[February 4, 2014]
This afternoon we toured the Sera Monastery – one of the three main university
monasteries in Tibet. Because it
is the new year in China, it’s a holy time and time for pilgrimage in Tibet. We saw many travelers from the
provinces. The faces and colors of
their traditional clothing were fascinating. Some were happy to have us take photos, others absolutely
refused, some (more prosperous ones) used their cell phones to take pictures of
us – we are the only Caucasians in the city.
We saw the monks debating in the courtyard in the
afternoon. The novitiate monks sit
on the ground and are asked questions about Buddhist philosophy. They must answer and debate with the
masters, who stand over them and slap their prayer beads in their hands to keep
the attention of the learners.
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| I loved that this little boy and his father had a Snow White balloon :-) |
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| Prayer wheels |
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| The pilgrims walk the periphery of the monastery, always walking clockwise in prayer, spinning the prayer wheel in their right hand and using their prayer beads in their left hand. |
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| Watching the novitiate monks at the Sera Monastery university debate philosophy |
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| Modernity is only a cell phone away |
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