Leh 193 



results in some disillusionment. The buildings 

 that looked ethereal from below are, in fact, reek- 

 ing with dirt ; the monks, or at least most of them, 

 not sad-faced ascetics, but carnal-looking priests, 

 and their religion far removed from the pure 

 teaching of Buddha. 



But it is far from the case that a visit to 

 a Tibetan monastery results in disappointment : 

 indeed the most casual visitor cannot fail to be 

 struck by its strangeness. The maze of passages, 

 stairways, and cubicles ; the grotesque pictures ; 

 the queer - shaped vessels and appliances ; the 

 gorgeous vestments ; the libraries, treasure, and 

 image houses ; the pungent odours of lamps 

 and joss-sticks ; the dark-robed men themselves, 

 whose lives are bound up in the swarming ant-hill 

 of worship. One passes through dark galleries, 

 thronged with seated images whose presence is 

 more felt than seen. In the mysterious, dimly- 

 lighted temples the bare feet of attendant lamas 

 awake no sound on the polished stone, and the 

 clack of boot-heels seems strangely out of place. 

 Carved pillars stand up, their capitals invisible in 

 the obscurity above. One is aware of grotesquely 

 frescoed walls and worked banners of colours now 

 toned down by great age. From recesses in the 

 walls the eye catches the dull gleam of copper 

 and silver vessels. In front, before the carved 



N 



