དགའ་ལྡན་ད་ཚང་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་གླིང ། 大 藏 隆 洲 林
This post is one of a series.
Introduction and overview
Ganden Datshang Lhundrup Ling, commonly known as Dhe-Tsang Monastery, is located next to Chunkou Village (春口村) in Datsang (Ch: Dazang) Township, Barkham (Ch: Ma’erkang) County, Ngawa (Aba) … [Read more...] about Built Heritage on the Eastern Tibetan plateau:
culture
Vanished Xinjiang
Photos from the 1990s
I first came to Xinjiang in 1991 with a bicycle that I pedalled from Kashgar almost to China's border with Pakistan, a story that is told in my book Among Warriors. In 1993, 1995, 1997, and 2000, I returned to Xinjiang--sometimes to pursue an archeology project that used synthetic aperture radar to … [Read more...] about Vanished Xinjiang
Photos from the 1990s
Sacred Art of the Derge Printing House
Information in this post is drawn from published sources and Kham Aid Foundation archives. Background For nearly three centuries, the Derge Parkhang, or Printing House, (Tib: སྡེ་དགེ་པར་ཁང། Ch: Dege yinjing yuan 德格印经院) has served as a repository of Tibetan literary and religious culture like no … [Read more...] about Sacred Art of the Derge Printing House
Tibetan Nomads and the Permanent Camping Trip
By golly, I have pitched tents in some wild and wooly places. Once, while sneaking into forbidden Tibet Autonomous Region, I camped in a forest beside the Dri Chu river. Later that same year (1991), while biking the Karakorum Highway, I camped beside the yurts of Kirgiz herders. I’ve camped in … [Read more...] about Tibetan Nomads and the Permanent Camping Trip
Survival and Evolution of Sky Burial Practices
The Practice When I first saw a sky burial in 1997, what struck me most was how quickly it was all over: vultures devoured the man’s flesh in just thirteen minutes. The charnel ground (durtro or dursa) was set in a large fenced meadow with a few small temples and outbuildings, and a large circle … [Read more...] about Survival and Evolution of Sky Burial Practices