"Those Eternally Lit Butter Lamps…" 

By Woeser



High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on December 19, 2010 and posted on her blog on December 29, 2010.

In the blogpost, Woeser reflects on the past year and focuses on the earthquake in Tibet of April 2010 and on Dolkar, wife of imprisoned Tibetan environmentalist Karma Samdrup.







The year 2010 is drawing to an end and the Wooden Rabbit will replace the Iron Tiger according to the Tibetan calendar in over two month's time. So which memories have been particularly engraved in our minds? What the roaring of the Snow Lion on March 10 signified for Tibetan people in 2008, was represented in 2010 by the Yushu earthquake of April 14. In an instant, karma forced thousands of lives onto the road of reincarnation. This horrifying volatility should be a warning to all of us who are living.

Khenpo So-Dhargyal, who at the time led many nuns and monks to the disaster area rescuing many victims, later wrote in an article titled “Turning Disaster Into A Miracle”: “Those who understand Buddhist volatility of life and entertain the correct attitude towards life, are able to take things calmly even when confronted with a life-and-death situation. The calm and aloof attitude with which the people from Yushu, who understand the idea and foundation of Buddhism, faced death and disaster, greatly astonished media and people from all over the world.” These words are a reflection upon the disaster, a cultural and religious reflection that is poles apart from those who have no religion or culture at all.

Because of Buddhist wisdom, human beings helping and rescuing each other was not something that only occurred during the disaster but also during the slow recovery process. Not long ago, when I was back in Lhasa, a friend started talking about September when she and her father, a retired Lhasa aristocratic cadre over 70 years old, with 30,000 Yuan saved up in their pockets, took the train to Xining and then a bus to Yushu. When they went one-by-one  to temporary rescue tents, they found 60 poverty-stricken families and personally handed each of them 500 Yuan. Of course, 500 Yuan is but a drop in the ocean but it nevertheless conveys the merciful spirit of never giving up and never forgetting.

I would like to write about an indomitable woman: her name is Dolkar and her hometown happens to be the earthquake-ridden area of Yushu – she did not only lose many relatives in this great natural disaster, but was also hit by man-made disasters. In summer this year, her husband Karma Samdrup was wrongly arrested; a protector of minority cultures, an environmentalist and elite businessman and philanthropist was sentenced to a long prison sentence by this country’s evil justice system. Before her husband was arrested, Dolkar was merely an ordinary mother raising two daughters but afterwards, she rushed to many places, went to Beijing in search of a lawyer, went to Xinjiang again and again to redress the injustice on her husband. She started a blog, gave many interviews and bravely revealed the unknown truth.

However, all those plotting and scheming vicious gangsters of course do not want these things to be made public. After only one month, Dolkar’s blogs were shut down one-by-one but she persisted and started her fifth blog where she quietly wrote: “I grew up in the nomadic regions and learned much from the laws of nature and understood little from the world of man. But I thought reason was always the same: the happiness of others will become one’s own happiness, and the fear of others will become one’s own fear. This is a wife thinking of her husband. This is a wounded soul frustrated by an injustice. 15 years. Injustice and torture is amplified by 15 years on a good man’s head. How can I ever be made silent again? How can I be made as though none of this ever happened?”

At the same time, it was her faith that gave Dolkar her strength; she wrote in a blog post calling her husband to come home: “…in this world, fortune and misfortune depend on each other, no one knows what tomorrow will bring; starting with evil intentions will sooner or later lead to the disintegration of everything; persisting in goodness, on the other hand, means experiencing difficulties, which in itself is the art of Buddhist or Taoist practice.”

