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Guru Rinpoche’s Lake.

-Written by Rinchen Angmo

It’s been more than a year. Last year around March, I made a pilgrimage to Tso Pema, tso meaning lake and pema meaning lotus; I will refer to the holy lake as Tso. Tso Pema is located in Rewalsar, Himachal Pradesh, India. For followers of Vajrayana Buddhism, Tso is a very holy site associated with Guru Rinpoche.

How do I describe the serenity of Tso? There is a sense of blessedness at Tso that escapes description. The jade green lake, the deep green trees and the pilgrims circumambulating around the holy lake, fill the air with a sense of serene jubilation.

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Long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

written by Rinchen Angmo

It is very disturbing to witness how manipulative media houses and ignorant people have the audacity to try defame His Holiness the Dalia Lama who has dedicated every moment of his life for the well being of sentient beings. It is to challenge this audacity that I feel compelled to write this. For too long we have let hegemonic forces spew venom, it’s high time we put an end to contrived narratives that deliberately spread hate. 

Before I proceed I want to put forth some questions: Do you know what enlightenment means? Do you understand Buddhism? Do you understand the practices of Tibetan Buddhism? Do you understand what it means to perceive reality beyond duality? Do you understand what blessings mean? Do you understand the real meaning of compassion? Do you understand Tibetan culture? Do you understand that when one prostrates before statues it symbolizes the offering of body, speech and mind? Do understand the symbolic meaning of offering body, speech and mind? Do you understand the meaning of emptiness? Do you understand what it means to dedicate not just one, but several lifetimes for the well-being of other sentient beings?

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New age Kinnauri weddings

-written by Karma Negi

Marriage is one of the most important institutions of any civilisation. It acts as the base of many societies. Various societies have their own rituals and customs for marriage.

And over time, the rituals and customs have evolved. In the old days, Kinnauri weddings used to happen for 4 days. But due to time constraints and other unknown reasons, marriages have now become just a 2 day event.

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Ladakh, 6th Schedule and The Third Pole: What happens when glaciers melt away?

Written by Rinchen Angmo

The third pole derives its name from the fact that it contains the largest reserve of freshwater after the North and South Pole. The glaciers of the third pole feed some of the major rivers of Asia including Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers (Banskota 64). Can we really not talk about the fate of regions that form the third pole when it is the source of the ‘10 major river systems that provide irrigation, power and drinking water to over 1.9 billion people in Asia – over 24 % of the world’s population’? (thetthirdpole.net). When we see these figures, we must bear in mind that behind each number is an individual life, be it of a human or an animal. The magnitude of suffering that the imminent climate crisis can cause is beyond our imagination.

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Kache community of Tibet

By Sonam Chhomo

Image source: Siddiq Wahid, Tibetan Muslims in Tibet, 2022, accessed via https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/muslims-tradition-01142022181835.html

Tibetan Muslims were known as the Kache community in Tibet wherein Kache is a word derived from Kashmir. Kache community come from Kashmiri or Turkic descent through patrilineal lineage. They married Tibetan women when they settled in Tibet which later formed the genesis of intercultural religiosity of the Kache community. According to David Atwill, in the pre-twentieth century context of Tibet, Kache in Tibetan could simply refer to those who practiced Islam without a necessary ethnic affliliation.

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A layman’s reflections on ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ by Shantideva. 

by Rinchen Angmo

Having had the good fortune to receive His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s teachings on ‘A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ by Shantideva at Jiwestal (in Ladakh) amidst thousands of other devotees, I set out to read the book myself. I was stunned by the poetic beauty and simplicity of the teachings in the book by Shantideva.

One is not supposed to teach Dharma unless one has reached a certain level; so this article is in no way an instruction, but a mere layman’s appreciation of the book written by a great Buddhist master. 

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The History of Bodyig (Tibetan script) and its current state in different regions.

Written by Rinchen Angmo.

