Shol Parkhang

The Potala Palace in 1938 with the inner and outer parts of Shol Village in the lower foreground.

Shol Parkhang (T. zhol spar khang), or Shol Printing House. The printing house of the Potala Palace, located in the village of Shol at the base of the Potala, in Lhasa, Tibet. It was established on the orders of the Fifth Dalai Lama circa 1690, around the same time as the White Palace was constructed.

According to Jeffrey Hopkins (2003), there were two periods of this printing house, known as the "old Shol" and the "new Shol."

The old Zhol Par-khang has the formal name Shar Dga'-ldan-phun-tshogs-gling. This was founded by the 5th Dalai Lama and was the chief printing house of Lhasa until the establishment of the new Zhol Par-khang printery, the Bka'-'gyur Par-khang, styled the Gangs-can-phan-bde'i-gter-mdzod-gling. This was founded during the reign of the 13th Dalai Lama for housing the blocks of the Lha-sa edition of the Bka'-'gyur.

After the completion of this project, the Lhasa government initiated the carving of the printing blocks for a number of other important gsung 'bum including Bu-ston, A-khu-ching, Thu'u-bkwan, Gung-thang. The blocks from the Old Zhol printery were under the custody of the Potala authorities. Most seem to have been discarded and are being sold around the Bar-'khor as curios. The New Zhol blocks are under the custody of the TAR Archives and are well kept, for the most part.

See also

• Dergé Parkhang
• Lhasa Kangyur

Further reading

• Shol Parkang, Treasury of Lives

• zhol par khang, sakya research centre
• Zhol Village, Wikipedia

Sources

• Hopkins, Jeffery (2003), Emptiness in the mind-only school of Buddhism: dynamic responses to D̄zong-ka-b̄a's The essence of eloquence, University of California Press