After Buton's time, Shalu became an important centre of esoteric studies and psychic training. The avowed purpose of lamas who cultivated paranormal abilities was not to become magicians or miracle-workers but to attain philosophical enlightenment- a realization, in the Buddhist tradition, that all earthly phenomena are mere creations of the mind. Nonetheless, after many years of training in intense concentration ( often sealed up in caves in total darkness), the adepts were said to have performed extraordinary feats. The commonest, called tumo, was a monk's ability deliberately to raise his body temperature to a level where he could live at frigid temperatures wearing only the lightest of clothing. Long-distance runners, called lung-gompas, learned to cross Tibet's vast spaces with superhuman leaps while in a trance state. These served as messengers. Some masters were able to transmigrate their human consciousness into the bodies of birds, animals or even dead people. Others could become invisible at will by learning how to leave no impression upon the memories of the people they encountered. Most Tibetans firmly believe that such feats actually took place almost routinely. These practices are described at length by Alexandra David-Neel in With Mystics and Magicians in Tibet and by Lama Anagarika Govenda in The Way of the White Clouds. The monastery stand in a small valley facing east. It is mostly destroyed; only the outer wall, the main building ( its roof damaged) and a few adjacent tumble-down structures remain.

The few surviving murals on the wall outside the chapel follow an iconographic scheme developed by Buton himself. To the fight of the doorway is a primer of monastic discipline. At the top, Buton and two disciples are enveloped in clouds.

Below, precise rules are laid out for the monks on what to wear, where to place their robes, when to bathe- in short, how to behave under all circumstances. Eight monks demonstrate how they must sleep and meditate perched in trees when travelling away from the monastery. The mural on the left is an allegory in which an elephant, representing a human soul, evolves through many steps and earthly trials to Nirvana.

Inside are several intricate mandalas. Three exquisite examples are on the south wall behind the altar, each three meters ( 10 feet) in diameter and still in a good state of preservation. All the others, as well as the painted, coffered ceiling, have suffered various degrees of damage from forced neglect and rain entering through the roof. Mandalas were a speciality of Shalu. Formerly, the designs were also created out of colored sand, but these were never kept for longer than a year.

The only other chapel open to visitors is on the west side of the roof. Remnants of embroidered in Hangzhou early in this century. A fine thangkas hanging over a small altar that stands alone was painted several decades ago by Shalu's present head monks. The large upper-storey porch over the wrecked chanting hall was the apartment of Buton and subsequent abbots, but this cannot be visited.