Via Barbara’s Buddhism Blog comes an article from Geoffrey York of the Toronto Globe and Mail:

Lhasa’s monks all but vanish in Chinese crackdown

For two days, the Buddhist pilgrims had been pushed to the sidelines to make room for the Olympic torch relay in Lhasa. The traditional pilgrimage route at the Potala Palace was unceremoniously shut down, in one of many security measures by Chinese authorities, even though a month-long Buddhist festival has drawn thousands of pilgrims to the Tibetan capital.

But as the pilgrims returned, a mystery remained: Where are Lhasa’s monks? A visit yesterday to the Sera monastery, the second-biggest Buddhist monastery in Tibet, found that its 550 monks had virtually disappeared from sight. Most buildings and outdoor areas at the monastery were nearly empty, and only about 10 monks could be seen. …

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