A visit to Yarchen monastery, Tibet (photos)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; TripAdvisor.com; Chanmelmel (flickr.com)

Panoramic view of the Buddhist Academy in Sêrtar, facing east (Chensiyuan/wiki)

Tibetan nuns Ganden Jangchup, Choeling nunnery (Reuters/dailymail.co.uk)

Yarchen Gar (camp), Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Kham (chanmelmel/flickr.com).

 

Yarchen Gar and Larung Gar, the giant monasteries of Kham

Trip report from Amdo-Kham (tripadvisor.com)

They are not marked on any maps. They are not mentioned in any guidebooks. But they are there. Both Vajrayana Buddhist monasteries are hidden in the eastern Tibetan highlands at an altitude of over 4,000 meters.

Yarchen Gar (Yaqên Orgyän Temple or ཡ་ཆེན་ཨོ་རྒྱན་བསམ་གདན་གླིང་།) and Larung Gar (Larung Ngarig Buddhist Academy) are undoubtedly the world’s largest Buddhist monasteries.

Tibet nuns, Tibet (flickr.com)

Both have 10,000 monks and nuns living year around in self-constructed huts and shacks.

 

They endure temperatures that plummet to -30C in the winter.

It is a shocking example of some people’s willingness to dedicate their lives to Buddhist practice and the study of the Dharma no matter how hostile the surroundings, or earthly forces, are towards the quest for inner harmony and deeper spiritual insight.

 

Must meditate at all costs (The Simpsons).

These monasteries were originally established in 1980 and 1985 as temporary hiding places for religious teachings (gar translates as “camp”). They have steadily grown into amazing illegal communities without official Chinese government approval. PHOTOS

Tibetan sky burial altar, Yarchen Gar monastery, Sichuan, China (chanmelmel/flickr.com)