ESKDALEMUIR, Scotland (Reuters) -- A towering gold statue of the revered Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna sits cross-legged in the middle of an ornamental lake.

Tibetan prayer flags flutter in the breeze and Buddhist monks in crimson and orange robes stroll across the courtyard in front of the ornate facade of a temple.

It could almost be the Tibetan capital Lhasa or a remote retreat in the Himalayas.

But this is southern Scotland, home to the largest and oldest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Western world.

Samye Ling -- the name means "place beyond imagination" in Tibetan -- was founded in 1967 by two Buddhist monks who fled to India as teenagers after Chinese communist troops took over their remote mountain homeland in the 1950s.

They found refuge in a school for young Buddhist priests in Delhi and from there came to Britain.

Drawn to the remote, peaceful hills of the Scottish borders, they set up a Buddhist learning center in an old stone country house near this quiet village.

Since then, they and their followers have expanded the centre, building the temple, guest houses, a 14-meter (45-feet) high "stupa" -- a consecrated tower -- Tibetan tearooms and a shop selling Buddhist books, trinkets and compact discs.

There is even an Internet cafe.

While there are only around 20 monks and nuns based at the center, hundreds of Buddhist lay practitioners flock to Samye Ling for lectures, courses and retreats.

Some courses, which teach everything from Tai Chi to Buddhist-Christian dialogue, attract up to 700 people. ---------Top Tourist Attraction--------

Samye Ling, a startling, incongruous sight against the backdrop of Scotland's dun-colored hills and fields of heather, has also become a major tourist attraction.

The main draw is the shrine, designed by a Tibetan artist and opened in 1988. It contains a large gilded statue of the Buddha surrounded by 1,000 smaller golden Buddhas.

"The Scottish Tourist board tells us it is now the 10th most visited site in Scotland," said the center's leading lama, or Buddhist cleric, Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche.

"There seems to be something about Tibetan Buddhism which appeals to people in the West, where so many people are disillusioned with the stress and the lack of a spiritual aspect in their lives," he told Reuters.

Lama Yeshe, the younger brother of one of the center's co-founders Akong Tulka Rinpoche, says the centre has had a major impact on the local economy. "When we arrived this was an area that people were leaving," he said. "The local school and the local post office were about to close but the area has recovered since then."

British Buddhists have moved to the area to be close to the temple and some of them work in the center's vegetable gardens.

The center runs a soup kitchen in Glasgow and oversees projects abroad. Its charity arm, originally set up to help Tibetan refugees, funds projects as far afield as Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Buddhism is gaining in popularity in Britain, as it is in most Western countries. The latest British census lists 145,000 Buddhists and London, where many of them live, is soon to have its first permanent Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

Lama Yeshe, now 60, has spent more time in Scotland than he has in Tibet, which he left aged 16.

Asked if he would go back to his homeland if the political climate there improved, he smiled and said: "I would like to go as I still have sisters and other relatives in Tibet". "But Buddhism teaches us to be very patient and tolerant," he added. "Who knows when we will go back?"