Monastery

For puzzle hints and solutions, see Monastery (Walkthrough).

The Monastery is an area in The Witness. This area revolves around trees. It's a temple adjacent to the Jungle, the Town, and directly across from the Keep. It consists of a zen garden on one side, a large tree inside, and a stupa in the back, which contains one of 11 lasers in The Witness.

If you're familiar with the way puzzles in The Witness utilize environmental clues, the Monastery is one of the quickest areas you can complete. There are a couple of tricky Environmental Puzzles as well, so be sure to look at the solutions under Monastery Obelisk.



Puzzle types present

 * Environmental clues

What areas should you do first?

 * N/A

You can easily complete the Monastery with no prior knowledge of other areas in The Witness.

Building
The small tree puzzle within the building controls which of the building's shutters are open. This is required to solve the exterior puzzles. Completing the exterior puzzles will activate the interior puzzles. Completing the interior puzzles will allow the area's laser to be activated.

Briefcase Vault


Just behind the Monastery's Zen Garden is a small underground vault locked by a large door. The solution to this puzzle is to turn around and take the first right. Take another right to see a system of roots. Look through it to arrange the roots to form the walls while you make your way across. Inside the vault you'll find the briefcase with the diagram.

Window


Inside the monastery, use the puzzle switch to open the windows with the environmental puzzles (those opposite the ones with the laser puzzles). Check the left one to find a tape among the openings.