Sera Monastery

The afternoon of day 2 we went to Sera Monastery which houses about 800 monks and is famous for their afternoon debates. The monks face each other down, stomping, smacking their hands and shouting in each other faces. Our tour book said, "Think Tibetan Socrates meets Jerry Springer." It also said debating is a method of learning the texts the monks are studying. They have to prove they understand their learnings and aren't just memorizing and regurgitating them. It was quite interesting and I've attached a short movie at the end of the pictures so you get a better idea.

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