The railway linking Xining with Lhasa, which opened in 2006, has taken almost every monk at Taer Monastery to Lhasa and enhanced exchanges between Buddhists.

"I'd say the monastery is at its best period of development," said Gyaltsen Wangden.

IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION

Despite the revenue rises and all the benefits of economic boom, Gyaltsen Wangden points a finger to the booming tourism.

"The monastery is a place for monks to meditate and for pilgrims to pay their ritual observance," he said. "It's not a tourist destination or a money machine."

Each day, Gyaltsen Wangden and his colleagues need to keep an eye on tourists who try to cross the line and take a photo or two of the centuries-old thangka paintings and other priceless relics. They fear the flashlights will damage the already fragile treasures in the long run.

"With more tourists coming, there are more pickpockets, peddlers of substandard souvenirs and even fake monks around, which damages the monastery's reputation," he said.

While young monks enjoy the modernity with their computers and the Internet, older ones worry these "addicts" might get lost on their way to nirvana.

"How can they concentrate on sutra studies when their minds are on the games and other 'exciting' content online?" said Tenpai Nyidron, a revered monk who has spent more than 50 years at the monastery. "Some young monks stay up so late that they doze off during their studies."

All monks at Taer Monastery follow a strict daily schedule for sutra study and debate to get a daily allowance of 40 yuan.

"But in their spare time, it largely depends on their self-discipline for revision and meditation," said Gyaltsen Wangden, who has been a monk for almost 30 years. "As monks we must never forget our role, regardless of the hustling crowd around us, temptations of wealth or fun."

He said the executive committee might reset areas off-limits to tourists to minimize the impact of tourism.

Taer Monastery is a 40-hectare complex noted for its outstanding architecture and about 20,000 religious paintings, appliques and yak butter sculptures.