Lotus Mini

Painted Walls of Lamayuru Monastery
the tranformative power of spiritual art

Spectacularly set on a steep mountain in the Himalayas and founded in the 10th century, Lamayuru monastery is the oldest spiritual centre of Ladakh in Northern India. Although mostly in ruins with only a few buildings remaining beside the main assembly hall (Dukhang), it is still unsurpassed in the sheer grandeur of its wood carvings, statues and frescoes. The Dukhang was redecorated in 1970 with paintings depicting guardian divinities, and symbolism varying from the benign to wrathful to serene. The Tibetan Buddhist attitude to spiritual art is that it has an inherent power to help the viewer come to self-realisation by inviting contemplation of those aspects of our being which usually remain hidden.