Thursday, October 8, 2020

Sinicization of Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhism: Fact or fancy


The recent much hyped news about the transformation of Tibetan Buddhism, namely Tibetan Buddhist Studies, into that of China’s version or adapted into the needs as per the party’s propaganda tools, for its hypochondria of sky-falling paranoia of detecting a more powerful attraction above it and its shallow philosophical grounds, as could be learned from the suppression of Falun Gong movements or sect throughout China, what could be so confidently presented just as a generality is that Tibetan Buddhist Studies (Science of thoughts and emotions to its arrays of knowledge fields including, as the major factors, ontology, epistemology and training of minds) is so much or far above socialistic ideals brimming just along a blurry horizon of just perorating but not of praxis, for being a commoner, self-interested one. We have far sounder evidence related to coherentism, shared knowledge that can be postulated so much by why a Westerner is that interested in our mindfulness training (physical body, feelings, core mind, and the reality), and heuristic approaches for self-liberation first. 


But the sinicization of Tibetans, though being more than farfetched, is an interesting matter, granted that a commoner’s mind can be lured by mundane pleasures or this-life-related, matter-of-fact glitter and glamor, so obtainable, if one could betake oneself to the fray. Then, despite stark impossibility, once formed and molded as a hardy cast as thus, as a run-of-the-mill Chinese now, China could arm herself with the highest altitude dwelling legion of brave herders of warrior instinct. We had been merciless once. Mark it! 


While jotting it down, these odd notes, I happen to get struck with a sudden thought. What, could my late  beloved mother have ever envisioned his only son could be that cranky, staying in an alien land as a guest, trying to convey his deep seated feelings through an extrinsic means of expression? So unfortunately, the first alphabet I learned back then when I was seven was ABCD rather than ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་།, ABCD each displayed on a smooth square wooden card by a Bhutanese English teacher, maybe named Sir Mencha, for us, the snotty village lads on the plank floor, to be identified by pronouncing it aloud. The crude, axe-hewn, weathered dark wooden shingles roofed oblong shack housing some four classes, with a balustraded verandah of wooden balusters raised from the ground level reached by wooden steps on its either end; it stood just at the foot of a scrubbed over hummock, with the strays of bushes at hand’s reach from the back windows: I am ephemerally once there, when she lived.  


What is the origin of your nationality?



For a Tibetan, now, at this dark juncture of our national history, each and everyone of us, above 17, hasn’t such an alternative or privilege to claim oneself as ‘apolitical’, for we’re born an oppressed one, or a political refugee. Then, does it really make sense to place our livelihood in terms of ‘better life’ or ‘standard way of living’ as the top priority? How is it, if we, too, tend to yield to the same thoroughfare like a run-of-the-mill Chinese, namely the money-making-machine way as one’s way of life?  


Friday, October 2, 2020

A comment I posted on a recent post of a Tibetan vlogger



First of all, you have to know, as you may know, the politics behind it, such trolls against Sokpo Takthi here, namely against Sokpo, for their once reign over Tibet, during which the other sectarian groups but Gelug had suffered a lot. And so, with this notion in the form of patriotism, they troll against you, namely, as you said, 'cyber bullying', and so the recent case of Sushant's suicide or murder, for his weakness not being able to stand it and walk ahead. I think for being a vlogger, blogger, given the fact of one making oneself vulnerable on the cyber world for this sense of publicity or any others, one has to be prepared with such strength and insight to be able to deal with such trolls by not caving in to their influences. If you go that weepy from now, they will target you more, keep watch over you to upend your freedom of speech or individual rights. As you are more exposed to the outside world if compared to other Tibetan girls hemmed in within the comfort zone of protection, as you said you work outside of our sphere, then you must know more. There are a lot of dastardly, cheap Tibetans out there, especially on the cyber world. And, especially now, the time for our sikyong and chithue election 2021, there are more such, and, why not, more Chinese cyber mules zeroing in on disrupting our harmony in exile. And, to go back a few years, you may remember well, one of the Kagyu chithue named Tenpa Yarphel had made a series of such attacks on our Religious and Cultural Dept of CTA's honorarium fund for Sokpo monk-students studying in our monastic institutes across India, saying there had not been any good things done by Sokpo in Tibet. And, to sum up, it's, I think, no less of sectarian spite still harbored than a systematic plan of disrupting our harmony by CCP's nexus across the world. You have to be, I think, more assertive, more confident in what you've been doing by creating this vlog, and, especially, to care more about your contents by learning more and reading more. Once you're confidently eclectic, broad-viewed, experienced by exposures, then you will see our sort of divisive cholkha or choelug sentiments, narrow sense of protection by nepotism as still in the process of mutation from barbaric tendency to more inclusive, humane way through learning that such narrowness isn't far from a colossal cul-de-sac ahead in this rapidly changing world more for self-interests than the presented goodness through perorating. I mean we will learn how we're gonna fare if we don't stand united in such treacherous global, political realm.


