Chortens at Samye Monastery. Tibet.
Chortens near Samye Monastery, Utsang, centeral Tibet. Carved out of living rock, five white chortens revered as the five transcendental Buddhas mark the site where the Tibetan emperor Trisangdeton met Padmasambhava in the year 765. Joining the earth and sky the stupa
symbolizes the path to liberation from cyclic existence. It also represents Tibetan bubbhist and Bon cosmology, in particular the metaphysical Mount Meru around which the entire universe spins and takes shape. Seen here is one of the five white chortens.