Milarepa Palace, Hezuo

Milarepa Palace is a Buddhist temple located in the Chinese province of Gansu, China. What makes it unique is its unusual structure: it is a 9-storey tower, surrounded by prayer wheels. Each floor actually contains a separate temple, dedicated to a spiritual leader of the past or present. It is a triumph of carpets, statues, Bodhisattva paintings, scrolls and yak butter candles. The eye cannot grasp the richness of the details at once.
I would like to photograph everything but… “NO PICTURES!” shouts a voice from a speaker.

Every corner of the temple is monitored by cameras. It is strictly forbidden to take photos in Buddhist sacred places, especially you can not photograph the altars. I try several times to break the ban but every time I get caught by the voice of the monk who controls the visitors from the cameras. I admire this extreme form of devotion: a temple is a place of prayer and meditation, where one comes to draw from their deepest inner resources; it is not permissible to make it the object of a purely aesthetic, external experience. I live my inner disagreement during the visit of the 9 nine floors of the temple. The building is entirely made of wood, the floors are creaky and full of holes. Some support beams are worm-eaten and inclined: many things make me doubt the solidity of the structure. A nail that comes out of the floor unexpectedly rips out my sock. I put aside my guilt feelings and secretly take some photos. The precariousness of this place requires me to preserve its memory in some way. I am not hurting anyone, I say to myself.