My post in Tibetan titled Sorry

དགོངས་དག



ནུབ་འདུ་འཛི་འདོད་ཡོན་གྲུ་ག་ཞེས། །འདོད་ཁ་ཚ་དགོས་གཏུགས་འདོད་པ་ཉིད། །དེ་ཐོབ་རུང་རེ་ནས་འདིར་འཕངས་མཐར། །དངོས་ཚོར་སྐྱེན་ད་མེད་འདོད་བཟི་བ། །སྟོན་ལོ་མཇུག་དགུན་གྲང་སྟ་གོན་དུ། །ལྗང་ལོ་མའི་ལང་ཚོ་ཁ་གྱུར་ལས། །ལྷག་ཧྲེང་ཧྲེང་སྒྲེང་བའི་སྡོང་པོ་བཞིན། །ད་ཐོབ་རུང་གིས་ཕོངས་ཡི་དྭགས་བཞིན། །ད་འཁང་ར་བཅོལ་ས་རང་རིགས་ཁུལ། །ཤོང་གནམ་སར་དཀའ་བའི་མུ་ཅོར་ཐལ། །བདེན་དྲིན་ཆེན་ཨ་མའི་བུ་རྒོད་བཞིན། །བདེན་ར་བཟི་འཁོར་ས་ཆང་ཁང་བཞིན། །ཅུང་ཐོབ་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱང་ཚོར་ཆེས་སྐྱེན། །མིག་མིག་ནང་བཅུག་ནས་འབྲེལ་བ་དཀོན། །


ཆ་མི་འཚལ་ཆེས་ཆེ་གཞན་ཅིག་ནི། །འདོད་ཉིང་ཁུ་དགའ་མའི་གྲོག་ཚང་ལས། །ལག་སོན་པ་རང་ལས་ལམ་འཛོལ་ཞིག །ཆ་གང་བལྟས་ཡོད་པ་ཅ་ཅོ་འོ། །འུར་འདོད་ལྷ་ངོ་སྐྱེངས་འཚབ་ལ་སྦྱར། །ད་ནམ་མཁའི་ལྷ་མོ་ཐོབ་སྙམ་འཁྲུལ། །ཅུང་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱ་གྱུའི་འགྱུར་བ་ལས། །རང་ཚུགས་ཀ་བོར་ནས་སྨྱོན་པ་བཞིན། །དལ་རྟེན་བཟང་ཡིན་པ་ཡེ་ནས་བརྗེད། །ད་སྐྱིད་པོ་གཏང་ཞེས་འདོད་སྙིགས་སྤྱོད། །ཨ་ལ་ལ་དེ་ལས་སྐྱོ་བ་གང་། །


