The Cult of Tara

WORSHIP 17
The large monastic complex contained two temples or assembly
halls, the workrooms, and the monks' quarters, and the whole was
surrounded by a wall, outside of which was located the new monastic
college; in front of the main temple was a large area for the performance
of the great annual masked dances. The monastery housed
three hundred monks, not counting those attending the monastic
college; it was certainly not a large establishment when compared
with the gigantic monastic corporations of central Tibet, but it was
considered a good-sized monastery among those of the east. Since
the original monastery had been constructed with more than three
hundred residences, no further housing was needed to accommodate
new entrants.
The houses for the monks were built of local stone, with the
inside walls covered with mud, whitewashed, and often painted in
fresco; though the houses were outwardly identical, the interior
decoration varied with the taste and means of the occupant. All
the roofs were flat except for those of the temples, which were curved
and gilded in the Chinese style. Each monk was allotted a separate
house in these residences (which looked rather like short rows of
New York brownstones), and there was one section for incarnate
lamas and another for ordinary monks; each house was two-storied
and had up to six rooms. In the lower story were storerooms and
a stable for the monks' dzomo (the female offspring of a cross between
a yak and a cow); these animals were highly valued for the
creaminess of their milk, and a monk would usually try to keep one
or two to supply him with dried cheese and with butter for his tea.
In the upper story were a sitting room with windows—covered with
imported glass if the monk could afford it or else with oiled paper—
and a bedroom-shrine room where the monk would keep his books
and his personal altar. Each house had its own kitchen with a
smoky, wood-burning clay stove. Each row of houses had a narrow
strip of garden and a wide pathway, and these complexes were
scattered up and down the mountain within the cyclopean monastic
wall.
The monks did their own cooking except during large monastic
rituals, when they were served by the communal cooks; but usually
three or four monks would arrange to eat at one another's houses.
A monk too poor to provide for himself was taken care of by the
older monks and the monastery, but a young monk could avoid
many of the small indignities of communal life if he had a relative