The Lonely Planet refers to this as the "most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple within China, outside
Tibet itself." Hmmm. What about Xiahe, in Gansu? Or Ta Er, in Qinghai? Although the monks study
Yellow Hat sect teachings, as you'll see in this series of images, the buildings are not Tibetan in
form, the monks do not wear the traditional robes found in other Tibetan temples. In fact, there appears
to be little to distinguish the robes from one of the variety of Mahayana orders favoured by the Han
Chinese majority. And the Planet notes that, at least originally, the monastery was stocked with Yellow
Hat monks from Inner Mongolia, rather than Tibet. Indeed, even the form of prayer depicted in this
photograph is more typical of Mahayana/Zen, and there are no prayer wheels to be found in this temple.
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