de-kyi-buk hides itself. The ascent was easy between
bushes of thorn and roses covered with a wealth of
traveller’s joy | we passed beside the usual chortens
and through a gateway over which a peach-tree spangled
the blue of the sky with pink and snow. There was
another blossoming against the walls of the monastery
half-way up the hill. A hundred yards further on we
found the abbot and the “ chanzi ” * of the community
waiting to receive us.
The Shebdung Lama, who had lived for many years
across the valley, and must often have seen from his
master’s windows above the town and gompa the rock-
clinging monastery to which we had come,, was really responsible
for our visit. With the usual inability to recognise
the things which really interest a traveller in a
strange country he had, while insisting upon the interests
and the beauty of the Sinchen Lama’s home, only incidentally
spoken of a small community across the valley
where, he said, extreme self-mortification was practised
by a small company of the Nying-ma sect. We left our
ponies in the monk’s care and went inside the temple.
We were glad to escape the white and dazzling sunshine.
There was instantly visible a curious distinction between
the monks of Nyen-de-kyi-buk and those whom we had
met elsewhere. With the exception of the officials
of the monastery these recluses wear their hair long, not
plaited into a pigtail, but allowed to fall almost loose
over their shoulders in a matted and filthy tangle. But
besides this, there was not very much to distinguish the
lamasery from others in the valley. The abbot, a quiet,
sad-eyed man of about forty, was shaven, as also were a
dozen children playing about with wholesome bickerings
* A chanzi is a steward or bailiff.
in the dust of the courtyard opposite the great doorway
of the temple. All were dressed in the usual sacred
maroon, and they seemed cheerful and contented.
Inside the chapel of the monastery, however, there was
certainly an austerity which we had not seen elsewhere.
This Du-kang had few of the usual silk banners and hang-
The sanctuary at Nyen-de-kyi-buk. The pigeon holes on either side are filled with books.
A small lamp is burning on the table, and there are bowls of water on the shelves.
ings which contribute so much both to the colour and the
darkness of an ordinary gompa. There were the usual
cushions on the ground, but the rows of images and
ceremonial ornaments which generally fill the sanctuary
end of these chapels were replaced by precise rows of
books, each lodged sedately in its own pigeon-hole. In
the centre, in place of the usual kyil-kor, with its multi