Start here · Essential guide
Exploring the Buddhist Heritage of the Himalayas
A careful overview of the four main Tibetan Buddhist schools and Bon, how their teachings spread across the Himalaya, and why practice differs between communities.
Tibet, Himalaya and Silk Road
The Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug schools and their Himalayan heritage.
Start here · Essential guide
A careful overview of the four main Tibetan Buddhist schools and Bon, how their teachings spread across the Himalaya, and why practice differs between communities.
A look at Himalayan monasteries outside Tibet proper, in Ladakh, Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan, with a note on which school each well-known monastery belongs to.
An introduction to the monasteries of Kham and Amdo in present-day Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, their schools, and why travel conditions there can change.
The Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism: its origins with the followers of Tsongkhapa, its emphasis on monastic study and discipline, and its great monastic seats.
The Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism: its traditional line from Marpa and Milarepa, sub-schools such as Karma Kagyu and Drukpa Kagyu, and associated sites.
The Nyingma, the old translation school of Tibetan Buddhism: its traditional link to Padmasambhava, the terma tradition, and its key regions across the Himalaya.
The Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism: its origins with the Khon family in the eleventh century, its teaching tradition, and where Sakya communities are found today.
What the Bardo Thodol, known in the West as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, is: its Nyingma terma origin by tradition, its contents in outline, and how the English title arose.
Buddhism in the eastern Himalayan borderlands of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and neighbouring areas, with notes on restricted-area permits to check with official sources.
How to read the Bhavachakra, the Wheel of Life painted at Tibetan monastery entrances: Yama, the three poisons, the six realms and the twelve links of dependent origination.
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