Gobi Desert Monastery

Location: China, Inner Mongolia,
Gobi Desert

Despite having read about this monastery in National Geographic Magazine and in Bruno Baumann's explorations, we were stunned as we arrived on foot and camel on the shores of a Badain Jaran Desert Lake, surrounded by mountain dunes over 1000 feet high. As expected, it seemed in perfect condition, yet at the same time seemed locked tight and abandoned. Yet every day, the lone monk opened the temple and performed his one-man pujas by the natural light of the large, open sanctuary doors. Just as suddenly as the ritual began, it also ended when he carefully wrapped his ritual objects, shut the doors, then returned to his private quarters.

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