Buddhist Monastery

Although Nepal's population is predominately Hindu (some 80% or so), there is also a sizable Buddhist minority (accounting for just over 10% of the population. Nepal is believed to be the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama (founder of Buddhism) and all three major branches of Buddhism are represented among the population. However, the surge of Tibetan refugees over the past few decades has increased the proportion of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in relation to the others...

Approaching the monastery

After leaving the botanical garden, we passed by a Buddhist monastery. We stopped to see if it might be possible to go in and look around. The devotees graciously welcomed us and even allowed us to enter the temple (though they did not permit pictures inside). We learned that the monastery was known for taking in young boys who lived on the street and was well-regarded by its community (they were even expanding it by constructing an addition, as evident in some of the pictures in the slide show below).



The young boys were eager to meet us and were quite good at hackey sack!

I greatly enjoyed viewing the beautiful prayer flags (which indicated that this was, in fact, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery). Prayer flags are brightly colored rectangular fabric panels that are woodblock-printed with Buddhist scriptures, prayers, and/or imagery. They are typically crafted in five colors (blue, white, red, green, and yellow), which represent the five elements, are hung in sets of five, and are replaced annually during the Tibetan New Year. It is believed that when the flags are hung in the air and as they flutter in the wind, the prayers immerse the surrounding landscape as they waft their way towards heaven... Throughout the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, these flags are hung on mountain peaks, temples, and other auspicious locations so as to cast their blessings on the surrounding countryside...

I found them to be quite beautiful works of art. The contrast of the bright colors hung together was most vivid...