Diskit Monastery - Nubra Valley - Ladakh
The monastery was founded in the 14th c. - it is of the Gelugpa or 'Yellow hat' order of Tibetan Buddhism. Established by a local who studied in Lhasa at the feet of the order's founder - Je Tsongkhapa - and returned home later in life. They have his mummified remains stored here but nobody seems sure exactly where. The 'Yellow hats,' are the youngest of the four main schools - this is a relative judgement it was founded in the late 13th c. - the three others are classified as 'Red hat.' The name comes from the colour of their head gear worn on ceremonial occasions. The most famous adherent of the order - and their leader - is the Daiai Lama. Diskit is a sub-gompa of the much larger Thikse near Leh. The monks run a school for local Tibetan speaking children that has a non-religious curriculum.
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Guardian deities looking out over the Nubra Valley
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Diskit has a collection of highly ornate guardian statues - but they are only ever taken out once a year on the day of the Desmoche - the 'Festival of the Scapegoat.' This is a sort of new year celebration - to banish evil spirits and bring good luck to the forthcoming growing season. Masked monks dance and there is much blowing of horns, banging of cymbals and beating of drums to scare away bad things. If you wanted to see it - you'd better be in for the long haul as it's in February - the Nubra valley is routinely cut off by snow from the outside world from October to May.
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The main dukhang - prayer hall. The buddha at the end is of the crowned Maitreya type. In Tibetan eschatology - this is the Buddha that will appear at the end of time and teach the dharma to save the world.
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Two pictures of the monastery library - or part of it. Tibetan books are long and thin - they are bound along the top of the longest edge. Which kind of makes sense as Tibetan script reads right to left.
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You can never have too many Buddhas?
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Connecting steps between levels.
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Novice monks having their lunch.
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Monk looking out over the valley. I don't know what elevation the monastery sits at - the valley floor is at 10,000 feet, which is pretty low down for this part of the world. At least you can breathe properly. The access road to here from Leh gets up to just over 18,000 feet. Hence why it gets shut for so long each year.
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Looking the other way to the confluence of the Shyok and Nubra rivers. They end up feeding into the Indus eventually.
So there you go - I hope you enjoyed your tour of Diskit monastery. Thanks for taking the time to look. - Yours - I.
@Barry Giddens @Wayne Pritchard @Blademonkey @William Dobson @udrako @FrankieG