"On Lies": A Poem by Tibetan Female Blogger Namtso

High Peaks Pure Earth readers may recall a blogpost called "These Kinds of People Should Stay Away From Us!" that was written by a feisty female blogger called Namtso and posted on her blog on November 14, 2010. The blogpost was one of two that made up our piece titled "Fish Speaking Back to Ichthyologists: Two Blogposts on Chinese Tourists in Tibet" that we posted on November 26, 2010.





This poem by Namtso called "On Lies" was posted on her blog on June 17, 2010. Namtso has a unique writing style and her blog is named after the Bhutanese film "Travellers and Magicians".


"On Lies"

The sun is black, the sky is green
The white crow stands on the purple tree branch
And the fox flaps its wings in the heavens

This is not a lie, I saw it with my own eyes, someone says impassionedly.

No, it’s not, it’s not like that
The sun shines brightly overhead and the ocean is reflected deep blue in the sky
The dark crow is black as night and the fox’s red coat is like a flame against the snow

Are your eyes blind? Has your brain gone faulty? someone says dumbfoundedly.

Sick, I’m sick, we’re all sick
Okay, okay, you’re right, you’re right
I was spouting rubbish, I was shooting my mouth off
In the aftermath I’ve learned to keep my trap shut!

Tibet Haunts President Hu in Washington, D.C.

Last week, Chinese President Hu Jintao was confronted by the skeletons in his closet.

Tibetans and their supporters dogged the Chinese leader everywhere he went during his 3-day visit to Washington, D.C. Giant skeleton puppets representing Hu’s failed leadership and decades of repressive policies in Tibet haunted him in the streets of the U.S. capital. 
Watch a video roundup and view photos of the colorful protests.

From implementing martial law in Tibet in 1989 to his ongoing crackdown against pro-Tibet protesters, Hu Jintao has pursued policies that brutalize and marginalize the Tibetan people. Read the press release by Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) and the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) denouncing Hu Jintao’s failed leadership on Tibet and highlighting the Tibetan people’s enduring spirit of resistance.

SFT and TYC also jointly projected pro-Tibet images onto the Chinese embassy in D.C. during Hu’s visit.

On Wednesday, SFT’s Executive Director, Tenzin Dorjee (Tendor), spoke at a coalition rally in front of the White House alongside representatives from the Ugyhur, Taiwanese, Burmese, Chinese democracy and human rights communities. Each speaker echoed the call for long overdue change in Tibet and in China; Beijing must respect universal values of human rights and freedom if China is to be truly accepted as an equal among nations and a leader on the world stage.

Our Pressure is Working! Thanks to the consistent pressure on the Obama administration over the past two years, Tibet was raised as a central issue in the United States’ human rights agenda with China. President Obama pressed his Chinese counterpart to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama and his representatives.

Through our continued efforts, we can ensure that our government leaders collectively stand up to China and press for an end to its illegal occupation of Tibet.

In the coming months, Tibetans and their supporters around the world will take part in what has become an annual Lobby Day for Tibet. On this day we visit our elected representatives, update them on the situation inside Tibet, and ask for their support of the Tibetan people’s nonviolent struggle for freedom.

If you are interested in taking part in the Lobby Day events, please contact: grassroots@studentsforafreetibet.org and we’ll send you more information pertaining to your country.

Support SFT’s hard-hitting actions for Tibetan freedom:
https://secure3.convio.net/sft/site/Donation2?df_id=1345&1345.donation=form1

Tsampa Eaters and Sweet Tea Drinkers: Tibetan Identity Assertion Through Food

High Peaks Pure Earth is thrilled to be taking part in GOOD’s Food for Thinkers - a week-long, distributed, online conversation looking at food writing from as wide and unusual a variety of perspectives as possible taking place between January 18 and January 23, 2011.

Tibet may not exactly be renowned as a home for exotic cuisine but food makes an interesting lens through which to examine Tibetan identity, particularly after the protests of 2008 and the subsequent political and military crackdown. This High Peaks Pure Earth contribution to GOOD’s online festival hopes to provoke discussion about food in terms of identity and resistance.

Here at High Peaks Pure Earth we love good writing, good ideas and good food and readers are encouraged to check out the conversation in full at GOOD.is/food, leave comments and follow the Twitter hashtag #foodforthinkers.




