Protests against China's alleged plans to demolish part of the revered Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Sertar county, in the remote Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, are planned around the world.
The Larung Gar Buddhist Institute is seen in the Larung Valley of Sertar county, in the remote Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, ChinaKevin Frayer/Getty Images
The institute was founded in 1980 by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, an influential lama of the Nyingma sect. Despite its remote location, it grew from just a handful of disciples meeting at Khenpo's house to become the world's largest and most influential centre for Tibetan Buddhist studies.
Houses for the thousands of monks and nuns who come to study at Larung Gar are packed together tightly on the hills above the monastery. Chinese authorities have built a perimeter road, outside which construction is not permitted. Chinese officials are reported to have cited overcrowding concerns, ordering the population of the centre to be reduced by half to 5,000.
The homes of Buddhist nuns and monks from the Larung Gar Buddhist InstituteFred Dufour/AFPA Tibetan Buddhist nun walks past dwellings on her way to a chanting sessionKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesMonks walk along a road at the Larung Gar Buddhist InstituteKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesBuddhist monks and nuns leave the monastery after praying at the Larung Gar Buddhist InstituteFred Dufour/AFPA Tibetan Buddhist nomad woman prostrates at a monastery during the annual Utmost Bliss Dharma AssemblyKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesA Tibetan Buddhist woman prostrates herself during the Bliss Dharma Assembly at the Larung Gar Buddhist InstituteKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesTibetan Buddhist nuns prepare butter lamps during the annual Utmost Bliss Dharma AssemblyKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesPeople drink yak butter tea at a lodge where thousands gather for daily chanting sessionsDamir Sagolj/ReutersTibetan Buddhist monks pray during a chanting sessionKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesTibetan Buddhists carry the body of a relative around a monastery before a sky burial ceremony at the Larung Gar Buddhist InstituteKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesVultures that are used to consume the bodies of the dead fly in a Tibetan Buddhist ceremony known as a "sky burial"over the crowdKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesVultures gather on a hill near the Larung Wuming Buddhist Institute for a sky burial, in which bodies of deceased people are offered to vulturesDamir Sagolj/ReutersA Tibetan Buddhist woman carries her son in the crowd on a hillside overlooking the Larung Gar Buddhist InstituteKevin Frayer/Getty Images
Protests against the actions are being organised in cities around the world on 19 October, with London's taking place outside the Chinese Embassy from 4pm.
