Martine Franck Tulku Khentrul Lodro Rabsel (12 years old) with his tutor Lhagyel. At the age of 5, Khentrul decided that he had lived enough with his parents and that it was time for him to enter the monastery. T
(...) wo or three years after their death, important lamas are reincarnated in the body of a child. The search for this child is based on the information left by the lama himself: dreams, visions and the intuition of other lamas. The Tulkus are discovered at 3 or 4 years of age, declared at about 4 or 5 and then enter the monastery at the age of 6. According to the rules of the monastery, each Tulku is instructed by a tutor and is either prevented or restricted from seeing other young monks from their age group. All the Tulkus are called Rinpoche which means "the precious one". Bodnath. Shechen Monastery, Nepal. 1996. © Martine Franck | Magnum Photos
