The typical method that a monastery would
use to deal with local bandit tribes would be
to send out a cursing party of up to sixty
monks. Usually the bandits would pay the
monastery a fee and depart their lands to
avoid being cursed.
Every monastery has a library containing
sacred texts that are printed with wood
blocks on long narrow strips of paper. Instead
of printer’s ink they sometimes use
soot produced from burning yak dung. Tibetan
books are never bound; instead they
are placed between pieces of wood, often
elaborately carved, and wrapped in cloth.
In one monastery an explorer was shown
their most prized book that was printed
on black paper with gold and white ink. He
was told that the white ink was made from
the ground bones of a great lama.
On pilgrimage routes in the vicinity of monasteries,
long walls of stone covered with Tibetan
writing are often seen. These walls are
constructed of individually carved and painted
rocks called mani stones.
Pious monks either carve or paint the individual
rocks and over the centuries some
of the walls have become over a mile long.
Travelers are supposed to pass a mani with
the wall of stones to their right.
Very often a chorten will be located on the
end of the mani wall and marks the burial site
of a person of importance, or in the case of
the largest chortens, perhaps an entire family.
Chorten is sometimes translated into English
as receptacle for offerings.
A chorten that contains the ashes of many
individuals may have had the ashes mixed with
clay and formed into a figure that represents
them. If the ashes are completely present a
skilled wizard may be able to use them in a
There is one school of thought, among some
involved with esoteric matters, that the major
chortens are placed over the entrances to
the lairs of monsters to stop them from entering