BBC News recently posted a pictorial on the lives of child-monks in Tibet at the Thiksey monastery near Leh in Ladakh in the Himalayas, in Indian-administered Kashmir. The coverage notes:
“Tibetan Buddhism is a religion in exile, forced from its homeland when Tibet was conquered by the Chinese. Many Tibetan families in India send at least one child to a monastery to learn about their own culture, language and religion.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-38524541
thanks to Soror Hypatia for this tip!
An interesting sidelight in the history of child-monks would be the story of Ossian Kennard MacLise. His parents were Angus and Hettie MacLise who had moved to Nepal to pursue interests in spiritual, art, literature and publishing. In Nepal Ossian was recognized by Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, as a reincarnation of a Tibetan saint, or tulku, and at age four became a Buddhist monk In the following account of Angus’ adventures leading up to his emigration to Nepal, where he would die, you’ll note many figures who contributed to or are mentioned in Equinox III: 10 and indeed Angus had a band with the current OHO of Ordo Templi Orientis.
http://www.phantomlyoracula.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