Tibetans’ staple food is tsampa (རྩམ་པ་ rtsam pa), roasted barley flour. It is highly suited to the altitude and harsh climate of the plateau, requires few utensils and is an extremely versatile staple that can be consumed in various ways. The most common way to eat tsampa is to mix it in a bowl with butter and tea and then to hand roll into small balls and then eat.

Tsampa is unique to Tibet and at the core of Tibetan identity. Tsampa represents “Tibetan-ness” in face of threat, as explained by historian Tsering Shakya in his essay “Whither the Tsampa Eaters”. In the essay, Shakya refers to a letter published in 1959 by The Tibetan Mirror - a Tibetan newspaper printed in Kalimpong (India) - at the height of Tibetan resistance to the Chinese invasion that was “symbolically addressed to “all tsampa eaters”. As Shakya points out, “The use of tsampa transcended dialect, sect, gender and regionalism.”

The continuity of Tibetan resistance can also be traced through the persistence of the idea of tsampa as a uniting factor in identity—so, for example, in March 2008 when Tibet rose up in protest against Chinese rule, protesters in Lhasa were calling out to “tsampa eaters” to join them and the following year in eastern Tibet, protesting monks cried out "Rise up, all tsampa-eating Tibetans."

Today, despite the widened variety of food available in Tibet compared to sixty years ago, tsampa is enjoying something of a cultural revival. Whereas several years ago, tsampa was seen to be something eaten only by the elder generation with the younger set in urban areas embracing Chinese style hotpot or spicy dishes from Sichuan province, since the protests and crackdown of 2008 there has been a cultural re-assertion of Tibetan identity taking place. This reinforcing of Tibetan identity is taking place both on and offline and tsampa is back with a vengeance.

In 2010, Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup was sentenced to 15 months in a labour camp for his album “Torture Without Trace”, a collection of songs about the suffering of Tibetan people under Chinese rule with many references to revering and missing the Dalai Lama. The second track of the album is titled “Western Land of Scholars” which is a direct reference to India (more India connections below in “Sweet Tea”). In Tibetan literature, India is referred to as a land of scholars, paying tribute to the great scholars of Buddhism. In the song, Tashi Dhondup sings, “Remembering my brother in exile / I carry a bag of tsampa on my back / And take this road to / The western land of scholars.”

Aside from the political connotations and identity assertion, Tibetans are also appreciating the wholesome and nourishing health properties of tsampa following numerous food scandals in China such as 2008’s poisonous dumplings and melamine tainted milk powder.

In 2008, it was revealed on Tibetan writer Woeser’s blog that stores of tsampa also made a good hiding place for stashing away photos of the Dalai Lama when the military police carried out their raids.

Following the devastating earthquake in Tibet in April 2010, Chinese state media reported on a tsampa donation fervour: “Residents in Lhasa [...] have donated so much tsamba to the quake-stricken Yushu [...] over the past weeks that many stores selling the Tibetan staple food have run out of it.”

The ways in which tsampa can be consumed have evolved considerably: today it is possible, at least in Lhasa, to buy tsampa cookies from the supermarket (photo below), complete with glossy packaging:


(Thank you to Bhuchung D. Sonam of TibetWrites for the translation of the Tashi Dhondup lyrics.)

Sweet Tea House in Lhasa Photo: High Peaks Pure Earth

Even though Tibetans traditionally drink their tea with butter and salt, sweet tea has become a popular drink especially in Lhasa, representing an entire social phenomenon as well as a firm political statement. Sweet tea is an Indian style of drinking tea with plenty of milk and sugar and explicitly links Tibet with India. Sweet tea was introduced to Lhasa by Tibetan Muslims during the 1930s, sweet tea being popular with Muslims because of prohibition against alcohol. Also, the tea houses often had radios where they could listen to the news in Urdu. The Sweet Tea House became a sign of modernity and a link to the outside world as sugar was very much a luxury item imported from India. Those who drank sweet tea were seen as people who had travelled and were cosmopolitan, signifying too that India was the source of modern items and ideas.

