Tibetan Buddhist monks gather for Utmost Bliss Dharma Assembly - in pictures
Thousands of Tibetans participate in the week-long annual gathering marking Buddha’s descent from the heavens
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Tibetan Buddhist monks gather during a morning chanting session during the Utmost Bliss Dharma Assembly in the remote Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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Prayer flags, known as Lung-ta, flutter on a hillside above the Larung Wuming Buddhist Institute. Located high in the mountains of Sichuan, the institute is widely regarded as the world’s largest and most influential centres for Tibetan Buddhist studies
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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A nomad family walks on a hillside following prayers
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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Nuns keep yak butter lamps burning at a Buddhist laymen lodge
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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High in the mountains of Sichuan, the school is home to thousands of monks and nuns and is popular for followers from Tibetan areas and parts of China
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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A nun spins a prayer wheel in sub-zero temperatures
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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The annual Bliss Dharma Assembly is the last of four annual assemblies
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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Tibetans offer yak butter tea at a Buddhist laymen lodge
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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Prayers during a morning chanting session
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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The institute was founded in 1980 by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok with only around 30 students, but is now widely known as one of the biggest centres to study Tibetan Buddhism in the world
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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Padma Tsering, a well-known Tibetan Buddhist monk, spins his prayer wheels
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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People protect themselves from the smell of decomposing bodies as vultures descend. These so-called ‘sky burials’ are believed to be a respectful way to pay tribute to the dead
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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Fake human skulls are placed inside a room at the sky burial site
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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Vultures gather around a body during a sky burial near the Larung valley
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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Monks and nuns walk up a hill path back to their dormitory after attending a daily chanting session
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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The eight-day gathering of chanting and learning starts every year around the 22nd of the ninth month on Tibetan calendar
Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
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