Deep within the remote mountains of western Sichuan Province, known to Tibetans as Kham, the monastic town of Yachen Gar is home to 10,000 nuns and monks from across Tibet and China.

Most arrive with nothing, and build their own ramshackle houses in a shantytown-like arrangement, using each others walls for support. Women far outnumber the men, who have only begun arriving in recent years and are confined to their own side of the river.

In 2016, Yachen Gar was relatively untouched by outsiders and unseen by the government. It’s residents were happy, friendly, and open.

Sadly, in 2019 Yachen Gar faced the same fate as it’s male-dominated counterpart Larung Gar. Police and armed personnel evicted 80% of the monastic town’s residents and began bulldozing their houses so they could not return. This is ongoing now.

Contrary to common western belief, nuns do not spend their entire day in meditation or peaceful rest. Much of their daily schedule is spent in class studying the sutra and tantra, learning to perform particular rites, studying philosophy, and - for many who never received an education at home - learning to read and write.

As in any school, there are those who study hard and complete the homework ahead of time, and those who leave it til the last minute. These nuns were memorising pages of scripture on their way to the assembly hall one afternoon, but whether they were getting ahead or falling behind I can’t say.

Due to the enormous number of nuns who have made Yachen Gar their home, they are divided into large classes who must share the different assembly halls on a rotating basis, each taking turns to gather and recite their twice-daily prayers.

Many nuns and monks alike are never without their prayer wheel in hand. Containing 100,000 repetitions of the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum”, they believe that every rotation of the wheel is equivalent to speaking the mantra 100,000 times.

Over on the men’s side of the river, they also gather twice a day to recite their prayers, prayer wheels in hand.

It’s common for boys as young as seven to be sent to monasteries to become junior monks, although as this image shows they don’t always have the attention span required to make it through prayers.

In the old days, it was expected for Tibetan families to send at least one son to the monastery, and if he did well it was a source of pride for the family. These days, boys are encouraged to go to China instead for education.

While some younger monks struggle to remain focussed, others take to it naturally and even ask to join the monastery from a young age.

Tibetans explain this as being their karma - in a past life, they must have been very good and devout people, who are now blessed with strong faith, a smart mind, and steadfast devotion to the Buddha’s teachings.

These boys will attain much positive merit over their lifetime, becoming closer to enlightenment than the majority of their monk brothers.

Not all women in robes at Yachen Gar have been nuns their whole lives. Women aren’t encouraged to become nuns in the same way that men are to become monks, so many don’t choose this path until later.

Some women arrive pregnant, or with small children. Their histories differ - husbands who died, husbands who beat them, unplanned pregnancies - yet they are all received the same by the community here.

Their children accompany them until they are old enough to attend the nunnery nursery and primary school, where they will learn reading, writing, math, and a variety of other subjects.

In the nunnery primary school, the children are dressed in a mix of lay and monastic clothing, reflecting their different backgrounds.

Some are the children of nomads who live around the outskirts of Yachen Gar, there to provide the nuns with yak milk & butter. The nearest town is two mountain ranges away, too far for many to take their children.

Some children came to Yachen with their mother when she took the robes and became a nun. Some were even born here, and call it their home. These children dress like little Rinpoches in shining satin shirts and jackets, imitating the great teachers who lead the nuns in prayer.

Pilgrims from all over the region, and from as far afield as Lhasa and China, come to Yachen Gar to make offerings and receive blessings.

One of the main activities performed by pilgrims is to follow the looping trail of prayer wheels around the main assembly hall and mani pile, spinning each wheel as they go.

Similar to the handheld prayer wheels, these giant golden cylinders hold hundreds of thousands of printed mantra inside them, so that each rotation is as effective as speaking it that many times.

Around the outer perimeter of the monastic town is a trail, also lined sporadically by prayer wheels. This is called the kora, meaning “to go around”.

Walking a kora is an act of devotion and offering, but is also enjoyed as a social event by many who take the opportunity away from the crowds to giggle and gossip as they walk.

Others , meanwhile, use the opportunity to memorise their scriptures or practice recitations aloud.

In the evening, around the outer kora where the trail climbs the hill, these young monks and nuns were practicing a dance.

Although the men and women of Yachen Gar usually do not socialise together, this group appeared to be good friends and didn’t mind each other’s company.

The women sat on the grass, singing classic melodic tunes, while the men danced in the evening light, only occasionally realising how badly out of time they were.

The same evening, an older monk and his young mentee wander slowly across the hillside, deep in discussion.

Beyond them, surrounded by a bright white fence, is the town’s charnel ground - an important place to meditate on impermanence, and for cutting apart one’s ego.

On top of the hill, overlooking the entire Yachen Gar complex, stands this impressive statue of mighty Guru Rinpoche - the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Buddha himself.

Close to sunset, a sun halo appeared, which perfectly framed the Guru in a rainbow - a motif frequently seen in Tibetan paintings.