Stunning images of Seda Monastery, the world's largest Tibetan Buddhist school, capture the elegance of a holy place lost in a sea of tiny red houses in western Sichuan




In the midst of these simple red houses lies an intellectual hotspot - the Seda Monastery - the world's largest school for Tibetan Buddhism.

The stunning images were captured by photographer George Doupas who stood just 200 metres away from the Tibetan Seda, in Western Sichuan, China, to capture the view of the densely populated area.



Looming in the middle of the tiny hillside houses, the school has caused the surrounding neighbourhood to explode in size.

Mr Doupas, an Athens-born photographer, who now lives in Beijing, China said photographing the incredible view was breathtaking.

He said: 'The school for Tibetan Buddhism in Seda is simply unique. I have never seen something like this before in my life, it's a really amazing place.'

He added: 'The number of houses there just shows how people are drawn to this holy place. I wonder what this will look like in ten years from now.

'The monks go to school and study Buddhism every day. They have a few hours a day to rest but during the rest of the day they study and pray.'

The school first began life after the cultural revolution in 1980 and it is home to more than 10,000 monks and nuns.



There can be up to 40,000 monks and nuns in residence for some parts of the year and up to four scholars share a simple room and stay for up to three years.

Seda, known to Tibetans as Serthar is located in Ganzi prefecture in the west of China's Sichuan province was briefly a hotbed of protests and violence since the Tibetan uprisings of March 2008.



The Seda Monastery has grown rapidly to become one of the most important Buddhist schools and the surrounding hillside is now home to the monks who study at the school.

The local residents from neighbouring villages, like the woman in traditional dress (below) also make the journey to Seda just to pray.