Sonam Lama

Stonemason Sonam Lama has adapted his traditionally learned Tibetan building skills to his new home in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where he runs a business constructing New England stone walls. In Tibet Sonam went to become a novice monk in Ganden monastery, one of the thousands which had been destroyed by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution. There were few teachers because the monastery was virtually in ruins, so in addition to his religious training Sonam became an apprentice to a master mason, an artisan who had built a number of monasteries. A group of young monks and the old master spent four years at Ganden, rebuilding. This was dangerous activity, and Sonam was imprisoned. After promising to stay on the family's farm in Kham, where he would have little freedom or future, Sonam escaped to India. He came to the U.S. in 1984.