Caves
There are dozens of cave cities (hollowed out of sandy cliffs) in the Mustang Kingdom. Caves were used prior to wood constructed monasteries because monks were similar to hermits and would like to be isolated. These caves were constructed by sculptors and engineers, rather than architects because clay and rock were used rather than wood. In the caves, there would be columns constructed out of these materials (and they appeared to be as solid and smooth as wood). In deep caves, like in the isolated valleys of Zanskar, the assembly halls are deep in the cavern and the monk's cells come out in a waterfall formation. This building technique took the abruptly ending plateau rise of mountains and dug into the steep walls to create caves. These cave dwellings were close to trade routes were monks could get donations while practicing a semi-monastic life.
Read more about this topic: Tibetan Buddhist Architecture
Famous quotes containing the word caves:
“After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave—a tremendous, gruesome shadow. God is dead; but given the way of man, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.—And we—we still have to vanquish his shadow, too.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Repent, repent, and from old errors turn!’
Who listened to his voice, obeyed his cry?
Only the echoes, which he made relent,
Rung from their marble caves ‘Repent! Repent!’”
—William Drummond, of Hawthornden (1585–1649)
“A jellyfish and a saurian,
And caves where the cave men dwell;
Then a sense of law and beauty,
And a face turned from the clod—
Some call it Evolution,
And others call it God.”
—William Herbet Carruth (1859–1929)