Day: August 27, 2003

A police officer stands guard at the huge silk portrait of the Sakyamuni..

A police officer stands guard at the huge silk portrait of the Sakyamuni Buddha with incense burned on a hillside above the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2003 in China. Thousands of pilgrims climbed the hillside to view the 42 meter-high portrait, or tanka, which was unveiled in a ceremony to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Buddha. The ceremony has been performed annually at the monastery since the 15th century.

Photo by Eugene Hoshiko