New Support for the Tibetan Buddhist Community

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One of the things that amazed me as I traveled through what was formally Kham and Amdo on the Tibetan Plateau was the amount of new construction at many of the Tibetan Monasteries.   It was not only the amount of new construction but the size and quality of the new monasteries and prayer halls that were being built.  I saw multimillion dollar construction projects that left me wondering where the money was coming from.

One very elaborate Temple that was being built in a very remote area in Qinghai Provence was literally out in the middle of nowhere.   I was told that the funding came from a wealthy individual in Hong Kong.

In another remote area of Sichuan Provence the world’s largest Stupa (Buddhist Shrine) was being built.   Half completed with a construction crane on top it looked like a ‘Stupa condominium’.   I was told it was being financed by ‘someone from the West’.

I was excited to see this resurgence of energy in the Tibetan monastic community.  However, I met a Tibetan documentary filmmaker who had a different perspective.  He felt all this new money coming from the outside was interfering with the historic relationship the monks and monasteries had with the local villages that had historically supported them.  He said, ‘It’s just human nature.  If you are getting millions of dollars donated are you still willing to bless someone’s children or their house for a few sacks of Tsampa {barley flour}?

3 Responses to “New Support for the Tibetan Buddhist Community”

  1. Susan Parker

    As always, your photographs are the next best thing to being there and experiencing these incredibly beautiful and exciting places in person.

    I think I agree with the filmmaker, reluctantly, because it sounds like a Western takeover of Tibetan Buddhism even though the donors’ intentions are likely pure. Bringing the Dharma to the West is one thing, building impressive buildings with such outside financing may be another. It’s a complicated issue. Thankfully, there do not seem to be any McDonalds and Walmarts in Tibet – yet.

    Thank you for your extraordinarily wondrous photographs!