12th Century Meditation Cave
Over the past few days I’ve traveled by bus to Saspol, a sweet little village about two hours from Leh, to photograph this meditation cave. The mountainside above Saspol is dotted with meditation caves and thankfully they’re off the tourist circuit. The one shown here is the largest and contains 12th century murals on all [...]
Sand Mandala
Today I went to check out the creation of a sand mandala at Thiksey Monastery. When I arrived at 8:30 this morning, about six monks were working on it and the middle part was already done. I stayed with them until 4:30. They fed me and talked with me and I tried not to get [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 5
The photo above is the gompa’s big prayer wheel. I met the monk at Lamayuru Monastery last year. He spends most of his time in a meditation room (6 years so far) and is the only long-haired and long-bearded monk I’ve seen here. I gave him the pictures I took of him last year, as [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 4
Today I was exhausted but managed to make a couple good pictures of people around the festival in the morning, which are included here. Sometimes it’s hard to keep my stamina going. Maybe it’s the altitude, solitude, lack of protein or caffeine or something else. I don’t know, but some days I just want to [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 3
Today’s festival included a big chanting march around town at midday, but my photographic interests were indoors as usual here. (I like soft, darker light.) The nuns are finally getting used to me and I’ve made friends with two nuns in their late 40s/early 50s. One has a cleft lip, speaks no English, and is [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 2
Tea and lunch for the festival are made on the premises. I spent this morning in the indoor kitchen where the teas (butter and sweet) are made in huge cauldrons and then dispatched out in big kettles to be served to the monks, nuns and attendees. Everyone brings their own cups. The older monks and [...]
Ladakh Prayer Festival: Day 1
About 1,300 Ladakhi Buddhist monks and nuns have gathered here in Leh at Soma Gompa for a five-day prayer festival called Ladakh Monlam Chemo. The monks sit in the main shrine and the nuns occupy a separate space (which is third-rate in comparison). It runs from 8 – 4 and includes breakfast and lunch. I [...]
Stupas at Shey
About 15 km from Leh near Shey Palace there’s a large field with hundreds of stupas in various states of erosion. Stupas are built to offer respect to the Buddha; some house physical relics of the Buddha, mantras on paper or other objects. Apparently the ones at Shey were built by people as a form [...]
