FW: [WTNN] World Tibet Network News -- February 21, 2011
Alex Bunjes
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Issue ID: 2011/02/21Compiled by Nima Dorjee
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Contents
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1. The Tibetan people have to manage themselves
2. The Trouble With Tibet
3. The Politics of Reincarnation
4. The Situation Inside Tibet Today is Very Serious: Tibetan PM
5. India must change, give up lazy attitude: Dalai Lama
6. Dalai Lama Nephew Feared Growing U.S. Economic Ties to China
7. I describe Indians as guru, we chelas learn from you: Dalai Lama
8. Dalai Lama urges doctors to master old & new sciences
9. Kalon Tripa thanks Tibetans and Tibet supporters in Berlin
10. Kalon Tripa addresses Tibetans and Tibet Supports in Zurich
11. IN DEFENCE OF TIBETAN COOKING (Part I) – Jamyang Norbu
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1. The Tibetan people have to manage themselves
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Office of Tibet, Geneva
Berlin, 17 Feb: The Tibetan people have to manage themselves without His
Holiness the Dalai Lama’s patronage said Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong
Rinpoche today during a round table discussion with journalist in Berlin.
“Better to face the reality now. Tibetans will have to face it sooner or
later,” he said.
During a media interview last November in New Delhi, His Holiness the
Dalai Lama expressed his wish to retire from political life. His
Holiness further said that he will ask the forthcoming session of the
Tibetan Parliament in March to debate on the issue.
Dharamsala has received hundreds of letters and appeals from Tibetans
all over the world. In early January, the Standing Committee of the
Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile requested His Holiness not to retire and
continue to lead the Tibetan people.
When the issue is debated in the Tibetan Parliament, Kalon Tripa said he
will speak in favour of Tibetan people’s wishes as he was directly
elected by the Tibetan people. But as the head of the Kashag, he will
have to speak on His Holiness’ behalf.
Since the establishment of the Ganden Phodrang Government of Tibet by
the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642, successive Dalai Lamas have been the
spiritual and political leader of Tibet. There is an extraordinary bond
between the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan people.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama established the Tibetan Parliament in
exile in 1960. For the first time in history, the Tibetan people
directly elected the Kalon Tripa in 2001. Since then His Holiness the
Dalai Lama has been saying he is “semi retired.”
Speaking on the forthcoming Tibetan elections, Kalon Tripa said the
Tibetan people’s participation and awareness was much higher. He said
that the future role of the Kalon Tripa will becomes more important
given His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recent statement.
When asked to comment on the present situation inside Tibet he said,
“The situation inside Tibet today is very serious. 2008 peaceful
uprising was forcefully repressed. This repressive measure continues.
Tibetans and other minorities are in constant fear. Detention and
disappearance are order of the day. Tibetan poets and writers are under
attack.”
He expressed his admiration for the younger generation of Tibetans.
“They have the greatest patience and determination,” he said. Only a
small percentage of the youth talk about violence but so far, no
individual have advocated violence.
“Our commitment to non-violence is not a strategy,” said Kalon Tripa.
“It is our principle and faith.”
When asked why the Tibetan issue was more popular than other movements,
he gave three reasons:
1) His Holiness the Dalai Lama – a charismatic leader
2) Non-violence – strong commitment
3) Tibetan spiritual culture – day to day relevance to people
Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche was invited to Germany by the Tibet
Initiative Deutschland, the oldest Tibet Support Group in Germany. He
said that the visit also provides him an opportunity to thank people for
their support for the Tibetan issue. He said Germany is one of the most
important countries.
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2. The Trouble With Tibet
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The Dalai Lama’s democratization project poses a challenge to the United
States
* Ellen Bork
* February 19, 2011 | 12:00 am
Dharamsala, India—Flying from Delhi to Dharamsala, the seat of the
Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India, takes about 90 minutes.
The plane lands in the valley below the Dhauladar range of the
Himalayas, a massive barrier between India and Tibet. From the airport,
the road leads up to the former British hill station that Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru made available in 1960 to the Dalai Lama, who had
escaped from Chinese-occupied Tibet the year before. The Dalai Lama
lives on one ridge, in the settlement of McLeod Ganj, while on a nearby
ridge sit the buildings of the Central Tibet Administration (CTA), which
oversees many affairs of the approximately 150,000 Tibetans in exile.
Nehru’s gift of Dharamsala to the Tibetans was both generous and shrewd.
Indian sympathy for the Tibetans and hostile posture toward Beijing
necessitated hospitality, but isolating the Tibetans in a remote area
avoided complicating India’s non-aligned stance by making it harder for
the Dalai Lama to pursue an international agenda. As it has turned out,
however, Dharamsala’s location has not been a problem for the Dalai Lama.
Despite an initial hesitation about the remote location, the Dalai Lama
and his officials embraced Dharamsala, which has been nicknamed Little
Lhasa, after the capital of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has become a global
figure with nearly universal appeal and one of the world’s most
well-traveled men. What’s more, from his perch, he has been able to
pursue his twin missions—preserving Tibet’s religion and culture and,
more ambitiously, building a Tibetan democracy in exile. These missions
pose a challenge not only to China’s communist government, which has
long opposed the Dalai Lama. But, increasingly, they also pose a
challenge to the United States.
The Dalai Lama’s democracy-building effort is not nearly as well-known
as his moral and religious teachings. However, by the time he arrived in
India, he had already begun trying to overhaul the existing Tibetan
government, which was dominated by aristocratic and monastic elites. He
had launched a commission to address land reform, as well as other
social and political issues. In India, the Dalai Lama only accelerated
his democracy work. Under his direction, a new Tibetan constitution was
drafted in 1963. At his insistence, it included a provision authorizing
his impeachment. For Tibetans, the idea of removing the Dalai Lama, who
is regarded as the Bodhisattva of Compassion, was unthinkable. To the
Dalai Lama, however, it was a natural step in his plan to delineate
separate political and spiritual roles for himself and eventually turn
over responsibility for day-to-day governance to an elected leader, or
Kalon Tripa—which he did officially in 2001.
The democratization of Tibetan authority has thus proceeded—and
relatively smoothly—over the past several decades. In 1991, there was
the creation of an expanded Tibetan parliament, which took
responsibility for drafting a new charter to replace the constitution.
The charter gave the parliament, or Chiteue, more powers, including
approving members of the cabinet, or Kashag, and greater responsibility
to legislate in matters over which it has jurisdiction. The Chitue has
actively legislated in areas such as finance and administration; the
CTA, subject to Indian law, has maintained authority over exile affairs.
The constituency of this growing democracy is scattered around the
world; Tibetans in exile are eligible to vote for the CTA in the various
countries in which they live.