After the reform period, the “Sweet Tea House” took on a new meaning in Tibetan in the 1980s. Many sweet tea houses emerged in Lhasa, where young artists, teachers and intellectuals would meet to chat and gossip about the news. The tea houses had a unique system of payment, the owner did not directly sell the tea to the customer but sold it by the kettle or flask to the server, usually young boys and girls from the countryside, who would sell the tea to the customer.

According to art historian Clare Harris in her essay "The Buddha Goes Global" on Tibetan artist, and one of the founders of the 'Sweet Tea House Association', Gonkar Gyatso,

“In this atmosphere Gyatso and some of his artist friends, felt at liberty to establish the ‘Sweet Tea House Art Association’ and began to exhibit their works in the tea houses of the Shol district of Lhasa, where students from Lhasa University and other young Tibetans would congregate. The ‘Sweet Tea’ artists were participants in heated discussions about the future of Tibetan culture and their paintings acted as catalysts in the debate about modernity and Sinicization. Their stated aim was to produce a new type of art which was both specifically Tibetan (rather than Chinese) and explicitly anti-traditionalist in form.”

Years later, when Gonkar Gyatso moved to the UK, he opened a small gallery in East London and called it “The Sweet Tea House”.

More recently, here at High Peaks Pure Earth we have written about how cyberspace has afforded Tibetans new ways to exchange and communicate in a "Virtual Sweet Tea House".

Another cyber use of Sweet Tea is by a popular social networking site used by Tibetans called MyBudala. The screenshot below shows how the feed for status updates is called “Sweet Tea” and the feed for notes is called “Tsampa”!


The example of sweet tea, as well as tsampa, shows how closely Tibetan identity assertion is connected to certain food. This tweet (below) from July 2010 by a young Tibetan demonstrates the role played by sweet tea houses in reinforcing Tibetan identity:

Since Losar (Tibetan New Year) I have developed a good habit, using Tibetan language to say phone numbers, using Tibetan language in the work place where all the staff are Tibetan. Recently, in line with this development I went to eat traditional Lhasa thugpa (noodles), seeing the streets of old Lhasa was a great feeling. Every day I go to "Zezhuo" tea house to eat thugpa and drink sweet tea. I also often eat lephing (Tibetan street snack) and fried potatoes, hehe [...] 

At the same time as writing this article, High Peaks Pure Earth noticed a feature on "How To Make Tibetan Sweet Tea" by China Tibet Online, also published today, such a coincidence!


Since the heightened sense of Tibetan identity following 2008, there has been a refusal to use loan words and to conscientiously use Tibetan terms when speaking Tibetan. In October 2010, protests to save Tibetan language in schools took place all over eastern Tibet and Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, recounts on his personal blog “Yarlung Raging” that Tibetan monks in Zachukha are fining each other 1 Yuan for every Chinese word they use. Tenzin Dorjee says of this small act of resistance, “It appears that this new self-imposed rule is spreading through other parts of Tibet. It's hard to imagine a better way to preserve our language.”

The connection to food here is in a short anecdote that we at High Peaks Pure Earth heard recently from Eastern Tibet, post-2008, about Tibetans going into a road-side restaurant and asking for fangbian mian (方便面, Chinese word for instant noodles). The restaurant owners refused to serve anyone who used Chinese words for the food. However, if you ask for thabde thugpa (སྟབས་བདེ་ཐུག་པ་ Tibetan word for instant noodles), you were served straight away...

"One Year On": Dolkar’s Blogpost Following Her Second Prison Visit

High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Dolkar, wife of Karma Samdrup, that was written and posted on her blog on January 3, 2011. The blogpost was re-posted the same day on Woeser's blog and the introduction below is written by Woeser, who is friends with both Karma Samdrup and Dolkar, see Woeser's earlier blogpost "Remembering the First Time I Met Karma Samdrup".

To read earlier High Peaks Pure Earth translations of blogposts by Dolkar, follow this link: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/search/label/Dolkar%20Tso

Screenshot of Dolkar's Fifth Blog

On January 3, 2010, the businessman, art collector, environmentalist and philanthropist (also referred to as the “King of Heavenly Beads”), Karma Samdrup, was arrested. In June of the same year, he was sentenced to 15 years in jail, serving his prison sentence in Shaya County, Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang. Five other people from different ethnic backgrounds were, one after the other, also put into jail and convicted or put into labour camps for re-education. Karma’s case was a shocking demonstration of injustice but reveals and summarises on a very small level, the real situation of suffering and loss that Tibet experiences in today’s world.

