30 October, 2015
Nuns stand after a chanting session, during the Bliss Dharma Assembly.
The Larung Gar Buddhist Academy is located in the remote Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, 4,000 meters above sea level in Sichuan, China. It was founded in 1980 by Jigme Phuntsok, a lama of the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The main academy buildings are surrounded by a multitude of small huts, home to some 40,000 monks and nuns, segregated by a road winding through the city. Thousands of Tibetan Buddhists come to Larung Gar for the week-long Bliss Dharma Assembly, an annual gathering that marks the Buddha’s descent from heaven.
Kevin Frayer
His photographs have been widely published in leading newspapers, magazines and internet sites around the world.
