Ladakh Crossroads of High Asia -Janet Rizvi

Not only spiritually, but also materially, the glory of Ladakhi Buddhism is undoubtedly the gompas or monasteries. ‘Gompa’means ‘solitary place’; and a few of them, like Hemis and Ridzong,
are certainly that. Many others are situated near, and usually above, a village, the pattern of whose houses they complement with their square piled-up outlines. Often built on a slope, or near
the summit of a craggy hill, they rise tier upon tier, as much as seven or eight storeys, dominating the landscape all around. With their massive walls and small windows, they might be mistaken for fortresses, if it were not for the chorten and mani walls scattered
about the approach, and the prayer-flags that flutter everywhere.Inside, they are a rabbit-warren of rooms connected by dark stairs and passage-ways, their gloom relieved by courtyards, sometimes
small, sometimes spacious, from which rise wide and steep flights of steps to the principal places of worship, the Lha-khang and Du-khang. The apartments of the Rinpoche, the head lama, are
always right at the top, a kind of penthouse; often from the adjoining roof-terrace a magnificent panorama of village, field,stream and mountain is spread out before the visitor. The gompas
are living centres of worship, and the lamas go about their duties not presumably oblivious of the crowd of sightseers, but determined not to let it make a difference to their ancient established routine.Although they look and dress alike, the lamas of Tibetan
Buddhism are divided into a number of different orders, and of these five are represented in Ladakh. Most people have heard of the red and yellow sects, but there is more to it than that. For a start, it is only the headgear which may be either red or yellow;without distinction of sect all the monks wear red, or rather
brick-coloured robes.