Situated on Hongshan Mountain in Lhasa, the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Potala Palace is 3,700 meters above sea level. The Potala Palace on the top of the Potala Hill is the symbol of Lhasa read more

The Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa (Dge-lugs-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhism (the sect which controlled Tibet from the 16th century until the Communist takeover read more

"Dalai" means "Ocean" in Mongolian, and is a translation of the Tibetan name "Gyatso", while "Lama" (bla ma) is the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit word "guru", and is commonly translated to mean "spiritual teacher". read more

The Knights Hospitaller is a Christian organization founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 it became a religious/military order under its own charter, and was charged with the care and defense of the Holy Land. read more

Their dress was to be "plain and cheap without furs, linen or linsey, woolsey, such as, in a word, the Rule describes." No gold or silk was to be allowed in the monastery, and all food "must come to the monks of [the ] order by the work of their own hands. read more

The Rule of St Benedict (CE 6th century) is a book of precepts written for monks living in community under the authority of an abbot. Since about the 7th century it has been adopted with equal success by communities of women. read more

And if any brother out of a feeling of pride or arrogance wishes to have as his due a better and finer habit, let him be given the worst. And those who receive new robes must immediately return the old ones... read more

The Sōhei (僧兵, lit. "monk warriors," ) were Buddhist warrior monks of feudal Japan. At certain points of history they held considerable power, obliging daimyō to collaborate. The most famous of these mountain monasteries, arguably, is the Enryakuji on Mount Hiei, just outside Kyoto. read more

The Engelberg Monastery [Engelberg Abbey] is a Benedictine monastery in Engelberg, Canton of Obwalden, Switzerland. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels. read more

Dervishes—initiates of Sufi orders—believe that love is a projection of the essence of God to the universe. Many of the Dervishes are mendicant ascetics who have taken the vow of poverty. read more