The current Kalon Tripa is Samdhong Rinpoche, a monk whom the Dalai Lama
has addressed as his political “boss.” In November, the CTA announced
the results of the first phase of elections both for his
successor—Samdhong’s second term ends this August—and for the
parliament. In a darkened upstairs room at the CTA complex, election
officials and observers tallied votes with the aid of an overhead
projector. Nearly 48,000 Tibetans, or 60 percent of those registered,
voted in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Europe, the United States, and Canada.
The leading candidate to replace Samdhong Rinpoche is a Tibetan-American
affiliated with Harvard University.
Of course, Tibetan democracy is anathema to China’s communist
government, which reacts quickly to squelch democratic activism, as it
did with the China Democracy Party in the 1990s and, more recently, with
Charter 08, a democracy manifesto inspired by Charter 77, the
Czechoslovakian civic movement to end communism in Eastern and Central
Europe. Although conducted in communities outside Chinese territory, the
recent Tibetan elections weren’t safe from Chinese interference. Under
pressure from Beijing, Nepalese authorities seized about 1,000 ballots
in Kathmandu. Neighboring Bhutan also prevented approximately 600
ballots from being forwarded to Dharamsala for counting.
The United States protested the Nepalese action, but, in fact, Tibetan
democracy is an uncomfortable development for Washington, just as it is
for China. The Unites States supports programs for Tibetan refugees, the
CTA’s health and education budget, democracy and human rights
organizations, and scholarships for Tibetans, many of whom have returned
to Dharamsala to serve in the government. And yet, despite this support
for democracy in general and the government-in-exile in particular, the
United States does not endorse Tibetan self-determination. Its policy
focuses instead on preserving Tibet’s “unique cultural, religious and
linguistic heritage” and promoting “dialogue” between the Dalai Lama and
Beijing. In the 1960s, Washington took a markedly different position,
even supporting and training Tibetans fighting the Chinese occupation.
But, once Washington restored ties with China in order to use it as a
cold war counterweight to Moscow, this approach changed.
For its part, Beijing is pressing its advantage, building infrastructure
to enable the rapid growth of the migrant Han Chinese population in
Tibet, in an effort to degrade the region’s culture, religion, and
environment. Beijing is also waging a campaign to weaken international
support for Tibet and the Dalai Lama. It has designated Tibet a “core
interest” and insists that other countries, including the United States,
adopt a “correct understanding” of the issue. And Washington, it seems,
has retreated. Whereas Bill Clinton and George W. Bush made unusually
public shows of support for the Dalai Lama (Clinton even created a
senior position in the State Department to deal with Tibet), out of
deference to Beijing, President Obama delayed meeting the Dalai Lama at
the White House until after he had visited China. Last August, a State
Department report to Congress subtly diminished the importance of Tibet
in U.S.-China relations and implied that the Dalai Lama might lack
support within Tibetan society. Moreover, U.S. officials publicly
mention Tibet less and less in the context of China policy.
Compare America’s approach to Tibet to its history with Taiwan. Thirty
years ago, Beijing was optimistic Taiwan could be coerced into uniting
with mainland China, and that the United States would back that action.
Instead, Congress shored up Washington’s commitment to Taiwan’s defense
and created a system of quasi-diplomatic relations with its authorities.
As Taiwan has transitioned into a democracy, American policy has adapted
to the idea that the Taiwanese people must have a role in determining
their future. Just last year, the United States sold $6 billion worth of
arms to Taiwan. Why, then, has it taken such a different tack with
Tibet? Why has appeasing China mattered more than supporting democracy?
Chinese leaders undoubtedly hope they can exploit America’s weak
position at the moment of Tibet’s greatest vulnerability: when the Dalai
Lama dies. Beijing will attempt to control the selection of the Dalai
Lama’s successor, a process in which senior Tibetan monks identify the
incarnation in a young boy. The Chinese government has issued
“guidelines for reincarnation” that stress “patriotism” and loyalty to
the Chinese Communist Party. Beijing might even resort to force, as it
has before: In 1995, Chinese authorities seized the Panchen Lama, the
second-most prominent religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, then just
six years old, and substituted an imposter in his place. The authentic
Panchen Lama has not been seen in public since.
The Dalai Lama has said that future generations will regard the creation
of Tibetan democracy as one of the greatest achievements of his exile.
Whether that project succeeds, however, depends in part on whether the
United States, so often a key partner in international democratic
transitions, brings its Tibet policy into line with its democratic
ideals. When the Dalai Lama fled from Tibet, no one could have predicted
that the United States would be challenged to face up to its
foreign-policy contradictions by refuges on a remote hilltop in northern
India. But it certainly has.
Ellen Bork, director of democracy and human rights at the Foreign Policy
Initiative, writes frequently about U.S. policy toward Tibet and China.
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3. The Politics of Reincarnation
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Melinda Liu, Newsweek
February 20, 2011
It’s probably best not to even try making sense of Beijing’s
pronouncements on the 14th Dalai Lama and other Tibetan spiritual
leaders: you’ll only make your head hurt. Last week the officially
atheist Chinese government’s State Administration for Religious Affairs
disclosed plans to enact a new law forbidding the 75-year-old Buddhist
deity to be reborn anywhere but on Chinese-controlled soil, and giving
final say to Chinese authorities when the time comes to identify his
15th incarnation.
That might seem to pose a dilemma, given the exiled leader’s earlier
promise that he will never again be reincarnated in Tibet as long as his
homeland remains under China’s heel. Still, no one seems too concerned
just now about the Dalai Lama’s next life. Instead, attention has
focused on an all-too-worldly fracas over the finances of the
25-year-old Tibetan-born holy man who seems most likely to assume
leadership of the exile community after the current Dalai Lama’s death:
the 17th Karmapa Lama.
It began in late January when a random police check found a car in
northern India hauling roughly $200,000 in Indian currency.
Investigators followed the trail to the Karmapa’s monastery in the
Indian town of Dharamsala, where they confiscated trunkloads of cash,
reportedly amounting to $1.6 million, including more than $100,000 in
Chinese currency—a discovery that immediately revived old suspicions in
India’s intelligence community that the Karmapa is a Chinese spy.
Beijing didn’t help calm the situation when it quickly issued a denial
that the Karmapa was any such thing.
Indian authorities have kept a close eye on the Karmapa ever since he
fled Chinese-occupied Tibet in the winter of 1999–2000. Born to a
nomadic Tibetan family in 1985, Ogyen Trinley Dorje was identified at
the age of 7 as the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa and taken to a
monastery to be raised under constant surveillance by Chinese security
forces, forbidden to leave the country even briefly. When his
India-based religious tutor was barred from Tibet, the boy staged a
harrowing escape via SUV, horseback, and helicopter, arriving in
Dharamsala by taxi in early January 2000.
