Kathmandu, March 22 -- Striking a small gong, a young man in maroon robes surveys the picturesque Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery grounds and Kavrepalanchok's distant paddyfields and outlying villages. The seemingly muted tones travel far. Monks hurriedly walk from distant corners of the sprawling campus in time for afternoon puja. The gong tolls methodically, as more and more file in.

Suddenly, the sound of a giant drum being struck in quick succession reverberates throughout the campus. And then comes to a halt. With everyone in the monastery's main hall, the puja begins and the monks recitation of mantras crescendos. The multicoloured hall seems bigger than it is, an illusion created by the endless Tibetan Buddhist artworks that cover...