SAMYE MONASTERY

Samye monastery created in the 8th century as a representation of the 4 corners of the universe with a different colored, themed temple at each corner. A giant twisting compound that took me two days to explore

Monks residence in rows in the central core of the complex. Rooms were neat, tight little spaces with simple furniture 

Entering the main courtyard of the temple. The temples were huge and you could hear your steps echoing down hallways as well as the birds chirping in the timbers and chants of pilgrims and monks

Descending into the lower floors of the temple. At the top of these time-worn stone stairs were large vats of barley flour for meals for all the monks

Murals being repainted after being destroyed by the Chinese in the 1950s. Line drawings were laid down by copying printed designs and then carefully painted using predetermined colors with specialized artists hired to paint the faces 

Temple doors painted showing skinned souls with frightened expressions (who can blame them?)dropping in flaming Buddhist Hell with carved door knockers and hanging colorful tassels

Quiet displays of musical instruments and ceremonial gear inside of the temples and shrines. The outside landscape may be neutral but Buddhist rituals, costumes, tapestries and furnishings are colorful and expressive

Me on the top of the chapel and storerooms looking over the main palace and temple at Samye

Traditional standards that are anchored into the corners of important temples . Each overlooks an "stupa" that represents four different sects of Buddhist thought and compass points

A 5X12" pencil drawing of our camp at Samye. The covered truck on the right is our cooking support truck and the Wagoneer is our "limousine". Our little bivouac was in a patch of stunted pine trees and for the most part we spent a lot of time camping. 

Pima and Pemba sitting in the back of the wagoneer. Cracking up and drinking awful Chinese soft drinks that tasted like thick sugary donkey piss

A quick little drawing of Pima relaxing after dinner 

Pilgrims walking the deserted hallways of the Samye Monastery ringed with long lines of large golden prayer wheels. The women would softly chant while using sing-song voices while they searched for a northern shrine

We followed these monks up ladders and across roofs to the room where they store sacred ritual dancing masks and costumes. The junior monks asked if we would like to join them (using hand gestures) and we ran up and over buildings to reach the secret room

The elder priest cleaned and sorted the various masks and placed them in groups on the room. Everyone paid attention to the head honcho on the floor so when he joined us the rest of the group joined in.

Climbing down yet another set of worn, polished stairs which can be sealed off to cut down the cold wind in the winter

The monks will store their belongings in these little cubby holes cut into the walls. One wrong step on those step stairs and you become a crumpled mess at the bottom.

Family of pilgrims walking a kora/holy walk loop around the Samye Monastery. They asked me to joined them for distance and at the end I them took this group photo of three generations of Tibetans pilgrims

Strange wall hanging of the preserved head of a yak sewn into a bundle and hung on a pole. I'm sure there is a story here somewhere but I don't know what it was all about and couldn't figure it out for the life of me.

Deer antlers and a ancient shield hung on the pole next to the other "offering". Certainly has some deep meaningful explanation or maybe just a good wall hanging

A 75 foot gold and copper statue of Buddha sitting on a lotus blossom throne in a massive shrine. The monks watched me draw the statue while I sat on one of their beds in the temple. They were so focused on me sketching and didn't want me to be interrupted they proceeded to throw out 2 loud Chinese tour companies and bolted the door behind them locking me in so I could finish. All the temple monks/attendants surrounded me and watched until the sketch was done. Amazing memory that was.

The abbots residence with the entrance archway covered in primrose and vines

Inside a newly constructed temple artists were mixing paints to paint the huge blocked out murals. These artists were repainting destroyed murals in a side chapel. Each color was mixed to a master linear chart representing certain celestial colors setout in Buddhist theology

The lead artist that was there to paint the faces of important Dalai Lamas, historic and mystical figures. The most studious of all the bunch. Didn't crack a smile but asked me if I wanted to do some painting

S hand drawn sketch of the some of the wall decorations that are transferred to the wall and then painted in like "paint-by-the-numbers"

Frequently the paint would be layered with silver and gold paint and then scraped through to revel the undercoating. Very time consuming focused work

Teams working on combining effects, figures and fantastical animals in murals that stretch throughout many rooms

A mother transporting her son around the monastery. Sweet couple and the kid had never seen his picture so I swung around the viewfinder and he looked amazed at his photo.