Buddha Statue Guru Padmasambhava clothed in snow

What an amazing planet we live on! And what an incredibly rich store of ancient traditions and knowledge still exists in these remote places.

In Zanskar valley this large statue of Padmasambhava faces toward Lhasa in Tibet.

Chenrezig, Buddha of Compassion

Chenrezig, also known as Avalokitesvara
The most revered of all Bodhisattva, embodying the compassion of all Buddhas.
Chenrezig is consider the patron of Tibet, and in fact the Dali Lama, is an incarnation of him. The statue depicts him with one thousand arms.

12 meter Thanka of Padmasambhava

A 12-meter long embellished Thangka (a sacred Tibetan silk painting) of Lord Padmasambhava is unfurled on the auspicious ‘Tibetan Year of Monkey’ in August 2004.

Maitreya Buddha

This 15 metres (49 ft) high statue of Maitreya Buddha spans 2 stories of the Thiksey Gompa. He is unusually portrayed as seated in the lotus position.

Kungri Gompa

Kungri Gompa, Nyingmapa Buddhism in the Pin valley. Nyingmapa is the oldest order of Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddha Sakyamuni

In this close up picture the rosettes are Tibetan Butter Sculpture, Tsepdro, made from Tibetan Dri butter. The dri is the female yak, they are sacred offerings, molded by hand and decorated in the most colorful ways imaginable. Making them requires a great deal of skill gleaned through years of practice. It is a unique art that has been handed down through the centuries

Kungri Gompa prayer hall

Shakyamuni Buddha (Tibetan: sha kya tu pa, sang gye.. Extended across the right knee the fingertips of the hand touch the ground calling the personified goddess of the earth to witness the moment of perfect enlightenment. The left hand is placed in the lap in the mudra (gesture) of meditation supporting a black begging bowl – a gift from the Kings of the Four Directions. The ceiling has large mandalas painted on it.

Nyingmapa temple in Kungri

In this ancient temple built around 1330 AD. there is this beautiful statue of Padmasambhava and Yogini Yeshe Tsogyal.

The Nyingmapa temple altar.

The Nyingmapa temple is next to the large new Gompa in Kungri.
There are beautiful murals on the inner walls.

Murals

The walls of the interior of the Gompas often have impressive murals.
Chakrasamvara embracing his yogini consort Vajravarahi, (Chakrasamvara, blue in colour, Vajravarahi, red in colour). A highly energized visualization, such as would have been experienced by an advanced tantric master. These are key deities in the Vajrayana system, uniting two of the most powerful ideas in esoteric Buddhism, wisdom, embodied in Vajravarahi, and compassion, the essence of Chakrasamvara. His name, which translates as Circle of Bliss, embodies the powerful union of these two fundamentals tenets of Buddhism.

Ancient Buddha Image carved in rock

Chorten or Stupa (མཆོད་རྟེན་དཀར་པོ།)

Chorten is an important religious monument in Buddhism, symbolizing Buddha’s presence. It also holds precious Buddhist relics and sometimes even preserved bodies of renowned lamas. Tibetans believe that performing Koras of the monument is an act of high merit.

Chorten

The shape of the Chorten represents Buddha with a crown who is seated in a posture of meditation on a lion throne. The top of the spire, with the well-known ‘twin-symbol’ uniting the sun and moon, is the crown, the square at the spire’s base is his head, the vase shape symbolizes his body, the steps (four) of the lower terrace are his legs while the square foundation base is his throne.