Everywhere in Mustang, the eye is caught by the red, white and grey stripes on the houses, the shortens and lhatos (seat of deities), grouped in threes. This “Trinity”, the so-called rigsum gonpo, represents the most powerful and popular deities in Mustang.White represents the Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of immeasurable compassion, red the Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of knowledge and wisdom, and black/grey the Vajrapani, the Bodhisattva who combats evil. These three colours simultaneously stand for the three spheres, white for the heavenly, read for the earthly and black for the underworld. The colours used originate from the locally available materials,which can result in minor colour differences, although this changes nothing about their significance. - Rob Powell, Earth Door, Sky Door