ཕྲན་ཁེར་རྐྱང་སྡོད་རུང་མཆོག་པ་ཅི། །གང་སྣང་བ་བདེན་འཛིན་གྱིས་བསླུས་པས། །ཚུལ་མིན་པའི་རྣམ་རྟོག་རླུང་ལྡང་སླ། །དེས་དྲངས་པའི་ཆགས་སྡང་ཁོ་ལོ་པས། །གཞན་ཉོན་མོངས་སྤུ་རིས་གྲུ་ཆེན་སྒྱུར། །འཕུང་རང་གཞན་ལས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་སྐོར། །འཕྱན་ཟོ་ཆུན་འཕྲུལ་འཁོར་བློ་མེད་ལས། །


ད་འདི་ལྟའི་ཕལ་རྗེན་གཏམ་རྒྱུད་ཆེད། །འཚོ་དགོས་ན་ཡིད་ཆད་ངལ་འབྲས་དབེན། །འདི་ཤེས་པའི་མོད་ལ་ཁྱེད་དང་མཇལ། །མཆོག་ལྟ་ཀུན་སྒྲོན་མེ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་དགོངས། །གདའ་ཡིད་དཔྱོད་ཙམ་མོད་ལ་དུ་མཆོག །ད་ཆགས་ས་མེད་སྙམ་ཙ་ན་མུ། །འདྲེ་བདེན་འཛིན་བར་བར་ལྡང་ཡོང་དུས། །སྐབས་རེས་འགར་དེ་ཚུགས་གཡོ་གར་གོ །ད་དེ་ཙམ་ཆོག་ཤེས་ཅི་ནས་འགྲིག །འོ་ད་ནི་ན་ཚོད་ཀྱིས་ཀྱང་འཕྱ། །བདེན་འོན་ཏང་རིག་པ་ནངས་འཆི་རུང་། །སློབ་དགོས་པའི་གཏན་ཚིག་དྲན་ཙམ་གདའ། །ད་ནུབ་ཕྱོགས་ཡུལ་དུ་ཅི་བྱ་འམ། །ད་གར་གནས་དེ་རུ་སྒྲིམ་གལ་སྙམ། །ད་དེ་ལས་གཞན་པའི་ཐབས་ཅིག་བྲལ། །


Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Modern Day and Night



 The paradox under our noses in our waking, hectic days

A jalousied shutter through the interstices of which I thought I could have a glimpse of something, a familiar face, like of my late mother. As we all must have experienced the same phenomenon, the same buoyant lightness yet tiresomely hefty, namely being unable to go to sleep and the wallowing over on to one side to the other associated with it, when as one is on the threshold of betaking oneself to that state of submersion of one’s gross sensory consciousnesses by any wiles, one finds once again before the shattering cul-de-sac, a disturbing tumbling sound like a huge sponge sucking in all the thread of fluid relaxing sense of submersion from its thin point to the gross level, all in vain. And to start over again. 


*


A novel reading one aboard of a train, and his or her sense of being taken interest in what he or she is reading by a neighbor, a stark illiterate one, a philistine, or a reader. One doesn’t care so, the neighbor’s own taste, but one’s being recognized as so or not, as a reader, a civilized one. As I have found on several occasions, such a reader, once found taken interest of, usually raises the book to the other’s notice by revealing the glossy cover with its title and the writer’s name in bold, sometimes in gold, like taken that much care about image.  


*


And one another small event aboard can be of eye-contacting that picks one out of many across an aisle or files of heads yoked to smart phones screens. Not like hurling a peek at the cover of a book with the awareness that the reader may be delighted, such an eye contact has its own frequency of nervous impulses being exchanged and interpreted into a skein of romantic idealisms that can sometimes romp to such a fanciful extent, like taking there being only this passage of transmission, like this being the beginning of a new world, and so on. And for me, when in tryst with a vicarious venture to see and feel as the other, I find such fusses about my own vanity but all innocence of those immobile heads among which the other head and face that steals my interest as someone to be pitied over as well being aware, at the same time, that it can be one among innumerable faces that I can see once in my lifetime. No way to venture to that extent of how the interested one spends his life in the walled, roofed domain on a daily basis, that monotony. 


