As I mentioned in my last blog, during my trip to China last year, I visited a part of China which is actually Tibetan.  Labrang  Monastery at Xiahe is a very large and famous monastery. Below is a picture of it.

Prayer wheels are very important in Tibetan Buddhism and have been used for over 1,000 years. They contain printed prayers and when turned are believed to be beneficial to everyone in the world.  Monasteries have very large prayer wheels which people turn.  Each monastery has a different style of prayer wheel with intricate designs.  This is a picture of two of the prayer wheels at the Labrang Monastery.

Most Tibetans have smaller prayer wheels in their own homes which they turn themselves. Below is a picture of an elderly Tibetan man a few miles from Labrang Monastery turning a small prayer wheel.

I purchased two small prayer wheels at a Labrang Monastery store [Items #185, #186 in Tibetan Objects].  Below is a  picture of the monk  wrapping up a prayer wheel that I bought. [He spoke English very well.]

Outside another monastery, a Tibetan man was wearing a prayer bracelet similar to Item #191 in Tibetan Objects. Items #192, 193 194 are smaller prayer bracelets.

In my next blog I’ll show some tankas being  painted at a  monastery near Xining.