A vast assembly of log cabins, spartan inside and out, covers a pair of steep hillsides. At dusk, crowds of monks and nuns buzz in conversation, their hair shorn and their gazes serene, as they gather for evening prayers outside a ramshackle collection of meeting halls that are connected by a criss-cross of muddy pathways.  In just a few years, Serthar has emerged to become one of the largest and most influential centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. 