In the years since, the Karmapa has refrained from criticizing the
Chinese government—in sharp contrast to the Dalai Lama’s blunt
denunciations since his escape from occupied Tibet in 1959—and Beijing
has never admitted that the Karmapa has left for good. The Chinese say
he’s merely on a quest to retrieve a black hat said to have magical
powers and other artifacts currently housed at a monastery in the
eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim. The lack of recrimination has only
heightened suspicions among some Indian intelligence operatives who
still seem unable to accept that a mere 14-year-old could elude Chinese
security forces and survive such a trek across snow-choked Himalayan
passes. “There are people in the shadows who are suspicious of China and
deeply uncomfortable with the Tibetan exiles’ perceived long-term drift
towards accommodation with Beijing,” says Robert Barnett, a Tibetologist
at Columbia University.
The politics of reincarnation has always been a treacherous area in
Tibet. In past centuries, rival claimants were often in danger of
assassination, and after the Dalai Lama gave his blessing to a Tibetan
boy as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, the child disappeared and Chinese
authorities installed another youngster in his place. The man generally
recognized as the 17th Karmapa himself has at least two rivals for the
title, although his claim is supported by both the Dalai Lama and
Beijing—and most ordinary Tibetans. Still, to prevent possible unrest,
Indian authorities have barred all claimants from the monastery where
the black hat is kept. Followers of the two rivals have clashed
violently in the past.
As for the mysterious trunkfuls of cash, the Karmapa’s financial
representatives stuck to their story that the money had all been donated
by his devout followers—including many inside China. And by last week
Indian investigators at last conceded that they were telling the truth.
“I’ve seen Chinese society ladies swooning all over him,” says Jamyang
Norbu, a U.S.-based author and blogger. “This translates into big
money.” (Any inclination to celebrate the Karmapa’s exoneration was
dampened by news that the Dalai Lama’s 45-year-old nephew had been
struck and killed by an SUV while engaged in a 300-mile “Free Tibet”
hike in Florida.)
Nevertheless, the uproar was no more than a tame affair compared with
what’s sure to ensue when the 14th Dalai Lama finally moves on. He’s
said he might come back as a woman, or he might not come back at all.
The one certainty is that he won’t go quietly.
With Sudip Mazumdar in New Delhi
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4. The Situation Inside Tibet Today is Very Serious: Tibetan PM
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Saturday, 19 February 2011 17:36 YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post
International
Berlin: - The Tibetan prime minister Professor Samdhong Rinpoche on
February 17th, 2011 - Thursday, voiced his deep concern for the current
situation in Tibet: "The restrictions imposed after the uprising in 2008
have not been rolled back. In fact, things have gotten worse." At the
moment, intellectuals, journalists, authors, and environmental activists
are being targeted for political persecution Samdhong Rinpoche during a
press conference held by the German Tibet support group Tibet Initiative
Deutschland (TID).
Nevertheless, sees no alternative to His Holiness the Dalai Lama's
"Middle Way": "We would like to continue the dialogue with the Chinese
leadership. For us, non-violence is not a mere strategy - it is a core
belief," he said.
"The situation inside Tibet today is very serious, Prof. Samdhong
Rinpoche said when asked to comment on the present situation inside
Tibet. 2008 peaceful uprising was forcefully repressed. This repressive
measure continues. Tibetans and other minorities are in constant fear.
Detention and disappearance are order of the day. Tibetan poets and
writers are under attack."
He expressed his admiration for the younger generation of Tibetans.
"They have the greatest patience and determination," he said. Only a
small percentage of the youth talk about violence but so far, no
individual have advocated violence.
The Tibetan prime minister also gave his view on the future resignation
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama: „At some point, the Tibetan people must
learn to govern themselves without the support of the Dalai Lama", said
the Tibetan prime minister. He further explained that, considering the
progressing process of democratization of the Tibetan community in
exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama's announcement should be taken very
seriously.
Professor Samdhong Rinpoche also made clear that in large part the
Tibetan people want the Dalai Lama to remain as their political leader:
"We received hundreds of petitions calling on His Holiness the Dalai
Lama to stay in his position as leader of the Tibetan People". The
Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile echoed the sentiment. Nevertheless,
Professor Samdhong Rinpoche considers the timing of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama's planned resignation to be consistent with his plans for
democratic reform. It will strengthen the government and the new prime
minister who will be elected on March 20th, 2011.
The Tibetan prime minister Samdhong Rinoche's visit with politicians in
Berlin was organized by TID. "We demand strong support from our
politicians for the legitimate rights of the Tibetan people and open
lines of communication with their democratically elected representatives
in exile," said Wolfgang Grader, chairman of the TID.
TID founded in 1989, advocates for the Tibetan people's right to
self-determination and the protection of human rights in occupied Tibet.
With 60 regional groups and nearly 2,000 members througout Germany, the
TID is a strong voice for Tibet. Primary funding for the TID comes from
membership dues and private, individual donations.
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5. India must change, give up lazy attitude: Dalai Lama
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2011-02-18 22:40:00
Last Updated: 2011-02-19 01:46:52
Mumbai: India needs to buck up, the 'lazy attitude is holding it back',
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Friday addressing
students of Mumbai University here.
'Dowry, gender discrimination would be the ancient traditional practices
here but India needs to understand now that all of it is outdated. India
must change,' he said.
'The lazy attitude is holding it (India) back,' the Dalai Lama said in
his address to around 500 students of the university.
He insisted that it is important to club the ancient India culture with
the new conception and views. 'The realistic approach will help here,'
he said.
'This reality check will give you an ability to look at a problem with
an objective and non-biased mindset, only then the problem will be
solved,' he added.
Earlier, he termed himself a student of ancient Indian teachers.
'I am a 'chela' (student) of the ancient Indian 'gurus' (religious
teachers),' he said in his opening speech on 'Ancient Wisdom, Modern
Thoughts'.
The Dalai Lama appreciated the communal harmony of India, saying that it
is the biggest democratic and secular country.
'The constitution of this country holds the sacred word of secularism
which asks for respecting all the communities and religions,' said the
Tibetan spiritual leader.
Appreciating Mahatma Gandhi's ideology of non-violence, the Dalai Lama
said it has been appreciated and accepted all over the world by leaders
like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
'India needs to spread such sacred ideologies to the entire world for
good. And universities are the places where this spreading of thoughts
can be started. Educationists should take a lead while involving
students with these thoughtful ideologies of the ancient India leaders,'
he said.
Pointing out the responsibility of a varsity, Dalai Lama said it is the
responsibility of teachers to put right values in the minds of today's
youth.
Earlier Friday, Dalai Lama inaugurated a three-day convention of
Academia Eurasiana Neurochirurgica on 'A holistic approach to the realm
of Neurosurgery' where he mentioned that the 21st century will be a
century of dialogues to bring in world peace.
The Dalai Lama will Saturday felicitate Super 30 founder Anand Kumar,
whose pioneering initiative has helped many students from the
underprivileged sections of society crack the IIT-JEE at a programme
organised by the Bihar Foundation, Mumbai chapter.
The Dalai Lama has lived in India since 1959 when he fled Tibet after a
failed anti-Communist uprising. His government-in-exile, not recognised
by any country, is based in Dharamsala, in Himachal Pradesh.
