Thirty-three years old Lhaba Gyalpo has been a monk in the Tashilhunpo monastery for nearly 20 years, and in 2010, he was chosen as a tour guide to monastery.

"I’m familiar with the place, including its history, culture and religious rituals, and in 2010, I was chosen to be a tour guide, to spread authentic and accurate knowledge of the monastery to tourists, which I think is good for promoting the Tibetan Buddhism." Lhaba Gyalpo said.

The Tashilhunpo Monastery is one of the six major monasteries in Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism and has been the stationed temple of Panchen Lamas. Rising tourist number to the monastery drives the demand of tour guides who know the monastery very well.

Tour guide monks are frequently seen in big Buddha halls of the monastery, who work from 9:30 a.m., take a snap and work on from 15 p.m.

Lhaba Gyalpo insists that learning and practicing the Buddha doctrines is the most important task of a monk, and he started to live a tighter schedule after he became a tour guide, learning from 5-8 a.m. and 18-20p.m. before and after working time.

Monks are arranged for sutra debating 11.a.m. to 13p.m. Monday to Friday to level up their Buddhism knowledge, and as a result, they work only in the afternoon as tour guides.

Lhaba Gyalpo works hard as a tour guide. In spare time, he likes to search for information of the monastery online and writes down countless comments in his guidebook. For frequently asked questions, he likes to write down the commentary by integrating historical data with his working experience, translating the commentary into Chinese Mandarin and English and reciting afterwards.

Lhaba Gyalpo said he decides to learn new skills by attending professional trainings organized by the tourism bureau of the municipal government of Shigatze City.

"Last year, over 10 monks earned 100,000 yuan (16,000 USD) tourism revenue, all used for monastic expenditure. Being a tour guide enriches my life and makes contributions to the monastery development, it is such a good thing." Lhaba Gyalpo said with a smile.

"The monk tour guides speak fluent English and accurate Buddhism vocabulary, which helps me understand the Buddhism culture in less than a few hours," said Susan, an Australian tourist.

Nowadays, monk tour guides are frequently seen in famous monasteries in Shigatze such as the Tashilhunpo monastery, Shalu Monastery, Palkor Monastery, as tourists began to require travel agencies to hire monks as their tour guides.

"As a monk, I have the duty to practice Buddhist doctrines, and as a tour guide, I want to spread good Tibetan Buddhism culture to more people." Lhaba Gyalpo said.