Above: Karma Samdrup

January 3, 2011, One Year On
By Dolkar

Today is the January 3, 2011. I got up really early and left the cold and bleak city of Chengdu to once more return to the bright sunlight of the plateau. This so familiar warmth always makes me remember the lamb-fur-jackets of my childhood, giving off the smell of heat. This is always a time to relax and it feels as if I was still that simple girl from the pasture, believing that apart from the four seasons and the rain and snow replacing the bright sun, nothing ever changes in this world. It was about admiring nature and thus obtaining karmic reward and peace. I had never thought that people would be tirelessly creating a new world of all sorts of conspiracies and plots, which our futures were to be drawn into.

On January 3 last year, my husband suddenly disappeared without a trace. Today, he has been deprived of his freedom already for an entire year. From a tall and burly man he transformed into a thin, grey prisoner. Today, my daughters have not seen their father for an entire year; they have grown and are becoming better at painting and essay writing. With regards to the subject “father”, they have slowly become silent. Today, I have been busy for an entire year, have turned from an ill-informed housewife into an active and rushing-around “prime minister”; I searched for my husband in panic, cried my heart out for the relatives who were killed during the earthquake in my hometown, Yushu, and I shed tears of great misery in the “law court”. I also borrowed money on many occasions and flew back and forth many times – fulfilling the responsibilities as a “prisoner’s wife”, as a mother, as a daughter, and even as a “boss's wife”. I had to tackle a multitude of different things, had to constantly re-motivate myself, finish every single task that emerged, and live out every minute, every second of the day.

Every time I struggle for breath upon this abruptly arisen burden, I always think of my husband; what is my misery compared to his? This honest and straightforward man from Kham, whose natural intelligence and kind-heartedness, and whose simple and down-to-earth ideals have given him a sublime spirit and respect from others, but also repeated abuse and the heavy disaster of this unjust verdict. The sufferings his body have had to endure are still beyond my imagination and I don’t even dare to think about what his simple heart has been going through. Really, what is my misery compared to his!

This was only the second time that I had visited him since the sentence was passed, and this time he had just been moved to a different prison area. His body looked undernourished, he was unshaven and looked grey. He, on the one hand, told me to let everyone know that they shouldn’t worry about him, but on the other hand, he couldn’t help but speak of his bad conditions, I could see it even without him saying it; diabetes, and problems acclimatising to the environment are making him feel like the days drag on like years. During our meeting, we were only allowed to speak in Mandarin and his words would often be stuck in his throat, he couldn’t express himself, and this after he had waited and counted the days for this hard-won opportunity to meet me.

It is the commemoration of the first “anniversary”, but what do I want to commemorate? My husband being arrested; or the many similar but not identical grievances I encountered over the past year; or the growing up of the children; or my true understanding of and yearning for impartiality and freedom?

The little girl from the grassland believed that honesty and respect are the laws of nature that govern human beings, and believed that a pure spirit is the only way for people and the gods to communicate. Today’s me, being confronted with and floating in this “modern” but at the same time helplessly complex provincial capital city, remembers the simple and pure belief of those early days; I remember myself on the grasslands and it seems that I have touched on the true meaning of simplicity.

Yesterday, my older daughter painted a yellow flower in a glass box for her father and wrote next to it that this beautiful flower is her mother; having a gracious colour but living in a lonesome glass world; father, you need to spend more time with her.

"How I Met His Holiness the Dalai Lama Without a Passport" By Woeser



High Peaks Pure Earth has used the translation by Ragged Banner of Woeser's poem "On the Road" that appeared in the volume "Tibet's True Heart" and that she quotes in her article below, it is a poem that she wrote in Lhasa in May 1995. Follow this link to read the whole poem: http://raggedbanner.com/pOTR.html






Seven years ago, in my essay collection “Notes on Tibet”, I wrote this about a group photo showing a father with his son quietly making their way from Lhasa to Dharamsala: “he who conveys an air of humility and modesty on both sides but embraces the centre, is the most illustrious of all devout Tibetan people, the most affectionate, eager person - the Dalai Lama.” Because of this sentence and because of a few articles that touch on the truth, the local authorities labelled my work as “containing severe political errors”, "praising the 14th Dalai Lama and 17th Karmapa, and promoting serious political and religious opinions are wrong. Some essays already to some extent contain political errors." After this, I was removed from my public position, this is when I left Lhasa.

