Tibetan monks debate the best way to help people who are suffering, report Hu Yongqi and Li Yingqing in Shangri-La, Yunnan province.

Clinging to a mountainside, the monastery painted dark red and golden yellow was clearly visible among a dense cluster of ethnic houses. The sound of repeated hand claps came from the yard of a pentagon-shaped wooden building as the debating class began, as it always does, at 2:30 pm at Dondrup Ling Monastery, a Buddhist foundation, in Deqen county in northwestern Yunnan province.

"For Tibetans, the meaning of life is to offer kindness and help to those who have suffered calamities - so what is the best way of doing that ... by chanting scriptures or making donations?" asked Tengpa Gyestang, a 17-year-old monk. His classmates then spoke for or against each viewpoint, using examples from classical Tibetan Buddhist scriptures to illustrate their arguments.