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6. Dalai Lama Nephew Feared Growing U.S. Economic Ties to China
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-bianchini/dalai-lama-nephew-feared-_b_82
4289.html?view=print
FRONT ROYAL, VA - During an April 2009 interview on an earlier walk to
raise awareness about ongoing human rights issues from the Chinese
occupation of Tibet , Dalai Lama nephew Jigme K. Norbu warned that
America "was feeding a sleeping giant". The reference was to America 's
increasing economic ties to China . On Feb. 14th Norbu was struck and
killed by a vehicle while walking along the southbound side of State A1A
near Palm Coast in northeastern Florida during his most recent Tibetan
freedom march.
"We have nothing against the Chinese people. They're human beings just
like us. It's the Communist policies we are totally against. And I think
the world should know clearly that this has been going on for so long
and that Americans should wake up and realize, even though I know
America deals with China, that we are feeding that sleeping giant,"
Norbu said in 2009 of America's growing economic relationship with
China. "So many products are made in China, as you can see. So, you are
actually making that country a superpower. And I've always said that if
my people are suppressed, one day our children, or our children's
children will wake up and will be under Chinese rule.
"So it's something that we have an obligation not only to protect our
Tibetan people, but the world. I think no country should experience what
we went through. So we have this opportunity to meet great people and
good people. To come in here and make new friends who give us support
and give us the strength to continue on with what we need to do to
accomplish our goal. And that goal is to hopefully one day to see our
country become independent. That's our determination and that's our goal."
The interview occurred in Front Royal during Norbu's 900-mile "Walk for
Peace, Human Rights and Tibetan Independence". The walk began in
Indianapolis, Indiana and would end at UN headquarters in New York City.
Norbu's fellow traveler during that 2009 walk, 66-year-old former
Tibetan Parliamentarian Wangchuk Dorjee, expressed mixed emotions about
potential results from the Dalai Lama's ongoing negotiations with the
Chinese for a return of some political, cultural and religious autonomy
for his people.
"There are positive signs. You know the last few years his Holiness's
envoys have had a dialogue with the Chinese government a few times. That
is kind of a positive, I feel that way. But at the same time while the
dialogue is there - not very much has become of it. The Tibetans have
tried to speak up about their rights and point of view. But when they do
that they are put in jail or are killed and all sorts of unbelievable
things are done. It is very, very bad."
"But we are a voice here in America where we can speak out and voice our
opinions and voice the truth to the public," Norbu added. "If Tibetans
in Tibet would do what we are doing today, they'd be executed or
imprisoned. They have no such thing as freedom of speech, or freedom of
religion, or freedom just to have their own identity and rights - that's
all being suppressed. So, as a Tibetan exile it is my responsibility now
as a human being to represent my people and let the public know what is
going on. - That Communist China can no longer illegally occupy our
country."
Norbu said he was well received by average Americans during that 2009 walk.
"Especially out in the rural country where they come out and give me
water, food, even money, and the truck drivers along the way as well.
So, it has really showed me how kind American people are. And the people
out there, they know about Tibet; they clearly know about Tibet. They
know about the Dalai Lama. And the ones that weren't sure exactly about
Tibet, we'd give them a brief education and told them they can get more
on the Internet. They'd say it was great what we're doing. You know this
is not just for the Tibetan issue. We are doing it for the universal
issue of world peace and human rights."
A future without hope?
By coincidence as I edited our story on Norbu and his 2009 walk, I had
just finished a re-read of George Orwell's dark vision of a totalitarian
future, "1984". Norbu and Dorjee's observations about Tibet's current
plight mixed in my mind with Orwell's dark vision of mankind's future, a
future it seems the Tibetan people and others already experience on a
daily basis. I suggested to interviewer Shawn Patterson that we end the
story with a reference to the lasting warning to humanity Orwell gave us
in 1948, perhaps not coincidentally the transposed final two digits of
his book's title. Patterson agreed and to close that story on Norbu's
efforts to raise public awareness about Tibet we quoted from perhaps
"1984's" most frightening passage, as the Party spokesman O'Brien
explains the Party's view of the flow of history to Winston as he is
tortured into total submission to the state and its symbolic figurehead,
Big Brother.
"Always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing
and constantly growing subtler. Always at every moment, there will be
the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is
helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping
on a human face - forever."
Jigme Norbu walked to remove that boot from the face of the Tibetan
people - and perhaps to make us all ponder how far our own faces are
from the sole of that boot as it is allowed to crush the spirit of
others we share this planet with.
On Feb. 14th Norbu's walk ended on the side of a dark, Florida highway -
or did it?
A version of this story first appeared on Warren County Report.
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7. I describe Indians as guru, we chelas learn from you: Dalai Lama
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Hemali Chhapia, TNN, Feb 19, 2011, 04.45am IST
MUMBAI: For a snow-shrouded Tibet, here's something that will thaw its
heart.
"Yes, I will see a free Tibet in my lifetime. I am confident about that.
More and more Chinese are supporting the Tibetan cause than ever
before," the 14th Dalai Lama, who was in the city on Friday, told TOI.
The Nobel laureate spoke at the Gothic Cowasjee Jehangir Convocation
Hall of the University of Mumbai as sun rays streamed in through the
stained glass panel above. Before he started his talks, the university
vice-chancellor, Rajan Welukar, honoured him with a garland that came
all the way from Gujarat. More importantly, the environmentally friendly
garland of cotton fibre was used by Mahatma Gandhi.
The University wanted to have the Dalai Lama here on October 2 to
inaugurate a student-driven initiative to work for social causes.
After a lecture on "Ancient Wisdom and Modern Thoughts" and a discourse
with students, the Dalai Lama had a conversation with TOI about the land
that is long awaiting freedom. With more and more Chinese championing
the cause of Tibetans, the movement will usher in the final chapter of
the land's long struggle that will end soon, he said. "And so, it is my
belief that it will not be a loss for one and triumph for another. It
will be a victory for all." He also had a joke about a changed China: "I
told the Chinese authorities that I want to join Chinese Communist Party."
"Now in China, genuine socialism is no longer there; a communist party
without communist ideology. Capitalist communism: this is new. I heard
that the life of some Indian communists and a few leaders of the Indian
communist party is more bourgeois than socialist."
Praising India, he said it didn't need to look out for answers. "Indian
civilization, when compared to the western and Chinese civilizations, is
much more sophisticated. It is the world's treasure." He repeatedly
described himself as a chela of Indian tradition. "I describe Indians as
the guru, we (Tibetans) are chelas of Indian guru," he said.
"Essentially we learn from you."
But as an honest friend, he said it was essential to rid all the systems
of some evils: "Caste, dowry, discrimination, these may be a part of
your tradition but they are outdated, and must change. The youth must
change some of these�. From your chela, this is constructive
criticism. Sometimes, you are a little bit lazy. You must be more
hard-working; work with full self-confidence."