Even earlier than that, already 16 years ago, I composed a poem implicitly conveying: “On the road, I clutch a flower not of this world, Hurrying before it dies, searching in all directions, That I may present it to an old man in a deep red robe. A wish−fulfilling jewel, A wisp of a smile: These bind the generations tight." Later on, I turned this poem into lyrics, openly saying that “old man in a deep red robe”, “is our Yeshe Norbu, our Kundun, our Gongsachog, our Gyalwa Rinpoche …” all of which are Tibetan terms of respect for the Dalai Lama.

Just like so many Tibetans, hoping to be able to see His Holiness, to respectfully listen to his teachings, to be granted an audience, this has also been my innermost wish; from a very young age, I have always longed for this moment to come true. But, I cannot get a passport, just like many other Tibetans, it is almost unthinkable that this regime that controls us will ever grant us a passport, which should, in actual fact, be a fundamental right that every citizen enjoys. Last year, Lhasa gave out passports to anyone above 60 years of age, albeit only for the period of one week. As a result the office in charge of passports was full of the grey-haired, limping elderly; and it was clear that they were all heading for the foothills of the Himalayas to visit relatives, pay homage to the holy land of Buddhism, as well as to fulfil that dream that no one speaks of but everyone knows. I am sorrowfully thinking that I may have to wait until I am 60 years old until I get hold of a passport.

However, the internet gave my passport-less self a pass to travel; in the New Year, it helped me to make my dream come true – through the internet I met, as if in a dream but still very vivid and real, His Holiness the Dalai Lama!

It all started with a video conversation in cyberspace. On January 4, 2011, His Holiness was in Dharamsala engaging in a video conversation with the two human rights lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong as well as the writer Wang Lixiong. And I, I was standing behind Wang Lixiong, attentively listening to every word that was spoken. When the Dalai Lama appeared on screen, I could hardly believe it, tears started streaming down my face. This miracle facilitated by the technological revolution, making it possible to overcome geographical distances and man-made barriers and building a bridge that enables the Dalai Lama to speak with Chinese intellectuals, is unquestionably of tremendous magnitude. I heard His Holiness saying to the three Han Chinese intellectuals: “it’s just as if we were together, we only can’t smell each other's breath”. At the end of the 70-minute long conversation, His Holiness asked in a concerned voice: “Can you see me clearly?” When all three of them said that they could, he light-heartedly pointed at his eyebrows and laughed: “so, did you also see my grey eyebrows?”

I cried and I cried. When I, as Tibetans do, prostrated three times, silently reciting some prayers, holding a khata in my hands and kneeling in front of the computer with tear-dimmed eyes, I saw His Holiness reaching out both of his hands as if he was going to take the Khata, as if he was going to give me his blessings. I am unable to describe with words how I felt…I am really such a fortunate person; in Tibet, many people get into trouble simply for owning a photo of the Dalai Lama.

In fact, today, many people from all over China have met with His Holiness and they have not at all lost their freedom, since we are all citizens of this country, Tibetans should also not be punished for having an audience with His Holiness.

Facing the image of me on the screen, the Dalai Lama instructed me in an earnest and tireless way: “Do not give up, keep going, it is of the utmost importance that Han Chinese intellectuals and we Tibetans always tell each other about the real situation, that we communicate with and understand each other; you have to internalise this. Over the past 60 years, the courage and faith of those of us Tibetans living in Tibet has been as strong as a rock. The international community is paying close attention to the real situation in Tibet, people from all over the world see that there is a truth in Tibet, Chinese intellectuals are increasingly aware of this, looking at it from a broad perspective, big and powerful China is in the process of transforming. Hence, you must remain confident and work even harder, do you understand?”

By then, I had already calmed down and kept the words spoken by His Holiness in my heart.

Beijing, January 5, 2011

"Sorry": A Tibetan Blogger Remembers Norzin Wangmo

High Peaks Pure Earth has resurrected a blogpost titled "Sorry" by a Tibetan blogger, originally posted in December 2008 on TibetCul, that pays tribute to Norzin Wangmo (Nor ‘dzin dbang mo), a Tibetan woman in her thirties who was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2008 for sending emails and making phone calls abroad.


