Monks' Quarters, Tsarang Gompa The entire monastery at Tsarang is coloured in the style of all Sakyapa gompas, the three colours of the rigsum gonpo. A narrow courtyard separates the Lhakhang doorway from some monks' houses and the monastery kitchen. One of the eight auspicious emblems, the Endless Knot, is painted on the door of the kitchen. Firewood is piled on the roof above. Where the rammed earth walls are unprotected they quickly erode from rain and snow melt, despite the provision of wooden spouts to take runoff from the flat mud roofs. Planks of doors are bound together with rawhide. � Copyright 1998 Robert Powell
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