DEEPER THOUGHTS:
Modern education system does not pay attention to wholeheartedness.
Teaching ethics without touching the religious space is important
Life based on material wealth with no roots in affection is a delusion
Secularism does not mean disrespect of religion, but equal respect for
all religions
Business people also come from society, we need a change at the
fundamental level, and now in the west, some educationists are really
questioning the educational system
Technology provides physical comfort and spiritual development mental
comfort
The real change in India needs to happen in its rural areas, in its old
villages
The desire for peace is very strong. People proudly joined when the
World Wars broke out. That situation has changed. Before the Iraq
crisis, think of how many people came out against using force. It's a
sign of change: non-violence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Dalai Lama urges doctors to master old & new sciences
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pratibha Masand, TNN, Feb 19, 2011, 04.42am IST
MUMBAI: "Competition in society is killing the peace of mind.
Technology, coupled with peace, is the key to progress," said the Dalai
Lama at a conference of neurosurgeons in the city on Friday.
While addressing the audience at the 16 th convention of Academia
Eurasiana Neurochirurgica that was inaugurated on Friday, the Tibetan
spiritual leader said his curiosity was the reason behind his interest
in science. "As far as matter visible to the eye is concerned, science
and technology have shown marvelous development. But the science of mind
can be seen in the ancient Indian traditions of samadhi and vipassana.
If both these sciences are mastered, then one can look forward to a
better society," the Dalai Lama said.
Commending doctors for bringing in newer and advanced treatments for
patients, he spiritual leader said, "These doctors and scientists have
done wonderful work in their fields. But people should take preventive
measures for keeping a calm mind. For cure, the neurosurgeons are there."
At the three-day conference, neurosurgeons from Europe and Asia are here
to discuss various technologies. "The purpose is to gauge the progress
in neurosurgery and learn from others," In this conference,
neurosurgeons from the continents will exchange ideas and practices for
a better future in neurosurgery," said Dr Keki Turel, who organized the
event.
When asked about the youth's remoteness from spirituality, the Dalai
Lama said people followed two paths. "While one is based on religious
faith, the other on conscience and morality. It is important for youths
to have the moral ethics," he said.
And competitiveness seems to be the bane of peace. "All the negative
emotions, especially competitiveness, are robbing one of his peace of
mind. The key to happiness has nothing to do with belief in God, heaven
or spirituality. It has to be contentment and affection within oneself,"
he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Kalon Tripa thanks Tibetans and Tibet supporters in Berlin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Office of Tibet, Geneve
Berlin, 18 February: Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche yesterday
evening addressed the Tibetan community and the Tibet Supporters in Berlin.
“Very dear friends of Tibet,” said Kalon Tripa in his opening address.
He then expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Kashag for their
support. He requested them to continue their support for Tibet.
He said that the situation in the world is changing very fast –
referring to the recent changes in the Arab world. “The Chinese
totalitarian regime cannot remain forever. It is against the law of
nature. When positive changes come to China, then definitely Tibetan
people will get freedom,” he said.
It was difficult to predict, he said. But looking at the speed of
changes taking place in Mainland China, the dream of freedom for all the
people of People’s Republic of China is not far.
In response to a question on sustaining the patriotism amongst the
younger generation of Tibetans, Kalon Tripa said “we see more enthusiasm
among the youth than the elder people. This is amazing.”
The Tibetans below 50 years in Tibet have never seen His Holiness the
Dalai Lama and Tibet’s old culture. According to China, these Tibetans
were raised under the blessing of the Red Flag. But in spite of that
they have more devotion and faith in His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to
the traditional Tibetan culture.
“If you analysis the uprising in 2008 in Tibet, more than 80 percent who
participated in the demonstrations were below 40, the younger
generation,” Kalon Tripa said.
In the West, “We do have few Tibetan youths who do not speak even
Tibetan language but they are more enthusiastic to participate in the
Tibetan movement and do every bit for regaining freedom of Tibet. Their
patriotism and their arch for regaining freedom are not less than the
other generation if not better. This is my experience from working with
the Tibetans,” said Kalon Tripa.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Kalon Tripa addresses Tibetans and Tibet Supports in Zurich
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Office of Tibet, Geneve
Zurich, 20 February: Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche arrived in
Zurich, Switzerland on 18 February evening. The Tibetan Swiss Friendship
Association and the Tibetan Community in Liechtenstein and Switzerland
invited Kalon Tripa.
On 19 February morning, the council members of the Tibetan Youth
Association in Europe called on Kalon Tripa at the hotel. They thanked
Kalon Tripa for his many years of dedicated service to the Tibetan
issue. They briefed him of their activities in creating awareness about
the Tibetan Elections, Tibetan language classes for their own members
and other political activities.
“You all are doing tremendous work for the Tibetan issue. I appreciate
your great motivation and determination,” he said.
In the afternoon, Kalon Tripa addressed Tibetan Swiss Friendship
Association’s Annual General Body meeting in Zurich.
“I take this opportunity to express our gratitude on behalf of 6 million
people of Tibet to all of you and through you to the international
community in general and people of Switzerland in particular,” said
Kalon Tripa. “Switzerland was the first Western country to invite a
large number of Tibetan refugees for resettlement and these settlers
have been the happiest among the Tibetan Diaspora... We will never
forget the kindness of Swiss people and government for their help
offered when we were badly in need of it.”
Then he spoke about the democratic system practiced by the Tibetans in
exile and contribution of the Tibet Support Groups’ to the Tibetan
struggle and their relevance in the future.
The Tibetan Swiss Friendship Association was established in 1983 to
foster closer relationship between the growing Tibetan Community and the
Swiss people.
Kalon Tripa addressed a packed hall of Tibetan Community in
Liechtenstein and Switzerland members on 20 February morning.
In his opening address, Kalon Tripa thanked the Tibetan community on
behalf of the Kashag for their support. He said that the Tibetan
diaspora were living in about 55 countries across the world. As the
Tibetan Community in Switzerland is largest in Europe, Kalon Tripa said
that the community has a greater responsibility and role in the Tibetan
issue.
He emphasized the importance of the younger generation speaking Tibetan
language. He said that parents have a big role to play in ensuring their
children speak Tibetan language and learn Tibetan culture.
At the same time, he said he personally knows many Tibetans who don’t
speak Tibetan language, but are very patriotic and dedicated to the
Tibetan issue. However, he said able to speak Tibetan is an added
advantage.
The question and answer session covered Sino-Tibetan dialogue, Dhanglang
Chatrel, Tibetan Communities, financial and education affairs of the
Central Tibetan Administration.
