Those Who Meditate: The Monks & Nuns of Bhutan
by Stuart Butler
Shot in: Bhutan
Tucked among the folds of the eastern Himalaya between China and India, the tiny nation of Bhutan is the last remaining independent Tibetan Buddhist Kingdom in the Himalaya. Internationally, Bhutan has an image as a land where spirituality, the environment and quality of life is more important than wealth. Most famously this is visible through a government policy known as Gross National Happiness, which emphasizes the wellbeing of the people and land over Gross National Product. In this intensely spiritual country, Buddhist belief seeps into all aspects of life. Perhaps one of the most extraordinary examples of this religious devotion can be seen among those who spend years on end engaged in solitary meditation in remote mountain caves. To meet some of them, click through this photo essay, scrolling over the images for captions.
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Stuart Butler is a journalist and photographer specialising in conservation, the environment and hiking. He has contributed to over a hundred travel guidebooks for Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, as well as specialist hiking and wildlife-watching guide books, and spends a great deal of time travelling in the Himalaya, East Africa and southwest Europe. He is the owner of Samgai Journeys (samgaijourneys.com), a small tour company specialising in Bhutan and elsewhere in the Himalaya, as well as East Africa. Stuart lives with his family at the foot of the Pyrenees in southwest France
