TOKYO-2016

Larung Gar

  • Photographer
    Anton Gautama

Sêrtar (Serthar) or commonly called Seda is a county in Sichuan province, China, which is under the administration of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (China's Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture). This district is located in the southeast of the Tibetan plateau . In the district of this 'Home' to Larung Gar Buddhist Institute , the largest Tibetan Buddhist institute in the world, founded in 1980, in which inhabited by more than 40,000 monks and nuns , students and pilgrims from all over the world. We also can see the ritual of Thian Zeng (commonly referred to as Sky Burial), the funeral rites important for Tibetan Buddhists. The body of the deceased was offered to the vultures as food. The ritual embodies the Buddhist concept of the generosity and compassion. Unfortunately, there is a domestic conflict between the government of China (Beijing) and Tibet. In result, the government closed the area from outsiders, and demolished a large part of the housing and reallocated the monks become 5,000 only at the end. The reason given by the local government is the 'obligation corrections and improvements'.