Luang Prabang: First Impressions
Former capital of the Royal Kingdom of Laos Kingdom of a Million Elephants “Royal Buddha Image” The Jewel of Laos I’m taking a little holiday. Finally.
Inle Lake
The jewel of Burma’s Shan state is Inle Lake, a long, shallow body of freshwater situated at 2,900 feet above sea level, surrounded by lush hills and inhabited by about 150,000 people. The largest ethnic group of Inle Lake are the Intha, which means “sons of the lake.” The Intha are a Tibeto-Burmese people who [...]
Morning Alms
A familiar sight across Southeast Asia is the early morning alms round of the Buddhist monks. The monks walk door-to-door in the areas around their monasteries asking for their daily sustenance. Traditionally rice is given, and today people also give packaged noodles, juice, money, etc. The monks recite some text before the donors, who are [...]
Wanla Gompa
One of the four branches of Lamayuru monastery, Wanla Monastery dates to the time of Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055) and shares features with Lamayuru’s ancient Sengge-Gang temple and the temples at Alchi, Mangyu and Sumda Chun. All are located in the same general area west of Leh. Wanla gompa is set high on a hill overlooking [...]
Buddhist Masks
No wonder Picasso loved masks. I think he would have liked the Tibetan Buddhist ones too. The mask above is of Yamantaka, the Terminator of Death, who is the wrathful incarnation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of Wisdom. According to legend, the Lord of Death, Yama, was about to destroy Tibet, but the people sought help [...]
Hemis Festival
The biggest and most commercial festival in Ladakh is not the best, but still worth checking out. Thousands of people, mostly tourists and photographers, attend Hemis Monastery’s annual summer festival. It’s unbearably packed, pushy and hot, but it’s still Ladakhi and for that worth the effort to visit. I couldn’t even see the masked dancing [...]
Bodh Gaya Prayer Festival
An international Buddhist chanting festival takes place each December at the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, the place of the Buddha’s enlightenment and the foremost Buddhist pilgrimage site. Bodh Gaya was not blessed with beautiful light or color at this time, and I’ve struggled to like these images I made there during one of my [...]
Debates at Sera Monastery, Bylakuppe
Bylakuppe is a small town in southern Karnataka that’s home to the largest Tibetan refugee settlement in India. Roughly 3,000 acres of jungle forest land was given to the Tibetans by the Indian government in 1959, and from that they’ve created a pretty nice settlement. Today approximately 14,000 Tibetans live in about 15 “camps” where [...]
Good Day at Stondge
After the teachings I headed to Stondge (pronounced Ton-day) Gompa, which has to be the coolest monastery in all of Ladakh and Zanskar. It sits high atop a ridge in a surreally beautiful mountain range and has the most spectacular views of Zanskar I’ve seen. Like Karsha Monastery, Stondge belongs to the Gelugpa (yellow hat) [...]
Three Young Monks
These three young monks from Karsha Monastery are truly as charming and sweet as they look. Each has an older monk that acts as kind of a mentor or guardian to them. The monk above is mentored by Wangboo, the monk who put me up in his place at Karsha, and he was often around [...]
Youth in Red + Green
How can you not love these faces??? This is a huge reason why I love it so much here. I ended up taking many pictures of the young Zanskarpas among the greens, source of life…
Dalai Lama in Zanskar
At dawn thousands of people were waiting for the Dalai Lama to arrive. There was always a little doubt about him actually coming, but then a spec of a helicopter appeared far down the valley and we all knew it was him. As the helicopter approached, people lined the road to his residence at the [...]
Sani Festival Portraits
Portraits of the monks of Bardan Monastery, who perform the festival at Sani.
Karsha Festival Rehearsal
The day before the festival began I went to check out the rehearsal. The dusk light and vibe were perfect and it felt good to be at Karsha again.
Ama & Aba (and one crazy old monk)
First day in Padum and I walked to a nearby monastery. In the main prayer room I saw these old, wood, tribal-looking masks of mother (ama, above) and father (aba, below) used for the annual festival. Usually ama and aba circulate the crowd “harassing” people for donations and maybe serve chang (an alcoholic drink made [...]
Lamayuru Festival
Lamayuru is one of my favorite places in Ladakh. It’s a beautiful village with an amazing monastery set in a totally surreal mountain landscape. I went to the monastery’s annual festival last weekend. Masked dances (chams) enacting themes from Tibetan mythology are the center stage of these festivals and the house is always packed. (Thankfully, [...]
A Great Little Day!
Today was a great little day for me. I stumbled onto a small festival where I was the only non-Ladakhi and the locals just brought me into the fold. The exact reason for the festival is still unclear to me, but monks and nuns from different monasteries were there to recite some Buddhist texts. The [...]
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 [...]
dZi Foundation | Vision Clinic
Another good day. Today I photographed dZi’s vision clinic, which was transported and set up at the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies in Choglamsar in the morning and at Thiksey Monastery in the afternoon. These images are of people reading eye charts at CIB. DZi can make most glasses on the spot for people, including [...]
dZi Foundation | Dental Clinic
For the past few days I’ve photographed a vision and dental clinic for local students organized by the dZi Foundation. DZi partners with Himalayan Dental Relief Project, the Lion’s Club, and the Ladakh Nuns Association to put together this clinic in Ladakh, which is in its 10th year. The dentists, eye specialists, and most volunteers [...]
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 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 [...]
