Buddhism:
Buddhism appeared in the 5th century BC in reaction to the formalism of the Brahmanism of the Aryans. It is the awakening of the suffering and the dissatisfaction of life.
Suffering finds its origin in the ignorance of the impermanency of beings and things, self-centredness and real existence of the ego.
Buddhism wants to free man from his suffering by showing him the way which leads to an inalterable happiness. Two ways are proposed to followers, the Lesser Vehicle and the Greater Vehicle.

Lamayuru is established on a rock peak at 3,800 m high in a fairy-like landscape. Built between 11th and 16th centuries the rooms are variously interesting.  Singge Lhakhang, of the 11th century, presents a sculpture of Vairocana and frescos of dancing skeletons.

Tingsmogang is a large village in the north of the road to Leh. A royal Citadel of the 15th century, it was the seat of Delek Namgyal. Two temples are built on a hill, one white devoted to Maitreya presents its 8 m high sculpture, the other red devoted to Chenrezi presents Avalokiteshvara with 11 heads.

The Buddist Monastery:
The monastery, Gonpa in ladakhi, is set around an interior court sometimes bordered with a gallery. It has rooms on several floors. The most important are:
Lhakhang shelters the Divinity. All the rooms of Lhakhang are devoted to a deity.
Dukhang is used as refectory by the monks.
Chokhang is used as the Rinpoche room, he is the superior of the sect concerned.
Gonkhang shelters the terrible Divinities.
The monastic rule and the hierarchy are codified in a very rigorous way.

Rizong, nested in an imposing landscape, is reached after an idyllic walk along a torrent and by winding between the cells of monks on hillside. A room presents all the Buddha life in the form of didactic frescos.

Likir, in a superb landscape, is one of the most important monasteries of Ladakh to which the monasteries of Alchi and of Karsha in Zanskar are affiliated. The rooms are worthy of a thorough visit. Zimchung presents a unique collection of Thangka in Ladakh.

Alchi, on the left bank of Indus river,  is the most beautiful monastery of Ladakh, of 11th and 12e centuries. It is composed of five major buildings whose Sum-tseg is the most interesting beyond question.

The Buddist Iconographic:
All Lhakhang are preceded by a narthex covered by a repetitive iconography.
Lokapala are the four guards of the cardinal point,
Mitsering is the old man character of long life,
The wheel of life symbolizes the reincarnation rule with in the center a pig, a cock and a snake, for ignorance, wish, hate.
The eight symbols of good omen defined by Buddhism,
The tree surrounded with animals symbolizes solidarity.

Leh is set around its bazaar dominated by the Palace and the Gonkhang monastery. The city is located on one of the possible Silk roads towards the south by getting over the Karakorum pass, +5,575 m.

The King's palace, built about 1600, dominates the city by its imposing mass. In ruins it seems to have to be restored in the future years.

Gonkhang, located on a hill overhangs the palace as well as the city. Its access is either by the road or by a winding way on hillside. The viewpoint at sunset is exceptional.

Buddhist Art:
Tibeto-lamaïst art of the fresco was set by Menla Todrup in the 15th century. No freedom is left on the initiative of the painter, it does not have an artistic expression.
Thangka are paintings on a piece of paper  stuck on a textile media. They are hung in Lhanhang and in the chapels of  private houses.
The mandala is the representation of a deity by a symbolic diagram on a circular base. It is used as visual aids to the meditation in the Tantric Buddhism practice.
Sculpture is fixed by the rules as strict as painting, hieratic placing, code of the colours and of the gestures.
The dances are of two kinds. The gar is the ceremonial dance of the ground blessing . The chams is the ritual dance to overcome the enemies of the Buddha doctrines.

Shey is a complex of a palace and a gonpa. This site was the capital of Ladakh in the 15th century. The palace is in ruin and the gonpa shelters a Buddha statue 8 m high.

Hemis is the largest monastery of Ladakh, founded in 1602. The entry by the interior court offers a superb sight of the majestic front on two floors. At left a small sheltered courtyard presents a group of painted slates. The monastery took several hours to visit the richness of its collections. The kitchen is worthy of interest.

Tikse, built on hillside in the 15th century, is especially famous for its situation, for the view offered from its roofs and for its integration in the landscape.

Stok is the residence of the royal court since its exile. A stately palace on a headland, transformed into a museum it exhibits a very beautiful collection of Thangka and Perak.

Ladakh population:
The population has a very low growth rate which causes demographic stability. The climatic roughness, the hardness of the life in high altitude,  tantric buddhist civilization, give a unitary vision of this population without caste  in spite of the partitioning imposed by the distances between agricultural valleys.
Clothing depends on the climate, heavy dress of dark red wool which goes down to the ankles, large pointed shoes, cocked hats or peraks for women.
The social organization is unique in the world. The heritage goes to the elder son who gets married, the other brothers can become monks, settle abroad or remain on the farm without  founding separated homes, they marry the wife of the elder brother, it is polyandry. The goal is the preservation of the family land property, a consequence of the scarcity of arable land.

Spituk, dominating all the Indus valley , was built in the 11th century then extended in the 15th. The most original building is the gonkhang sheltering two enormous statues of black Mahakala. We attended the evening prayer, it was a fascinating moment.

Phyang, a great artistic place of Ladakh, was founded in 1530. It is composed of three rooms. The strangest is the gonkhang with a large black Mahakal.

Great Moghols:
The Moghol Empire was created by Babur Shah about 1526, descendant of Tamerlan by his father and Gengis Khan by his mother. Crown prince of Ferghana, he was excluded from the succession from childhood. Afterwards many war vicissitudes he turned against the sultanate of Delhi with success to create his Kingdom.
The dynasty of Great Moghols reigned until the colonization of India in the 19th century. It left in the north India some prestigious monumental constructions.

Taj Mahal is  a white marble mausoleum built on the order of Shah Jahan for his preferred wife, Mumtaz Mahal, dead prematurely. It is the monumental expression of an inconsolable love. It was built from 1632 to 1648 in a group of admirable gardens, whose architects are unknown.
The visit is recommended at the end of the day or better in the moonlight. Two monumental gates must be crossed to discover at the end of the triumphal alley of a basin, the mausoleum standing on a terrace. Of Persian style it is visible from the Red Fort where Shah Jahan stayed. He could see Taj Mahal where his beloved wife lay.