Disasters are admittedly terrifying, but faith can turn disaster into a miracle. The following short account by Khenpo So-Dhargyal is heartwarming: “The sun has just set in the west, the city of Yushu after suffering devastating loss and casualties is not a city that weeps; all people are bathing in the magnificent light of the quietly setting sun. On Gesar Square, monks have erected a tent to pray for those who have become victims of the disaster. Its centre is filled with eternally lit butter lamps; a hoary voice continually chants the ceremonial scriptures for the souls of the deceased. Those passing by prostrate again and again and pause for a while to chant. At night time, those sleeping in the streets take prayer beads and prayer wheels and the sounds of chanting echo through the night sky. The subtle rhythm of the humming is replacing the bustling noises of the day; it is like declaring war with Yama, the lord of death, it is like a race with the devil. The Buddhist cries whisk the dirt off all living creatures and recall the treasures of Buddha that are deeply buried in the hearts of the living, faith beyond words is passing through the hearts of the people.”

Beijing, December 19, 2010

"Those Eternally Lit Butter Lamps…" 

By Woeser



High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on December 19, 2010 and posted on her blog on December 29, 2010.

In the blogpost, Woeser reflects on the past year and focuses on the earthquake in Tibet of April 2010 and on Dolkar, wife of imprisoned Tibetan environmentalist Karma Samdrup.







The year 2010 is drawing to an end and the Wooden Rabbit will replace the Iron Tiger according to the Tibetan calendar in over two month's time. So which memories have been particularly engraved in our minds? What the roaring of the Snow Lion on March 10 signified for Tibetan people in 2008, was represented in 2010 by the Yushu earthquake of April 14. In an instant, karma forced thousands of lives onto the road of reincarnation. This horrifying volatility should be a warning to all of us who are living.

Khenpo So-Dhargyal, who at the time led many nuns and monks to the disaster area rescuing many victims, later wrote in an article titled “Turning Disaster Into A Miracle”: “Those who understand Buddhist volatility of life and entertain the correct attitude towards life, are able to take things calmly even when confronted with a life-and-death situation. The calm and aloof attitude with which the people from Yushu, who understand the idea and foundation of Buddhism, faced death and disaster, greatly astonished media and people from all over the world.” These words are a reflection upon the disaster, a cultural and religious reflection that is poles apart from those who have no religion or culture at all.

Because of Buddhist wisdom, human beings helping and rescuing each other was not something that only occurred during the disaster but also during the slow recovery process. Not long ago, when I was back in Lhasa, a friend started talking about September when she and her father, a retired Lhasa aristocratic cadre over 70 years old, with 30,000 Yuan saved up in their pockets, took the train to Xining and then a bus to Yushu. When they went one-by-one  to temporary rescue tents, they found 60 poverty-stricken families and personally handed each of them 500 Yuan. Of course, 500 Yuan is but a drop in the ocean but it nevertheless conveys the merciful spirit of never giving up and never forgetting.

I would like to write about an indomitable woman: her name is Dolkar and her hometown happens to be the earthquake-ridden area of Yushu – she did not only lose many relatives in this great natural disaster, but was also hit by man-made disasters. In summer this year, her husband Karma Samdrup was wrongly arrested; a protector of minority cultures, an environmentalist and elite businessman and philanthropist was sentenced to a long prison sentence by this country’s evil justice system. Before her husband was arrested, Dolkar was merely an ordinary mother raising two daughters but afterwards, she rushed to many places, went to Beijing in search of a lawyer, went to Xinjiang again and again to redress the injustice on her husband. She started a blog, gave many interviews and bravely revealed the unknown truth.

However, all those plotting and scheming vicious gangsters of course do not want these things to be made public. After only one month, Dolkar’s blogs were shut down one-by-one but she persisted and started her fifth blog where she quietly wrote: “I grew up in the nomadic regions and learned much from the laws of nature and understood little from the world of man. But I thought reason was always the same: the happiness of others will become one’s own happiness, and the fear of others will become one’s own fear. This is a wife thinking of her husband. This is a wounded soul frustrated by an injustice. 15 years. Injustice and torture is amplified by 15 years on a good man’s head. How can I ever be made silent again? How can I be made as though none of this ever happened?”

