Ladakh is frequently called the “roof of the world” due to its high elevation on the Tibetan plateau. And if Ladakh is the roof of the world, Zanskar feels like the edge of that roof. South of Leh district, Zanskar is the most remote area of Ladakh, separated from the rest of the region by […]

Since the opening to tourism in the 1970s, some scholars of Ladakh have lamented the corrosive influence this outside presence has had on the region’s culture and way of life.  In addition to creating a massive resource strain on an already fragile desert ecology, tourism has been perhaps the largest force for rapidly changing the […]

  On the invitation of Geshe Konchok, I stayed for about two weeks at the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies in Choglamsar. During this time, I visited high school, undergraduate, and graduate level classes, interviewed faculty and students, and guest taught all three levels of these classes. I also met with Geshe Konchok twice every […]

On Geshe Wangdu’s recommendation, I visited the educational NGO he established, the Spituk Khamzang Education Society, housed in a small office on the third floor of a building just beside the Leh bus stand. Inside was a monk sitting on the floor typing away on his desktop, surrounded by stacks of Tibetan books: books on […]

About 10 kilometers outside of Leh, beside the main Tibetan refugee settlement in Ladakh, is the area of Choglamsar. The landscape is stark: rock faced mountains, clouds of dust, and beating sun. In this desolate backdrop is an important center for Buddhist learning, the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies. It has one of the most […]

I arrived a couple days ago in Leh and, ignoring the medical advice of the J&K tourism bureau, did not wait to acclimatize to the altitude. I was so excited to be back in the Himalayas, after dropping my bags at the guesthouse, I immediately began the 2.5-mile hike up to the main bazar. The […]

Hi friends!  My name is Patrick Dowd, and I have just completed the first year of my master’s program in international educational development at Penn’s Graduate School of Education.  Originally, I am from East Bend, North Carolina, a one-stop light town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  This summer, I will be traveling to Ladakh […]