a museum. Thirteen stories of buildings containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues, soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 m (about 1,000 ft) in total above the valley floor.[2] Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet." Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (bla-ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjushri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Chenresig or Avalokiteshvara.[3] "Certainly the Potala is one of the most astonishing buildings in the world, whether it is seen from afar perched on the summit of the eminence which rises from the level plain of Lhasa, with the sun striking flame from the golden pavilions of its roof, or whether, riding out before dawn, you see the moonlight thrown back with unearthly brilliance from the whitewashed wall of the immense southern face. All the supremely great works of art, in literature, painting, or architecture, have an indefinable quality of magic which is born from circumstances usually beyond the artist's control; so, in common with the few unquestionably perfect buildings of the world, the Potala has some transcendent quality derived neither from the inspired skill of some master builder or craftsmen, nor from its historical associations, nor from the fact that it is the cynosure of innumerable religious devotees. That it does possess this divine excellence cannot be doubted." *-Chapman, F. Spencer. (1940) Lhasa: The Holy City