At the same time, it was her faith that gave Dolkar her strength; she wrote in a blog post calling her husband to come home: “…in this world, fortune and misfortune depend on each other, no one knows what tomorrow will bring; starting with evil intentions will sooner or later lead to the disintegration of everything; persisting in goodness, on the other hand, means experiencing difficulties, which in itself is the art of Buddhist or Taoist practice.”

Disasters are admittedly terrifying, but faith can turn disaster into a miracle. The following short account by Khenpo So-Dhargyal is heartwarming: “The sun has just set in the west, the city of Yushu after suffering devastating loss and casualties is not a city that weeps; all people are bathing in the magnificent light of the quietly setting sun. On Gesar Square, monks have erected a tent to pray for those who have become victims of the disaster. Its centre is filled with eternally lit butter lamps; a hoary voice continually chants the ceremonial scriptures for the souls of the deceased. Those passing by prostrate again and again and pause for a while to chant. At night time, those sleeping in the streets take prayer beads and prayer wheels and the sounds of chanting echo through the night sky. The subtle rhythm of the humming is replacing the bustling noises of the day; it is like declaring war with Yama, the lord of death, it is like a race with the devil. The Buddhist cries whisk the dirt off all living creatures and recall the treasures of Buddha that are deeply buried in the hearts of the living, faith beyond words is passing through the hearts of the people.”

Beijing, December 19, 2010

Tibetans Write A Letter to the State To Air Grievances

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated an anonymous letter that appeared on a Tibetan blog on October 19, 2010, this was the time when Tibetan language protests were taking place in Amdo.

The letter was posted onto this blog on TibetCul but had already been removed just two days later. The blogpost does not provide any details or commentary on the 10 points contained in the letter. The blogger has just made a note that he copied the posting from somewhere else on the internet.

Writing letters or petitions to the central government is not an uncommon way to air grievances in the People's Republic of China today and it is a method of appeal that Tibetans have used consistently over the past few decades. Perhaps the most well-known examples would be the tenth Panchen Lama's secret 70,000 character petition written to Mao Zedong in 1962 and Baba Phuntsok Wangyal's series of letters to Hu Jintao.

However, ordinary citizens have also been delivering petitions to the authorities, memorably last year in December 2009, it came to light that over 30,000 Tibetans had signed a petition in defence of imprisoned Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.


*Update* Thanks to a reader with an astonishingly good memory, it has been pointed out that this letter first appeared on a TibetCul blog in April 2008 and was featured on China Digital Times. Do check the CDT link for interesting comments that also appeared on the blog in response to the post. The blog that it appeared on now seems to be completely devoid of content: http://tibetanwishes.tibetcul.com/ It is interesting that the post suddenly reappeared at a relevant time when Tibetan language was very much on the minds of Tibetans... and it's also worth noting that this time it lasted less than 48 hours online. 




I think that as long as you are Tibetan, this will evoke your heartfelt sympathy…

1. We hope that a standard Tibetan will be agreed upon (86% of Tibetans believe that the Lhasa dialect should become standard Tibetan). In order to solve the problems of Tibetans coming from different regions communicating with each other, it is extremely important to agree on a standard Tibetan.
   
   
2. We hope that the state recognises education diplomas issued by Tibetan monasteries. Monastery education has a long history in Tibet and is guided by a comprehensive education system. Many outstanding Tibetan scholars have graduated from monastery schools. Because the state does not recognise these schools, graduates are unable to find work at private schools or public work units, which results in institutions of higher learning lacking Professors and talented personnel. Doram degrees should be referred to as Bachelor degrees, Tsokram degrees as Master degrees and Lharam as PhDs.
   
   
3. We hope that one standardised education model will be implemented in the entire Tibetan region (apart from Mandarin as a language, all other subjects should be taught in Tibetan). In some areas this has already been achieved and it has presented good results. As a result of language barriers, students have previously been unable to follow the classes. For example: when a teacher uses Tibetan to ask how much 1+1 is, all students would know that it is 2. If he asked the same question in Mandarin, would students know what the teacher was talking about? Some refer to these students as the world’s youngest translators.
   
