India 2026/P2 (Thiksey & Diskit monasteries)
Place: The sounds of these ‘colour spaces’, the intense experience of belief through ideas of temporariness and transition affected me greatly. Expressions of beautifully executed material culture that forms the everyday lived experience of monks challenges ideas of reverence and preservation.
A novice Buddhist monk serves the first butter tea at daybreak prayers. The pot is clearly very hot & heavy, but they attend to their task with practiced precision amongst the intense incense and chanting of “om mani padme hum” which translates to "Hail the jewel in the lotus”
A cultural exchange project //
Images l/r
Tech-monk, Leh town centre, the business of monastery life in 2026
View from Thiksey monastery, and the Ladakh Range mountain range
A comment is made amongst the monks that appears to irk the novice whilst he serves Tsampa
A novice Buddhist monk serves the first butter tea at daybreak prayers. The pot is clearly very hot & heavy, but they attend to their task with practiced precision amongst the intense incense and chanting of “om mani padme hum” which translates to "Hail the jewel in the lotus”
Second butter serving
There are times when photographing despite been given permission becomes challenging
View from Thiksey monastery, and the Zanskar Range mountain range
Golden early morning light spilling onto the mountains behind Diskit Monastery
Thiksey monastery, Maitreya Buddha
The drama of early light, with the shadow of the Maitreya Buddha (or future Buddha) cast in the foreground. The statue was built to promote world peace, protect the region, and represent the future Buddha
Light spilling into the main Diskit monastery temple at day break. I got permission to photography this colour-soaked room, but morning prayers took place in a smaller temple
Diskit monastery temple (detail)
Diskit monastery, perpetual lamps (known in Tibetan as marmé) stay on day and night as an enduring offering
Diskit Monastery, protector deity*
View from Diskit Monastery down the Indus Valley in Ladakh at 3600m. Overlooked by the Stok mountain range rising to an altitude of 6,153m at Stok Kangri
Maitreya Buddha (the future Buddha) in the Nubra Valley, Diskit. Built to promote world peace, protect the region, and represent the future Buddha
Stupas (locally called chortens) at Diskit Monastery. They function as sacred monuments for worship, spiritual protection, and the purification of negative karma
Looking back towards Diskit Monastery
*In Buddhism, a Dharmapāla (Sanskrit for "Dharma protector") is a fierce, wrathful deity responsible for safeguarding the Buddhist teachings, practitioners, and sacred spaces from both external dangers and internal spiritual distractions