Images

For Tibetan Buddhist monks and laity, artistic butter designs, known as torma or tsepdro, take on a spiritual role. Traditionally made using yak butter mixed with barley flour and coloring they are modeled by hand. Since butter melts easily, monk artists making butter sculptures need to work in...

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be in Ladakh this July, when we will be on tour there!  He will confer the Kalachakra Initiation from July 10 to 13.  On July 14, a long life empowerment (tsewang) and a ceremony offering prayers for the long life of His Holiness...

The name “Spiti” means “The middle land”, i.e. the land between Tibet and India. There are two ways to enter Spiti valley, from the southern end via Kinnaur valley, or from the higher northern end of the valley at Losar, via the Lahaul Valley. Here we enter the...

The road to Spiti via the Kinnaur valley is so close to the Tibetan border that we need to obtain special permits to travel on it. There are several barriers and check posts along the way and this interesting Shiva temple. Shiva is the God of destruction and...