Tak Thok Monastery
Text and Photographs by Mr. Sachin Vaidya During the past decade, I have developed a liking for visiting high altitude places – either on foot or by vehicular travel. I have visited many Buddhist monasteries in Himalayas – mainly Tibet, Nepal, and Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and union territory of Ladakh. During ancient times, Buddhist monks used to stay in caves particularly during harsh winter months. In those days, winters covered more than half the days in an year. Access roads / pathways used to get blocked due to snow in Himalayan high altitude regions for more than six months in an year. Some monasteries were originally in caves and during passage of time, they spread over in surrounding areas or at low lying places. In this blog, I introduce a few Buddhist cave monasteries. Tak Thok Monastery It is Ladakh’s oldest monastery and its only Nyingma monastery. It is built around a cave where Guru Padmasambhava is said to have mediated, hence the name Tak Thok which literall...