High Peaks Pure Earth readers will be familiar with Norzin Wangmo's case through the writings of her friend, the singer and intellectual Jamyang Kyi. In November 2008, High Peaks Pure Earth published translations of Jamyang Kyi's heartfelt blogposts that were letters to Norzin Wangmo. In June 2009, Jamyang Kyi wrote her third letter to Norzin Wangmo in which she wrote, "Dear friend, it has been a year and two months since your arrest. There is not a single day that passes by without my missing you." Sadly, that was also the last blogpost by Jamyang Kyi translated into English as the site where her blog was hosted http://www.tibetabc.cn/ was closed down.


It seems that the Tibetan cyberspace is indeed written in ink and not in pencil, just last month High Peaks Pure Earth published a translation of a petition letter to the state originally written by Tibetans in April 2008, was quickly censored but then resurfaced on blogs in October 2010 and was censored again. Another example would be the many blogs of Dolkar Tso whose posts were censored but quickly saved by Woeser and re-posted on her blog. In "The Perils of Dolkar’s blogs", Woeser charts all five of Dolkar's blogs and notes their short lifespans.


The Tibetan blogger has taken an image of Norzin Wangmo and added Tibetan text (see image above). The Tibetan text reads:

A friend I keep in my mind, do not despair. My sweet yoghurt ... in the past months and years, for the warmth of paternal home and brothers who are like flowers, thinking of you residing at Gyakar Durma without regrets. I remember you. Today, my memory of you is heightened.

The Most-Read Postings on High Peaks Pure Earth in 2010

"Bidding farewell to 2010" Image taken from Tibetan poet Gade Tsering's blog

2010 was the second full year of translations and blog postings on High Peaks Pure Earth, thank you all for reading, commenting, supporting, sharing and getting in touch. We are happy to see so many of you not only here but also with us on our Facebook page and Twitter page.

As we posted for the first time last year, here is a quick round-up of our blogposts that were popular over the past year:

1. 2010's most popular post on High Peaks Pure Earth was a music video titled "New Generation" by those cool Amdo rappers Yudrug. This song really struck a chord amongst readers and the video has been viewed almost 4000 times on Vimeo alone not to mention becoming a solid staple at Tibetan gatherings the world over! It is even enjoying a new lease of life as a ringtone.
   
   Here is the video again for an inspirational start to 2011:
   
   
   
   
   
2. As regular readers will know, the most translated and most read Tibetan blogger on High Peaks Pure Earth is Woeser, this general link to her articles is one of the most-clicked links on the site: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/search/label/Woeser
   
   Over 2010, the most read articles by Woeser on High Peaks Pure Earth were either related to human rights cases such as the imprisonment of Tibetan environmentalist Rinchen Samdrup or related to mining in Tibet as in June's "Songtsen Gampo’s Hometown Is About To Be Completely Excavated" and September's "Avatar in Tibet". Also popular was Woeser's blogpost written for Losar (Tibetan New Year) "I Am Tibetan".
   
   
3. Sadly, 2010 was characterised by expressions of grief from netizens due to natural disasters that impacted Tibet. The biggest natural disaster that occurred was the earthquake in Kyegundo, Kham on April 14, 2010. Our initial blogpost where Tibetan netizens expressed their grief and worry for their relatives and loved ones in the region was widely read. The arrest of leading Tibetan intellectual Shogdung in the wake of the earthquake was also one of the most read postings of 2010.
   
   
4. As in 2009, in 2010, Tibetan bloggers were often the first (and at times, only) sources of information about political detentions, imprisonments or activism inside Tibet. The October 2010 protests for the Tibetan language by students became one of the biggest Tibet-related media stories of 2010 and our blogpost carrying photos of a solidarity protest by Tibetan students in Beijing that were being posted and shared on social networking sites attracted a lot of attention.
   
   
5. Finally, 2010 was the year that High Peaks Pure Earth wrote about the surge in online activity related to being Tibetan and Tibetan identity around the time leading up to Losar (Tibetan New Year). Our "I Am Tibetan" blogpost combined images, poetry and translations of 2 videos made by Tibetan netizens.
   

"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