The Bodyig script was created owing to the vision and foresight of one of the greatest Tibetan Kings, Chogyal Songsten Gampo, the 7th century ruler of Tibet. The King realized that the advancing kingdom of Tibet would soon require its own script. Chogyal Songsten Gampo sent his intelligent minister Thonmi Sambhota to India with fifteen other young Tibetans so that they could learn Indian languages whereby they could develop a script for Tibet. On Thonmi Sambhota’s return from India, the Tibetan script was finalized.

Bodyig also known in some regions as Bodhik or Bhoti, is the script that became indigenous to Tibet, Ladakh, Lahaul (sTod valley), Spiti, Bhutan (Dzongkha), Baltistan, Sikkim (for Bhutias) and other regions. However, the usage of the script is slowly waning in many regions.

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Shey Shrubh Lha.

-Written by Rinchen.

My Abile(granny) said that today is Shey Shrubhlha: the day on which Shey’s protector deity Dorje Chenmo enters a human being in order to give advice to the village of Shey. The day of Shrubh lha also marks the beginning of harvest.  I’m not exactly sure how this spans out these days and all that I know about how it spanned out back in my granny’s youth is stemming from bits of memories that my granny still holds. For those who don’t know, Shey, now a village, was once the summer capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh.

My granny said two of the things she remembers from this occasion is that on this day Dorje Chenmo using a human being as a medium visits the Shey Lonpo House ( one of the foremost erstwhile ministerial families in Ladakh during the King’s reign) and a traditional dance is held on the lawn before the Lha-khang (abode of the lha (deity), in this case Dorje Chenmo). Ofcourse, other important events also take place on this occasion, but these are the two which my grandmother recalls from personal experience.

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A beautifully surreal month.

Written by Rinchen.

I would like to begin by thanking His Holiness The Dalai Lama for blessing and bringing so much joy to all the people of Ladakh. Chhaksal.

Each day of His Holiness’s presence in Ladakh has been filled with beauty and wonder for each and every Ladakhi in so many different ways. His Holiness’s interfaith visits, secular teachings, religious teachings, visits to Zanskar and Lingshed, and the various functions that were hosted in his honour, brought blessings upon and joy to a countless number of beings who had the sode and sonam (luck and merit) to be in His Holiness’s presence. We Ladakhis are truly honoured to have had His Holiness visit Ladakh as his first destination since the pandemic broke out.

We will miss all the beautiful moments that His Holiness’s visit brought and now look forward to His Holiness’s visit next year.

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Tales of Zanskar

How is Zanskar seen from different perspectives- students who left their land for better education, families who migrated from Zanskar a long time ago, and a film that captures a remote Himalayan village?

—-Written by Sonam Chhomo Photographs sent by Anushka Kashyap Film pic taken from Lonely Planet

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#BOG – bring on the bog.

-written by Rinchen.

Glistening  heads and backs walking through lush green fields set against brown and blue mountains.

Perhaps the aforementioned line is rather romanticized, yet it cannot be denied that Alchi women donning their entire traditional attire adds a sort of enigma to Alchi’s blessed land.

Alchi is a hamlet in the Sham region of Ladakh. Blessed by the Alchi Choskor, ( which is the oldest surviving monastery in Ladakh) the hamlet is mesmerising to say the least. 

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Young and weathering years.

-Rinchen.

Considering Ladakh’s small population, one hears of suicide all too often; specially amidst the youth. Yet, it’s never talked about. These days, there is no solid support structure for the youth. The ‘elders’ who should be guiding the youth are either themselves misguided or are too busy.

In my opinion, one’s solid as well as individually understood source of support, in this day and age, understanding one’s mind. One way to that is through spirituality.

I’m not certain about other places, but surely Ladakh’s Buddhist youth is slowly getting disconnected from its religion: Tibetan-Buddhism. Factors are aplenty: apathy; ‘too cool for spirituality’; ‘too “rational” for spirituality; not been properly introduced to the tenets of the religion; too busy; lack of guidance. The youth today fails to understand that notions of success and coolness cannot take one far; without a firm understanding of the mind we are essentially just drifting through life. On the other side of the coin, the elderly are either unable to effectively share their knowledge, are ‘too cool’ themselves or are ignorant.

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