Project: Captions for calendar featuring Tibet photos
Client: Cedco Publishing Company

Inside

Sunbeams & Prayers

Sunlight filters through windows high above worshipers in the Samye Monastery near Tsethang. Within the elaborately decorated chambers of Tibetan monasteries, yak-butter lamps and incense strongly scent the air. Paintings cover the walls, prayer cloths drape pillars, and tiny shrines display relics and votive objects. Monks say prayers and distribute blessings. The devout bring offerings of yak butter to keep the lamps burning and to accumulate good deeds.

Through Buddhist practices, people strive to banish suffering and increase spiritual awareness. Prayer is an important part of a Buddhist’s day and takes many forms. Worshippers spin prayer wheels on temple walls and walk clockwise around temples twirling their own hand-held prayer wheels…

Photographs © Galen Rowell