   
4. We hope that Tibetan folk music, traditional art, Tibetan history and other related subjects would all be incorporated into the music, art, and history curriculum of schools in the 5 Tibetan provinces.
   
   
5. We hope that in places and cities where Tibetans live and congregate, Tibetan schools and universities will be established. For work-related reasons, many Tibetans have to move to and live in the cities. Many of them face problems sending their children to school. They would like their children to learn Tibetan and about Tibetan culture but there are no Tibetan schools. This is true for Xining (Qinghai), Chengdu (Sichuan), Lanzhou (Gansu) and Kunming (Yunnan). I only know of one school called “Tibetan Primary School” in Kangding (Sichuan) but it offers hardly any Tibetan classes. We all hope that the state can establish some Tibetan universities in those areas.
   
   
6. We hope that the state will establish Tibetan as the main language used in government institutions in the Tibetan regions. Now, in most government departments, the main language is not Tibetan, but Mandarin. For example, meetings are all conducted in Mandarin and all important documents are written in Chinese.
   
   
7. We hope that the state will promote more Tibetan TV channels. The current most popular channels are the Tibet and Qinghai channels, which both use Tibetan. Yet the problem is that they cannot be received in certain areas, hence, we hope that the state can start up more Tibetan TV channels in Sichuan, Gansu or Yunnan and especially in the Tibet Autonomous Region, where we ordinary people really enjoy watching channels broadcasting specifically Tibetan programs.
   
   
8. We hope that classes about Tibetan culture and history will be offered to Tibetans who are sent to China to study.
   
   
9. We hope that the state will train more Tibetan skilled workers.
   
   
10. We hope that all examinations in Tibet can be taken in Tibetan, for instance for civil servants or those wanting to work for a public institution. Currently, most exams in the Tibetan region are taken in Mandarin. Thus only very few Tibetan students take part, which makes it very difficult for the language of our people to develop and expand.

Tibet on the Google Books N-Gram Viewer

High Peaks Pure Earth has been looking at the newly released Google Books N-Gram Viewer from Google Labs. After reading two blogposts about the Viewer, one related to academic research and one related to food, we thought we'd also give it a try!

Basically the N-Gram Viewer searches through the entire Google Books database and charts the frequency of the word(s) you have entered in the search. You can compare different words and sort your search based on the corpus of books in English, Chinese or several other languages.

The graphed results then show the popularity of the word, making it easy to see trends. So here are the search results for very simple searches:

1) Instances of the word "Tibet" between 1920-2008 in English language search results:




3) Instances of the word "China" between 1920-2008 in English language search results:


Perhaps some High Peaks Pure Earth readers can provide suggestions for more complex searches or comparisons. Similarly, some more tech-literate readers might have some insights about how this all works!

Can Lhasa’s Image Be Formed by “Dressing Up”? By Woeser


High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on December 1, 2010 and posted on her blog on December 14, 2010.

Although written after her return to Beijing, this blogpost is a continuation of her reflections on Lhasa after her trip there. Read Woeser's previous blogpost "Returning to Lhasa to Witness the Current Situation" here.







Photos taken by Woeser, February-April 2010 and October-November 2010.


Over two months ago, Lhasa held a mobilisation meeting about the reconstruction of Lhasa’s famous streets. An official of the Autonomous Region vehemently expressed that the major construction affecting 17 streets in the city centre must be completed by next year.