*


To foot up, the limited energy matters and so the need of enough sleep. No matter how you look or you have such an attention or not, reading does matter and, why not, being self-reliant in a language both its spoken and written form, the only medium that can make you, at the desperate point of your life, be able to live alone forever by delving into yourself to the ultimate nature of everything that we tend to take as there being in its own absolute, inherent way… But such notion tainted with some findings of essentialism there is itself a great hoax, taking that it stands as it presents. No, never. And such notion of ‘certain specific objects prevail’, namely in its absolute entity, by way of sounding off, taken as the boldest of all, nominalism and its rubbish is itself a colossal sign of our instinctive insecurity, we the blind devotees of ‘being so as it presents’, not of the otherwise, the great inverse way--the tandem of not being there as it presents to us but there as our own projections like a dream.  



The familiar reverie at that level of semi-subconsciousness known as when dreaming: a deja-vu


A dream is what it is like we could sometimes happen to internalize ourselves into thinking what we had done yesterday. And so I had, however, a complex dream. It’s still fresh on my mental screen, so tentative, so alluring prompting me to indite it thus: 


Two women came into the scene. They were strangers to me; I couldn’t cull up anything as to supply myself to give some hues to their bodily outlines and clothing. I just saw one handed over something to the other, like a piece of paper or something of some value. I just observed them like with an invisible spirit-body, without any idea about my own bodily existence and its attributes but with an expanse of view before me, while I kept myself bothering with the pestering question what the thing was and while seeing the women were turning blurrier and blurrier. I couldn’t come up with a settling idea. I wanted to rewind the scene, to observe it from the beginning. And so it happened. 


The woman turning her back to me was older in a faded saree, who was the receiver of the thing from the other who was in a kurta with a floral pattern. The latter, with a bright round face, was saying something with some ease and anxiety expressed by the movements of her facial muscles. It was like she was proving herself innocent of the sort. Then, in no time, I was behind the older woman, her buttock in my hands that were running over the curves and dents of it. She didn’t seem to have any feeling, but I had a tactile feeling of coarseness as of her age. And, so out of the blue, the other young woman was in my arms, her back to me. I was fondling all over her front. I could feel the flatness of her stomach and abdomen, when, while running my hand over her genital covered by panties, I found her sort of deaf and dumb. But a friend of mine now in the states, a former monk, happened to be her proxy in communicating to me. He was all for being my instructor. While my genital and hers, now revealed, were on the point of meeting, I could hear his muffled words cautioning me to think well before the penetration. And I woke up.   




Saturday, September 12, 2020

My romance with Indian railways in the time of bullet train and subway metro



Those railside dwellings, simple concrete-plastered brick walls, single or more floored, how many of them I don’t have any idea, or a solitary clay tiles roofed shack at one end of a levee of a crop strip, had been swept by my glances trying to have a peek inside one of them, especially at night when silhouetted against the thicker texture of darkness by faint, yellowish street lamps, when the secrets of interiors could be made out at a glance, not a prurient one, not a prying one but just out of an inexplicable curiosity, how a human kind lives within walls. Steam locomotives to diesel, sometimes intersected by electric ones, shuttle pilgrimage journeys to Bodhgaya from South India and vice-versa; the bobbing movements of a topless man feeding coals into an engine furnace still stands afresh on my mind. Without any idea about a viaduct, aqueduct, Roman engineering back then, I hadn’t searched for such grandiosity and wonders but how minnows appear in a rainwater stream, how carps in a pond fed by a gushing one. And something like what lies beyond the horizon within the range of my ken. 


Thursday, September 10, 2020

You sound someone novel





I am looking for such a stalwart sikyong without any sickening formality but just major points on exigent issues facing us now, we the red-faced ones diaspora on the verge of getting divided through the same notion of narrowness, sense of protection felt thus through the lousy means of nepotism that helps just the stomach for a few days, not the head and the heart and the mind forever through heuristic self-awareness based on education and reason-oriented eclectic hunger for knowledge...