I first heard of the term "thangka" when I moved to my present neighborhood near Beijing's Yonghegong, the site of an imperial Buddhist temple of the same name which was established during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Today, Yonghe Temple is one of Beijing's biggest tourist attractions, popularly known as the Lama Temple. There I got to learn more about thangkas, Buddhist paintings that can be used as meditational aids.