Pilgrims from the Tibetan countryside come from all over to visit monasteries in Lhasa (the capital) and other cities. In the picture above, you can see three young boy monks bowing in front of the Jokhang, one of Lhasa's oldest and most prominent monasteries. Below, you can see a young person doing the bows on the street. Many pilgrims do this sort of bowing all the way around the temple. It takes hours and hours, and I can't imagine how hard it would be on the body. Most of them have pieces of wood strapped onto their hands so as not to rub them raw. Other pilgrims usually put small bills into their hands as they pass:
Around all monasteries, you can find prayer wheels which pilgrims and monks (and anyone else who wants to) spin as they walk by. The wheels have a little rolled up prayer inside them, so when you spin the wheel, it is thought the prayer gets released up to the gods. The woman below is not spinning the wheels, but she has her own tiny prayer wheel that she is spinning around and around as she walks the circuit:
This cute little woman saw us taking pictures and jumped right in, wanting her picture taken. The old women loved to see us and were always so friendly:
Most pilgrims, as I mentioned, spin their own wheels. Here's a man with a gigantic one! He has a pouch attached to his clothing to help him carry it:
One day while we were visiting the Jokhang, there was a mass convention going on. Pilgrims from all over came and sat all day on the floor listening to a monk read from what I assume are Buddhist scriptures, or teachings. It seemed so boring to me, but they were content. They were all following along in their own books, and every now and again the monks from the monastery would walk amongst the seated people giving them yak butter tea. There were lots of visiting monks sitting and listening too, which I will show pictures of later. This is a picture looking down on a section of the main room for the pilgrims (they weren't even in the same room as the reading monk; just listening through a speaker)...the other main room was filled with monks. There were also people sitting everywhere on the sidelines, above, below, all around:
Finally, on mountains and on highways, you can see tons and tons of prayer flags flying in the wind. They are fastened there to appease the gods, and when the wind stirs them, it is thought the prayers go up to heaven (does look a bit messy at times I admit):
Pilgrims from the Tibetan countryside come from all over to visit monasteries in Lhasa (the capital) and other cities. In the picture above, you can see three young boy monks bowing in front of the Jokhang, one of Lhasa's oldest and most prominent monasteries. Below, you can see a young person doing the bows on the street. Many pilgrims do this sort of bowing all the way around the temple. It takes hours and hours, and I can't imagine how hard it would be on the body. Most of them have pieces of wood strapped onto their hands so as not to rub them raw. Other pilgrims usually put small bills into their hands as they pass:
Around all monasteries, you can find prayer wheels which pilgrims and monks (and anyone else who wants to) spin as they walk by. The wheels have a little rolled up prayer inside them, so when you spin the wheel, it is thought the prayer gets released up to the gods. The woman below is not spinning the wheels, but she has her own tiny prayer wheel that she is spinning around and around as she walks the circuit:
This cute little woman saw us taking pictures and jumped right in, wanting her picture taken. The old women loved to see us and were always so friendly:
Most pilgrims, as I mentioned, spin their own wheels. Here's a man with a gigantic one! He has a pouch attached to his clothing to help him carry it:
One day while we were visiting the Jokhang, there was a mass convention going on. Pilgrims from all over came and sat all day on the floor listening to a monk read from what I assume are Buddhist scriptures, or teachings. It seemed so boring to me, but they were content. They were all following along in their own books, and every now and again the monks from the monastery would walk amongst the seated people giving them yak butter tea. There were lots of visiting monks sitting and listening too, which I will show pictures of later. This is a picture looking down on a section of the main room for the pilgrims (they weren't even in the same room as the reading monk; just listening through a speaker)...the other main room was filled with monks. There were also people sitting everywhere on the sidelines, above, below, all around: 
Finally, on mountains and on highways, you can see tons and tons of prayer flags flying in the wind. They are fastened there to appease the gods, and when the wind stirs them, it is thought the prayers go up to heaven (does look a bit messy at times I admit): 
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