Tenzin Yontan, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, reads a book at the Champa Ling Monastery in Qamdo, a city in the east of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug 7, 2015. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Drolma Yangkyi's first errand every morning is to change the offering water and tea and burn incense in front of the religious offering table.

During the most auspicious days according to the Tibetan calendar, the eighth, 15th and 30th days of the month, Drolma's family lights 108 butter lamps at home.

"We also light 20, 30 and 50 butter lamps on other less important auspicious days,"the 37-year-old said, adding that her family visit all monasteries and temples in Lhasa several times each year.

"I have work to do. I only circle the Jokhang Temple once each day and the Potala Palace once every week because of time limitations," said the Lhasa resident, adding that older members of her family circle more often.

The family also invites monks to perform ritual activities at their home if bad things happen or they wish to change their luck.

Pilgrim'religious life

Like Drolma, many families in the Tibet Autonomous Region believe in Tibetan Buddhism. Their religious needs have been fulfilled in accordance with the law.

"Tibet is a place with a large number of monasteries, monks and nuns, as well as a living Buddha and pilgrims,"said Lhakpa Tsering, vice director of ethnic affairs and religion commission at the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Entering the Tibet Autonomous Region, Buddha images and Tibetan scriptures, such as Om mani padme hum, the mantra of the bodhisattva of compassion, can be seen and heard everywhere, carved on stone, murmured by pilgrims and written on prayer flags and wheels.

"Religion has been respected and protected in Tibet in accordance with the law," said Lhakpa, adding that legal religious activities held on a regular basis have been protected.

He also said that in recent years, the State and local government has increased investment to preserve cultural relics, including renovating monasteries and temples.

Drolma's family buys religious products on a regular basis, including prayer flags and butter lamps.

"I can buy all kinds of religious products in Lhasa, such as at Barkhor Street," Drolma said.

Wandering in Barkhor Street, a traditional business hub for Tibetans where the Jokhang Temple is located, customers can see all kinds of religious products.

Diverse religious books in Tibetan and Mandarin, as well as religious music are also piled high in Lhasa's bookstore.

Not only are pilgrims' religious needs fulfilled, the lives of monks and nuns, as well as the condition of temples and monasteries have been greatly improved.

The Tibet Autonomous Region has 1,787 religious sites and more than 46,000 monks and nuns. The autonomous region has about 3.1 million people, and 92 percent are non-Han.

Tibetan Buddhist prays as he crawls from the monestery's entrance to the Buddha statue (not seen in this picture) and kowto, at Champa Ling Monastery. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Being a monk is not easy

Tsering Dorje is a junior monk at Tashihunpo Monastery, who speaks fluent Mandarin and Tibetan.

Because of his language fluency, he was selected as a tour guide in the summer, "to tell the history of Tashihunpo and Tibetan culture to tourists from all over the country".

Tsering is one of more than 800 monks at Tashihunpo, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama in Shigatze and one of the six most influential Gelukpa monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism.

He is a medium-sized man with tanned skin. When he talks about his daily life, he smiles shyly and shows his white teeth. But when he relates the history of Tashihunpo and Buddhism he speaks in a respectful and ritual manner with a serious tone.

Although enjoying his tourism "work", the 25-year-old loves to study religious scriptures, even using his leisure time to chant.

"I get up at 5:30 am in the summer and go to the assembling hall to chant with others for about three hours," he said, adding that he won't start receiving tourists until 9 am so that he has three hours to chant before work in the morning.

"I also study after work in the afternoon and evening," he said.

During winter, Tsering devotes all his time to practice.

Tsering, a native of Shigatze, started to learn religious scriptures at Tashihunpo at the age of 14 in 2004 and became a monk three years later.

"I memorized religious scriptures at first for three years to prepare for the exam. It (the monastery) only allows whoever passes the exam to become a fully ordained monk," he said.

In Tashihunpo monks take exams twice a year, including written tests and debates.

Results are released a week after the exam, when monks gather at the assembling hall, masters post a ranking list of test scores. Monks enter a more advanced level through exam results.

For Tsering, exams have never ceased since he became a monk.

He is lucky to be surrounded by the best "teachers", senior monks and religious masters at Tashihunpo.

"I study in Tashihunpo and never went to another monastery to practice. Some monks from smaller temples or monasteries would come to Tashihunpo to learn religious scriptures because Tashihunpo has many good teachers,” he said, adding that in Tashihunpo a monk master usually has a dozen of junior monk apprentices.

Although working so hard, Tsering does not expect the day to come when he passes the numerous exams and becomes a senior monk, he said humbly.

"It would be 20 to 30 years on average to study mantra and then go on to study tantra," he said.

Believer of Tibetan Buddhism prays at Champa Ling Monastery. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Traditional activities resume

The highest honor for monks such as Tsering is to pass the exam and receive the Geshe Lharampa – the highest academic degree in the Gelukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Monks conduct religious logics debates during one exam, held annually at Jokhang Temple. As a traditional religious activity, the Geshe Lharampa exam was stopped due to the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) but has resumed since 1986.

"The system of religious learning and traditional religion activities has resumed, such as the Geshe Lharampa debate in Jokhang Temple Pilgrims love it very much," said Lhakpa, the official from the ethnic and religious affairs commission, adding that Tibet now has more than 80 monks with the degree.

Geshe Lharampa represents the highest level of attainment of monks of Tibetan Buddhism.

In Tashihunpo many traditional ritual activities are held annually.

About 20 percent of monks at Tashihunpo have laptops, and more have iPads, which are used to film many ritual activities in the monastery, said high-ranking lama Kachen Buchung at Tashihunpo.

Not only big and influential monasteries have received benefits, smaller ones too.

Lingbu Monastery is small and located in Gyangze county, Shigatze prefecture-level city with 17 monks including one living Buddha and 16 monks.

The most important annual ritual at Lingbu is the Cham dance Festival, held on the 10th day of the fifth month according to the Tibetan calendar.

This year, about 2,000 pilgrims took part on June 26, said Gelek Gyatso, a monk master and the lead chanter at Lingbu.

"There were too many people and we have to renovate and expand the courtyard for safety reasons," Gelek said.

When Gelek came to Lingbu as a monk in 1990 at 16, the Cham dance Festival had been stopped because of the "cultural revolution".

It was resumed only in 1994, when nearly 1,000 people took part and numbers have increased each year.

Local government supported the activity and invested 870,000 yuan to renovate and expand the courtyard, he said.

                                                                                                                                          Editor: Lily Li