Over 450 Tibetans listened to Kalon Tripa initial address for about 20
minutes and followed by one and half ours of questions and answer session.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. IN DEFENCE OF TIBETAN COOKING (Part I) – Jamyang Norbu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In some of his public talks, His Holiness makes a joking observation of
how Tibetans are so sharp (drungu) that they took the best of all
religions from India, the warmest of clothes from Mongolia, and the most
delicious of foods from China. It is a good joke, and the validity of
the observation, at least in the first instance, makes it work. I only
disagree with him on his third example. Being the next-door neighbour,
as it were, of a race whose cuisine is probably the most well-known and
celebrated world-over, can give anyone (perhaps even His Holiness) a
little inferiority complex about his or her own food culture.
Another great man, George Orwell, annoyed at the prevailing snobbery
around French cuisine and the routine dismissive charges that “English
food was the worst in the world”, was driven to write an essay, “In
Defence of English Cooking”, for the Evening Standard. I am attempting
to follow in the master’s footsteps with this exploration of Tibetan
culinary culture. Some years ago I wrote a piece on Khabsay or New Year
cookies which many readers wrote in to say they enjoyed. Since Losar is
rolling around again I hope this essay on Tibetan cuisine will provide
some reading pleasure to Tibetans during this season when, no matter how
cruelly the political winds are blowing in Tibet, we might take a brief
time off from the struggle and enjoy good food and drink in convivial
company.
THE INCOMPARABLE TSAMPA
The fundamental staple food of Tibet is, of course, not borrowed from
China at all. Tsampa or roasted barley meal is so different from the
Chinese staple of rice and wheat, that when Chinese Communist soldiers
first came to Tibet and tried to eat tsampa they choked and gagged on
the powdery stuff – much to the amusement of Tibetan bystanders.
But as tricky as it can be to eat without mastering the proper
technique, tsampa is the foundation of a noble diet, similar in part to
what people ate in the classical world. In H.D.F Kitto’s remarkable
introduction to ancient Greece (The Greeks) he tells us that “Barley
meal, olives, a little wine, fish as a relish, meat only on high
holidays – such was the normal diet.” Pliny tells us that gladiators in
Rome were also called hordearii, barley men, because of the amount of
barley, a muscle building food they ate. Hordeum vulgare being the Latin
for barley.
In the Odyssey (T.E. Lawrence’s translation) when Odysseus returns home
to Ithaca he is given a meal by Eumaeus the swineherd, who does not
recognize the hero as his old master. “When the two roast piglets were
done he carried them to Odysseus and set them in front of him, still on
the spits and piping hot. He dusted them over with barley meal….”.
Tibetans prefer boiling to roasting meat but I suppose like the Greeks
they don’t like loosing the fatty juices. I’m not sure if this common
practice but I once saw a Khampa man in Mustang skewer a large chunk of
boiled mutton out of a pot with his knife. He then dusted the meat with
tsampa so that the juices wouldn’t drip down his chin when he went to
work on it.
If you think I’m trying a little too hard to elevate the culinary or
cultural status of tsampa with all my references to Greece and Rome,
check out this passage from Food Civilization by Carson Ritchie:
Roasted corn was one of the great culinary inventions. It was still in
use in Tibet until the Chinese communist invasion, in the form of tsampa
or roasted barley corns, ground into meal. It would keep indefinitely,
and could be prepared by adding cold or hot water to it. Homer’s heroes
even added barley meal to wine. It could be mixed with other foods, such
as broths, and was so light that it could easily be carried about.
Husked grain, whether parched or toasted or not, became the great food
of antiquity.’
Ritchie also informs us that making tsampa was one of the ways in which
Neolithic man grappled with the considerable problems posed by moving to
different foods from those eaten by the earlier hunters. Various
ingenious processes were carried out by Neolithic man to get to the
edible part of cereals – threshing, boiling the heads, and so on, but
roasting barley-corn and then milling it, in effect making tsampa, was
one of the first ways.
THE VIRTUES OF TSAMPA
Older Tibetans need little encouragement to hold forth on the wonderful
properties of tsampa. But in colonial times, snooty European travelers
in the Himalayas had less elegiac views of our national staple. An
English lady in Ladakh was horrified to see the natives eating tsampa
“…with their fingers …it almost makes you sick just to watch them wolf
it down.” Strangely enough, our old friend Heinrich Harrer joins the
sahibs and memsahibs in this condescending chorus. In Seven Years he
writes “Of course one cannot compare the productivity of Tibetan workers
with that of Europeans. The physical strength of the natives was much
inferior.” He ascribes the low productivity of the Tibetans to their
staple diet of tsampa. Henrig la seems to have forgotten that he
survived his tremendous trek across the Jhangtang in winter on a near
exclusive diet of tsampa, not Wiener schnitzels.
Peter Fleming who traveled across Amdo, Tsaidam, Turkestan and Baltistan
in 1935, on a steady diet of tsampa, is more befittingly appreciative :
Tsamba has much to recommend it, and if I were a poet I would write an
ode to the stuff. It is sustaining, digestible and cheap. For nearly
three months we had tsamba for breakfast and tsamba for lunch, and the
diet was neither as unappetizing nor as monotonous as it sounds. One of
the great virtues of tsamba is that you can vary the flavour and the
consistency at will. You can make it into a cake or you can make it into
a porridge; and either can be flavoured with sugar, salt, pepper,
vinegar, or (on special occasions for you only had one bottle) Worcester
Sauce. And, as if that were not enough, you can make it with cocoa
instead of with tea. I would not go so far as to say that you never get
tired of tsamba, but you would get tired of anything else much quicker.
Even Melvyn Goldstein, usually not the most sympathetic of souls to
things Tibetan, is positive on tsampa, claiming that it “…is a great
trail food because it requires no further cooking and can be eaten with
plain water if it is not feasible to make a fire and tea, for example
during a storm (and…) it provides a highly nutritious meal that requires
virtually no preparation.”
The fact of barley’s exceptional nutritional qualities – that Tibetans,
Romans and ancient Greeks had long known and celebrated – finally
received due recognition from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
in 2006. This is what that august body declared, “Scientific evidence
indicates that including barley in a healthy diet can help reduce the
risk of coronary heart disease by lowering bad cholesterol (low density
lipo-proteins) and total cholesterol levels.”
The New York Times (Wednesday, June 28, 2006) added that “The new health
claims for barley are substantial and are based on “significant
scientific evidence.” Other claims being made for a “barley-inclusive”
diet is ‘reduction of risk for cancer of the stomach and intestine’;
‘reduction of risk of cardiovascular diseases’; ‘reduction of risk of
Type 2 diabetes ’; ‘stimulation of the immune system’; and ‘contribution
to reduction of the risk of obesity’.
Traditionally, it is not only Tibetans who have made nutritional and
medical claims for barley. The Japanese make a tea of roasted barley,
called mugicha (boricha in Korea) which is said to cleanse the blood of
impurities and reduce stress. In Britain you have Lemon Barley Water, a
great tonic popular with parents and children alike. It has long been
the official drink supplied to players at Wimbledon.
