Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and at the Potala. You can see traditional block printing at Drepung, Ganden and Sera
monasteries outside Lhasa. Sakya Monastery has a particularly impressive Tibetan library.
Very little of the Tibetan literary tradition has been translated into English. Translations
that may be of interest include the Bardo Thödol, or Tibetan Book of the Dead, a mysteri-
ous but fascinating account of the stages and visions that occur between death and rebirth.
The topic gained a certain cult status in the late 1960s thanks to the interest of such lu-
minaries as Carl Jung and Timothy Leary.
The Tibetan epic Gesar of Ling is the world's longest epic poem, 25 times as long as The
Iliad, and takes years to recite in full!
Two years after killing off his main character, Arthur Conan Doyle explained the resurrec-
tion of Sherlock Holmes by saying that he had spent two years wandering in Tibet.
Tibetan writer Jamyang Norbu cleverly conjectures on what Holmes may have been up to
in his 2003 novel The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes .
Architecture
Most early religious architecture - the Jokhang in Lhasa for example - owed much to Pala
(Indian) and especially Newari (Nepali) influences. A distinctively Tibetan style of archi-
tectural design gradually emerged, and found its expression in huge chörtens (stupas), hill-
top dzong s (forts) and the great Gelugpa monastic complexes, as well as the lesser-known
stone towers of Kongpo and the Qiang regions of western Sìchuān. The great American ar-
chitect Frank Lloyd Wright is said to have had a picture of the Potala on the wall of his of-
fice.
Tibet's Architectural Highlights
Kumbum, Gyantse
Potala Palace, Lhasa
Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse
Samye Monastery, Yarlung Tsangpo Valley
 
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