This so-called “street reconstruction” refers to the ever increasing phenomenon in contemporary China of “dressing up”. In Guangzhou, for example, because of the recent Asian Games, the city underwent comprehensive “dressing up”; society was highly critical of this as the funny images on the internet making fun of the Guangzhou Asian Games reveal: “windows were merely painted on and balconies were just soap bubbles. The city was ‘dressed up’ with paper”. A few months before, it was Shanghai that was one large construction site because of the Expo. All those living under current Chinese conditions know that regardless of whether it is the Olympics, the Expo, or the Asian Games, it is just a national image construction project. Following the blotting out of sky and earth, there are also always numerous local “political achievement” construction projects and the enthusiasm and warmth of the officials would suddenly run high, glossing over the fact that a large amount of the people's blood, sweat and tears have gone straight into their private pockets.

As for Tibet, the “60th Anniversary of Peaceful liberation” is approaching next year. According to reports, 72 large celebration events are planned in the region; the invested amount of money amounts to as much as 2.526 billion Yuan. In the city of Lhasa alone, 27 celebration events are planned, which includes the process of “dressing up” that has already started. The invested amount of money is 1.094 billion Yuan, an enormous sum.

The “dressing up” process in Lhasa started in 2004 with work carried out on Yuthok Road and Khar Nga Dhong Road. I still remember that one night when I saw a group of Tibetans from the countryside carrying lots of gear on their backs pacing back and forth on the brightly lit Yuthok Street, looking worn out and anxious. Upon my inquiring, I found out that they had just come over from Shigatse on pilgrimage. They had found monasteries but they hadn’t found anywhere to stay. In the past, Lhasa used to be home to many camp sites where pilgrims could stay but in today’s times of modernisation, they cannot sleep in tents anymore, and they can even less sleep in the streets. So they asked where they could find inexpensive accommodation and the cheapest places I could think of were either the guesthouse behind the bus station or the station’s waiting room. So off they went, a group of bewildered looking Tibetans, in the resplendent streetlight, they slowly disappeared into the distance. On the other side of road, there was the government of the Autonomous Region of Tibet.

Don’t think that “dressing up” turns waste into something valuable; the image of Lhasa and Tibet is not created by applying Tibetan “make up”. Just like the famous Tibetan author Derong Tsering Dondrup wrote in an article about tourism and ethnic culture: “Ngari, U-Tsang, Amdo, Kham, as well as the Tibetan countryside and pastoral regions all have their own distinctive architectural styles…yet, we still spend tremendous amounts of money in the quest for urbanisation and modernisation. We even spend much money on dressing up, thus creating a grotesque concoction of ‘other nationalities dressing in Tibetan clothes’. In the near future, the Tibetan regions should rather draw on local materials and employ local craftsmen and designers who have knowledge of our own architecture.”

Ever since the 1950s, starting from the military camp like housing blocks, to the ceramic tiles and blue glass of the “Great Western Development Program”, all the way to the forceful process of “dressing up”, Lhasa’s fengshui has been imperceptibly influenced and irreversibly damaged. And what do these flourishing substitutes proof? Even if they reveal the dazzlingly beautiful “Tibetan characteristics”, one simple look is sufficient to know that it is all fake; just like a person who has grown up eating rice does not need to pretend to eat tsampa, he just doesn’t have that innate quality. You can’t even trick the tourists coming to Lhasa with this, as one traveller said: “this is nothing but dressing up reinforced concrete; it is a bit like those people around Potala Palace Square dressed in Tibetan clothes taking photos with foreign tourists, even if they wore the most authentic Tibetan dress, they would never convey that true graceful spirit.”

Particularly unduly is the fact that after so many years of “dressing up”, the facades facing the streets all look new and shiny, but those facing the back are all dilapidated. In other words, the outside is “dressed up” and looks neat and beautiful, whereas the inside reveals an old appearance of the past with rubbish covering potholed roads. For Lhasa people who are already used to the fact that their own roads will always be “next year’s roads”, the endless talks on television news about “improving living conditions” and “protecting local culture” are not only full of irony but also cause mental grievances. Just like it was put forward in a comment, “this mental grievance is not merely referring to an abstract idea of maintaining cultural traditions, it is much more referring to the disintegration of people’s living environments and real living conditions, which needs to be strongly resisted.”

Beijing, December 1, 2010