THE DELICATE ART OF PREPARING AND EATING TSAMPA
Okay, so tsampa’s good for you. But how is a non-Tibetan, or a Tibetan
out of touch with his roots, supposed to eat it without suffering the
fate of the Chinese soldiers mentioned earlier. Peter Fleming who wanted
to write an ode to tsampa, describes the basic way of going about it:
You fill your shallow wooden bowl with tea, then you let the butter melt
in the tea (the butter is usually rancid and has a good cheesy flavour);
then you put a handful of tsamba in. At first it floats; then like a
child’s castle of sand, its foundation begins to be eaten by the liquid.
You coax it with your fingers until it is more or less saturated and has
become a paste; this you knead until you have a kind of doughy cake in
your hand and the wooden bowl is empty and clean. Breakfast is ready.
The watchword is “coax”. You have to go about the process slowly and
gently, “folding” the tsampa into the tea like you would fold melted
chocolate into egg-white when making chocolate mousse. Tibetans don’t
use the word “knead” (zi) for the process of preparing tsampa for
eating. The word used is “yoe” which would mean blending or mixing but,
I repeat, done gently. When prepared in this fashion you get a mixture
that is not sticky or doughy but soft and manageable. This end-product
is now called paag, and not tsampa anymore. You can then make convenient
lumps of the stuff, ready to be eaten, without tsampa sticking all over
your hands and everywhere. A small lump or roll of paag squeezed in your
fist is called daga.
I remember as a child my nanny, Dawa Bhuti (from Kharag in Shigatse
district) telling me this story where a daga of paag featured
prominently. The story had a flavour of Ruskin’s The King of the Golden
River. Three sisters (the older two selfish and mean, the youngest kind
and beautiful) have to go on a quest. One by one they walk up a mountain
and each in turn encounter this little dog. The puppy begs them for food
with this couplet that concludes with three barks:
If you give me one lump (of paag)
I will tell you one tale
Arf! Arf! Ar!
dag chig tayna
tam chig shay yong
Ak Ak Ak.
Another way to eat tsampa is straight and dry. Tibetan’s call this
method tsang-gam. You take a spoonful of the dry meal and pop it in your
mouth. Another way is to just lick the dry tsampa from a bowl. When old
tsampa hands do it, it looks deceptively easy, but the practice is not
recommended. If you insist, you should know that the trick is never to
inhale when performing tsang-gam. If you do, even a little, you will
suffer a coughing spell, possibly even a nasty choking experience. Death
by tsampa! More improbable things have happened in Tibet.
Tibetan peasants, especially those from the Tsang region like to add a
handful of tsampa to their bowl of barley-ale (chang) and eat it with
their fingers in a fashion called kyo-mak da. I once tried adding tsampa
to red-wine as Carson Ritchie tells us Homer’s heroes did. The result
was, well, interesting.
For breakfast tsampa is usually consumed as cham-dur, or, as Tibetan
restaurants feature it on their menus, “tsampa porridge”. It is a dish
much loved by children. My daughter Namkha Lhamo regularly eats cham-dur
when we have tsampa in the house. You put a pat of butter in a bowl with
some powdered cheese (chu-shib) and a little sugar (preferably brown
sugar) and pour in some hot tea (or hot milk) in the bowl getting the
butter to melt and blending with everything else. You then stir in
enough tsampa so that the mixture is more runny than doughy – porridge
consistency – and get on with your breakfast.
Children in Tibet also love to eat the barley grain (ney) after it is
roasted and popped. This Tibetan pop-corn is called yod. The popped
barley is milled at a water-mill called the chu-thag and made into tsampa.
Quality tsampa milled from high-grade barley, the grain washed and
prepared in a special way, is not only delicious but has a wonderful
sweet aroma to it. When I was in Mustang our phokhang or commissariat at
Kag-Beni had a special supply of tsampa that was so good that one of our
instructors, Thondup Gyalpo la (a former sergeant in the Guards regiment
in Lhasa) would just mix it with water from the stream and eat it
without any side-dish or sauce. He insisted that adding anything else
would spoil the taste of the tsampa. Tsampa eaten in this way is called
chu-paag.
For dinner you could make a nice soup or broth called tsam-thug with
tsampa, meat and vegetables, but more on that in Part II of this essay.
In ancient Tibet, tsampa was served at banquets in large brick-like
cakes called masen. At the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA),
Sonam Wangdu la, one of my star comedians who was also a master-chef in
old Lhasa, once served this dish at a New Year dinner at TIPA. The
tsampa cakes were accompanied large joints of cooked mutton and radish.
This ancient banquet was called sozi masen.
Tang dynasty accounts mention that Tibetans pressed a lump of tsampa
with their thumb, and used the hollow space as a spoon to scoop up stew
or vegetables.
TSAMPA PARAPHERNALIA
A largish wooden bowl or gog-phor is generally used for mixing and
eating tsampa. This bowl has a tight-fitting lid which can be taken off
and used to hold your side-dish (paag-drel) of stew, soup or vegetables.
This will be discussed in Part II.
You might also also use a jha-phor or tea bowl, for drinking tea or
beer. It is smaller and shallower than the tsampa bowl and the inside is
sometimes lined with silver. Your set of wooden bowls might include a
tiny bowl (with lid) in which you keep a supply of your favorite
hot-sauce. This bowl can be stored inside the large gog-phor after
you’ve had your meal. These wooden bowls are manufactured in southern
Tibet and in Mon Tawang. They are also made in Bhutan by skilled
wood-turners. Some of these bowls are credited with being able to detect
poison.
An important article for a tsampa based meal is the sol-ray or napkin.
Its usually the name size as a napkin in the west, but sometimes bigger.
It is important to have this on your lap as tsampa tends to spill a
little, no matter how careful you are when you mix it. When you were
traveling the napkin could be used to tie up your bowls and things in
the napkin. Such napkins are handy as they can, at a pinch, substitute
for a bowl to hold lumps of tsampa or meat. In Bhutan people use a
wooden bowl for their soup like Tibetans but their traditional rice dish
is always served in a large napkin called the tho-ray, that everyone
carries about with him. I saw a photograph of the former king, Jigme
Singe Wangchuk, using such a napkin when having a meal with a crowd of
ordinary Bhutanese people. A nice democratic gesture.
Anyhow, If you haven’t picked up the skill of mixing tsampa in a bowl
you can use a bag to do the mixing in. In Tibet a pliant bag of thin
leather with a drawstring (oto) on the opening, is used. It is called a
thang-khug. You can use a plastic bag at a pinch. I have seen Tibetans
doing that. It mustn’t be too stiff, but I guess it shouldn’t be too
thin either, and tear.
There is a larger tsampa bag of leather and fabric which is called a
tsam-khug, and is largely used for storing and sometimes serving tsampa
at a table; but not for mixing. I saw a beautiful tsam-khug leather bag
trimmed with brocade, at the monastery of Gar Rimpoche in Rarang,
Kinnaur. The bag had a serving spoon inside called the tsam-thur, which
is used to serve out the tsampa.
