The Tibet Academy of Thangka Painting, located between the bustling Tomzigkhang and Barkhor shopping malls in the center of Lhasa, appears at first sight to be an oasis of calm.

But its tranquil air, behind a closed gate, may be deceptive as more than 30 Tibetan thangka painters study every day under the guidance of six masters in this Tibetan-style building, which serves as an exchange center for different thangka styles.

Inside one of the rooms a tall man is guiding his student to correct the lines on a painting. The cup of butter tea, resting on his office table, has long since gone cold.

The man giving guidance is Mandrong Norbu Sithar, from Xigaze prefecture, the second-largest city in Tibet, and he is the head and founder of the academy, a non-profit culture organization.

"When visitors first come to our academy, they tend to think we are on vacation because the gate is shut," said Norbu Sithar.

It is always kept shut because the students need peace and quiet as they get to grips with their art, he said.

Norbu Sithar is a thangka master from Xigaze's Lhaze county and is one of four national intangible culture inheritors of thangka art in the Tibet autonomous region.

Norbu said thangka painting was a tradition in his family and he became interested when he was a young boy.

He was apprenticed to his grandfather, Dawa Dondrub a thangka master, at the tender age of 12.

With his grandfather he had the opportunity to go to Tashilhungpo Monastery, one of the most important Tibetan Buddhism monasteries founded by the first Dalai Lama almost 600 years ago.

Norbu then became apprenticed to Kachen Losang Phuntsok, the famous thangka painter of the 10th Panchen Lama(1938-89), and then to another master Kachen Adon for four years.

He has been painting for more than 30 years.

Besides his teaching duties, he has participated in fresco renovations in different monasteries, including the Potala Palace.

On one occasion, when the palace renovation team encountered a problem, he was drafted in as one of the few experts who had read of the fresco in the books of the Jowoje Atisha, the great Indian master who founded the Kadampa school in Tibet.

The academy was founded in 2011 on the grounds of a former family thangka teaching school.

Now it has become a center for exchanges and discussions and students come from far and wide.

Norbu has trained more than 200 thangka painters over the past 19 years.

"He is a master of thangka. He insists on the importance of preserving tradition and is not interested in just pleasing tourists or making quick profits," said Gonbo Dorje, a former student of Norbu who now works in the traditional Tibetan medicine sector.

"His academy provides free teaching for students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds."

The academy only accepts students who can read Tibetan, as it requires them to read a theory of thangka painting in that langauge.

With more and more young people become interested in thangka painting, Norbu believes the future is promising.

"Learning, teaching, having meals, and conversations with my students every day, gives me great pleasure." (by china daily)