Sera Monastery in Lhasa is a mecca for photographers, as daily they host a famed Buddhist debating session. Buddhist tenets and philosophy are argued down to the most miniscule and obtuse detail with a Telemundo flourish of drama and hand-slapping and pointing. For a religious order so stereotypically genteel, it's fascinating to watch the ascetics get all riled up. I wish I could have understood the discussions taking place. Such traditions shouldn't be surprising, monasteries like Sera in the long past had been home to cadres of monks that could be almost classified as militias, monks who wreaked occasional gang retribution on enemies and competitor monasteries throughout the region. Rule #1 - don't talk about Monk Fight Club.
Sera Monastery, Lhasa
TIBET
