Chuanzhu Temple

Religious belief is predominant in many parts of the world, including a place that's considered one of the most spiritual on the planet, Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhism, also known as Lamaism. People have many different ways of showing their dedication to their faith. There is kowtowing, the rolling prayer wheel, or simply learning about the Buddha in a temple.

This is the Chuanzhu Temple, located in Songpan County, in Sichuan province's Aba Prefecture. The temple is neither very big and nor famous. But the deep rooted belief here, is sensed widely.

These women are kowtowing. This is the most pious way of prayer by which Tibetan Buddhists realize their belief and pray to avoid disasters. 

Rolling the prayer wheel is another way of praying. In Tibet, it's a practice seen everywhere. Men, women, old and young, they bring a prayer wheel in their hands, and keep rolling it. This is especially useful for those among Tibetan people, especially the older generation, who can't chant scriptures fluently. It's a way for them to replace the chants with rolling the prayer wheel. Nearly every temple in the Tibetan region will have at least a row, if not several rows of prayer wheels for people to use.

In Tibet, most people tend to have a religious incline. Households and families regard it an honour, sending their children to get tonsured and become monks. To do that however, they need to learn the teachings of Buddha. And that brings its own challenges, not least of all the fact that life as a monk is rather hard.

"I'm Gawa Jiangcuo. A monk in Dazha Temple. It's been over 30 years since I came here in 1984. Monks here learn the teachings of Buddha, from morning to night. The monks, especially those relatively new to the temple, must observe temple rituals strictly. Monks who have learned about the Buddha for a long time just take the required courses every day."

Since Chuanzhu Temple is not very big in size, the monks there are mostly locals. 

"For temples like ours, which is relatively small and without a massive pool of potential monks, it takes two or three years to just learn the rituals. If you enter one of the three biggest colleges, like Wensi College, you mainly learn about debating scriptures. In Tantrism College and Astronomy College, if someone wants to truly master the knowledge, it could 20 or even 30 years."

Every January, temples have a large-scale mass prayer. In Tibetan, it's called Molangmu. Related events include displaying Buddha and exhibiting crisp oil flowers and rolling Maitreya Budddha.

In April of the lunar calendar, there is even a fasting ceremony special for Kwan-yin Buddha. In July, there are ceremonies just for debating scriptures. And in December, the Tiaoshen Ceremony.

All these activities are available to anyone religious enough to want to participate in. It's a chance to practice their beliefs and further expand their knowledge.