Monks Tending A Temple Courtyard Garden

Buddhist monks in maroon and saffron robes tend raised vegetable beds inside a monastery courtyard strung with rows of colorful prayer flags. One monk spins a large prayer wheel by the entrance, another waters cabbages with a metal can, and others harvest greens and marigolds into woven baskets. The surrounding stone walls are covered with painted mandalas, lotus symbols and endless-knot motifs, and prayer flag poles rise above the rooftops against a bright blue sky with drifting clouds. Tomato vines climb a trellis to one side, and white handprints and knot patterns mark the paving stones underfoot. A watering can and basket of greens sit in the open path between the beds. Every raised bed holds its own crop and its own tending monk, laid out like a garden already divided into plots.