Generally you would use a special wooden container with a lid, called
tsam-phor, to store and serve tsampa at a table. These bowl-like
containers are often painted with designs on the outside and laquered
red on the inside. Some of these vessels are even decorated with
turquoise, coral and semi-precious stones on the outside. In the old
days a high lama, a merchant prince or an important official might have
such a fancy tsam-phor on his side-table. One tsam-phor I saw had a
special lid which incorporated a small bowl on the top. That small bowl
was used to hold a supply of thue, which is a rich concoction of
powdered-cheese, butter and brown-sugar (bhurom) used to flavor the tsampa.
The Vocabulary and Voice of Tsampa
Tsampa is also eaten in Turkestan where it is called “talkhan”. In Bihar
and some parts of north India a kind of tsampa (sometimes mixed with
milled chick-pea) is called “satthu” and eaten by peasants and
labourers. In certain parts of north China where tsampa is eaten it is
called “tso-mien“. All Chinese Communist publication, even those in
English, invariably refer to Tibetan barley, not by its native name of
“ney” or “dru”, but in pinyin as Qingke – probably pronounced “chinky”
(I think).
The honorific for tsampa is su-shib. Of course the Dalai Lama has a very
special tsampa made for him which is called jamin. On the other hand
inferior tsampa eaten by poorer people is called kamsob or tsam-sog.
This is sometimes mixed with pea-flour (ten-tsam or ten-shi) which is
generally cheaper, though quite flavorful in its own right.
Since tsampa played such an important role in Tibetan life, it should
come as no surprise that there were special tsampa officials called the
“tsam-shipa” and the “tsam-nyer” in charge of procurement, storage and
distribution of tsampa. A special department of the government called
the “tsam-sher laykhung” collected agricultural produce for distribution
to monasteries and the army. Wages in old Tibet, for soldiers of the
army and the like, were paid in large part with tsampa. This was called
tsam-phog. A payment in cash was made for the remainder, called the
sha-phog or “meat wages”
Tsampa is used in religious ritual for making sacramental cakes called
tsok and torma, and in the sangsol ceremony where handfuls of tsampa are
tossed in the air (tsam-tor). Tsampa is also burnt and the smoke offered
not only to various deities, but sometimes as an act of compassion to
yidags (tantalized spirits) existing in a special subdivision of the
Buddhist hell. Since these creatures are said to take in nurishment only
through smell, the burnt-tsampa offering (soor or tsam-soor) was an
effective way of feeding them.
Tsampa appears in many Tibetan expressions and proverbs:
Tsamkhu tongpa dap pa: To beat an empty tsampa bag. To try and get
something out of nothing.
Tsampa sholpa. To sprinkle or throw tsampa. To flatter.
Tsampa gam lingbu tang. Eat dry tsampa and play the flute at the same
time. Do two incompatible things. Conflict of interest.
Ngu-khug tsam-khuk la bhechoe tang. Using your money bag for storing
tsampa. Squander your wealth. Charles Bell renders this as “The Good
father had a full money-bag/ The bad son uses it as a bag for flour.”
Tsampa rang ge zay, thang-khuk mi la yok. You eat the tsampa but put the
tsampa-bag on someone else’s (head). To profit from a situation but let
others suffer the consequences.
Tsampae khyekyag bhutog ki chay. Baking-soda acting as guarantor to
tsampa, (both can be blown away by the wind). One insubstantial person
cannot support another.
Tsampae-drima kha. Smelling of tsampa. Having a Tibetan quality.
Tibetan-ness.
The word tsam-zen, is a contraction for tsampa-zangen or tsampa eater.
Two separate sources told me that when the first demonstration started
in Lhasa in 1987, and Tibetans were called out from their homes to join
the protesters in the streets, the rallying cry was “All tsampa eaters
come out”. “Tsampa zangen tso ma dhon-sho.”
Babu Tharchin la, the editor of the Tibetan newspaper in Kalimpong, The
Tibet Mirror, in an editorial (October 1, 1952) called on all Tibetans,
specifically the people of Kham, to unite.
We, the tsampa eaters, chuba wearers, dice players, raw and dried meat
eaters, followers of Buddhism, Tibetan language speakers, the people
from The Three Circuits of Ngari (Ngari Korsum), Four Horns of Central
Tibet (U-Tsang Ru-zhi), Six Ranges of Eastern Tibet (Dokham Gangdrug)
and the Thirteen Myriarchies of Tibet (Bhod Trik-khor Chuksum) we must
make the effort to end the [Chinese] occupation.
On October 1, 1957, The Tibet Mirror published a “reminder song” which
had as a refrain these lines “Don’t let silver coins lure you, /Stand
up, stand up the tsampa eaters!”
In an article in Himal in 1993, the scholar Tsering Shakya la: wrote
that “During the height of the Tibetan resistance to the Chinese in
1959, a letter appeared in the Tibetan Mirror, symbolically addressed to
‘all tsampa eaters’. The writer had gone down to the staple, barley as
the most basic element which united the Tibetan-speaking world. If
Buddhism provided the atom of Tibetanness, then tsampa provided the
sub-particles of Tibetanness. The use of tsampa transcended dialect,
sect, gender and regionalism”
The website High Peaks Pure Earth recently came out with a
well-documented article describing how a cultural re-assertion of
Tibetan identity was taking place all over the plateau since the
protests and crackdown of 2008, and that tsampa was enjoying something
of a cultural revival. The report mentioned the singer Tashi Dhondup who
was sentenced for 15 months in labor camp for his album Torture Without
Trace. In one song Tashi la sang: “Remembering my brother in exile / I
carry a bag of tsampa on my back / And take this road to / The western
land of scholars.”
Perhaps we could join our brothers and sisters in Tibet in this culinary
revival. The health benefits are undeniable and tsampa has the
unqualified blessings (jhinlap) of the FDA, which many Chinese food
imports deservedly don’t. Eating a tsampa meal, even occasionally, with
your family would be a good way to remind ourselves, especially our
children, of our Tibetan heritage. Perhaps we could do it on Losar. In
old Tibet your always had the Sozi Masen banquet on Losar (especially at
the Potala) even if other bills-of-fare were enjoyed on that day.
Jews eat unleavened bread at their Passover meal to remember the exodus
of the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land. So perhaps we
could incorporate tsampa in our March 10th breakfast. This is just a
suggestion. I’m sure readers will be able to come up with other and
better ideas of how we could create a meaningful ritual meal for that
day. Send in your thoughts. Any information you might have on
tsampa-manufacturers or retailers in the USA, India and Europe and other
related subjects would be really welcome. Thanks.
Note: This is the first of a Four Part series on Tibetan culinary
culture. So many people have given me bits of information at one time or
the other that I haven’t quite been able to keep track of everything. A
full acknowledgement will appear at the end of Part IV.
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