INDIA. Karnataka province. Bylakuppe. Sera Jey Tibetan monastery. LAMA TENZIN OSEL RINPOCHE (Rinpoche means the precious one and is the title given to reincarnated lamas) is Spanish and 11 years old. He is currently studying at the monastery and lives with his father and brother. For the moment, he studies alone, with private tutors but in a few years, he will start debating with the other monks. Playing chess during his spare time. His attendant, a nepalese sherpa, now a monk, NGAWANG TSETEN, taught him and his brother to play and the game has now become a great passion for the boys. His brother, Kunkyen, is on the bed, watching them. This photograph was taken at 6.30 am, when it was still very cold.

Two 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 its age group. All the Tulkus are called Rinpoche which means "the precious one".