Tibet Adventure Tours

Almost every aspect of Tibetan culture, including art, music and festivals, is heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. Religion is extremely important to the Tibetans, and the indigenous religion, Bön, has been almost eclipsed by Tibetan Buddhism, a distinctive form of Mahayana and Vajrayana, which was introduced into Tibet from the Sanskrit Buddhist tradition of northern India.

You can see this influence in architecture as well, which reflects Chinese and Indian styles as well as a deeply Buddhist approach. The Buddhist wheel, along with two dragons, can be seen on nearly every Gompa (a Buddhist monastery) in Tibet. But the most distinctive feature of Tibetan architecture is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south, with flat roofs that are built to conserve heat and multiple windows to allow in as much sunlight as possible. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against the frequent earthquakes in this mountainous area.

The natural beauty of Tibet cannot be underestimated. Tibet has some of the world’s tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, located on the border with Nepal, which at 29,029 ft is the highest mountain on earth. Plus, many bodies of water provide incredible mountainous scenery as well as the source of water for rivers such as the Yangtze, Mekong, and Ganges.