探花直播 of Cambridge - Tibet

How yaks and humans have lived in partnership for centuries

amb206 — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 09:38:09 +0000

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鈥淚t was already looking at me when I saw it. As it started moving down the hill towards me, I was very aware that I was alone, with the others far ahead and out of sight. I started running down the trail, and could hear its bell jangling as it came after me. Ahead was a plank bridge spanning the rushing torrents and boulders below, and I thought: 鈥業f it overtakes me on this, if I go over, that鈥檚 it.鈥� By the time I made it across to the shelter of an overhanging rock, my heart was racing and I was shaking. Like many prominent features in this sacred landscape, the rock was inscribed with a mantra, and indeed the very one I鈥檇 been reciting as I flew across that bridge.鈥�

Few people have found themselves chased by a yak in the course of their academic research 鈥� but that鈥檚 what happened to Dr Riamsara Kuyakanon Knapp while studying for her PhD in Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Geography. She recalls: 鈥淟ooking at the photo I took at the time, I can see that it鈥檚 blurry because I was trembling and gasping to catch my breath. 探花直播yak pursuing me down the trail was a female, or dzomo in the local language, and looks quite amicable in retrospect, but I wasn鈥檛 taking any chances!鈥�

Her encounter with this female yak took place four years ago high in the Bhutan Himalaya. Yaks are powerfully built and not easily intimidated, and females are known to be protective of their young. Kuyakanon Knapp explains: 鈥淚 think she was certainly on the lookout 鈥� I don鈥檛 know why she came after me, perhaps her calf was nearby, somewhere among the herd that was grazing in the rhododendron understory of the ancient evergreen forest. Grazing land in Bhutan, as elsewhere in the Himalaya, isn鈥檛 just grassy pastures but also comprises forest understory.鈥�

Bhutan is famous for being the last Buddhist Himalayan kingdom, and is also renowned as a conservation landscape, due to its abundant forests and wildlife. Kuyakanon Knapp鈥檚 research focuses on understanding this cultural landscape, how people and environment interact to create a specific sense of 鈥減lace鈥� and, in particular, on the relationship between environmental conservation and Buddhist beliefs at multiple sites and scales. On the day of her yak encounter, Kuyakanon Knapp was on a pilgrimage trail, which passes through a remote region where the only inhabitants are monastics and herders who pasture their yaks in the high Himalaya during the summer. During the harsh winters yaks are brought down to 鈥榣ower鈥� altitudes, around 3,500 metres above sea-level.

Yak herding has been part of life in the Himalayas for centuries, and yaks are uniquely adapted to their extreme environments, able to travel through and find forage in thick snow. 探花直播domesticated yak (Bos grunniens or 鈥榞runting ox鈥�) provides most of the resources needed for survival in a tough environment. Its meat is a precious source of protein. Milk from female yaks is drunk raw and churned to make butter and cheese. 探花直播animal鈥檚 wiry outer wool is used to make yarn for weaving into material for tents and blankets and its under-layer of softer fibre used to make clothing that keeps out the bitter winter cold.

Nothing produced by the yak is wasted. In Tibet, coracles for ferrying across the wide, rapid rivers were made from yak hide 鈥� a material that is both light and strong 鈥� stretched over a flexible willow frame. Dried yak dung fuels the portable stoves used for cooking. Last but not least, the sturdy yak is used for traction and transport over terrain far too rough for a vehicle.

Kuyakanon Knapp says: 鈥� 探花直播yak is an integral part of high-altitude livelihoods, particularly in Bhutan, but also throughout the Himalayas, Tibet and Central Asia. They are a much prized and beloved livestock, and yak-rearing knowledge is something people are proud of. In addition to the animals鈥� practical place in community livelihoods, yaks have a place in legends, songs and festivals. Deities are supplicated and propitiated so that they will safeguard the welfare of herds.鈥� 探花直播semi-nomadic Brokpa people of eastern Bhutan have a very special yak cham or 鈥榶ak dance鈥�, and the high-altitude village of Ura in central Bhutan has both the yak lha propitiation ceremony, and yak choe annual festival. Researcher Dr Karma Phuntsho (formerly at Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Social Anthropology) has written evocatively about how globalisation manifests in the changing practices of a village festival.

Yak herders know their environment intimately, and this knowledge is culturally encoded, as seminal studies by Bhutanese scholars, such as Dasho Karma Ura of the Centre for Bhutan Studies in Thimphu, have shown. Building on this, conservation efforts by the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Bhutan Foundation and WWF have enlisted the help of herders to camera-trap the elusive snow leopard in order to better understand the ecology of this endangered species. 探花直播award-winning film 探花直播Yak Herder鈥檚 Son documents the friendship between a national park ranger and a young yak herder, asking the vital question of how all those who share the land 鈥� livestock, predator, herder, ranger 鈥� can live together in harmony.

For centuries, Bhutan, a Buddhist Himalayan kingdom, was effectively 鈥榗losed鈥� to visitors and even today visas are hard to obtain. 鈥淎s a researcher seeking permission to visit or work in Bhutan, you are likely to go through a rigorous application process. It鈥檚 very important to respect national and cultural sensibilities. Accountability and collaboration are essential, as they should be everywhere, but unfortunately this isn鈥檛 always the case. Especially in western or Euro-centric knowledge production, there is a real history of colonial extraction and appropriation that we need to be aware of and resist, as it still exists,鈥� says Kuyakanon Knapp.

Westernised urbanites tend to romanticise life in stunningly beautiful and remote areas 鈥� and to lament the passing of traditional ways of life - but the reality of making ends meet for the average herder or farmer is far from idyllic. Like everyone else, Bhutanese farmers and villagers want to enjoy some of life鈥檚 comforts and for their children to attend school and have more choices.聽鈥淔amilies want to have electricity in their homes, to cook rice and watch television, to have serviceable roads and cars for accessing markets and healthcare,鈥� says Kuyakanon Knapp.

鈥淒espite these shifts, the role of religion and religious devotion in daily life remain great, and this is what drew me to working in Bhutan, to understand a way of modernising without severing culture and tradition. It is deeply impressive to see that, on a fundamental level, most people in the countryside still value spiritual well-being above material well-being. 探花直播state is trying to ensure that this need not be a mutually exclusive choice through the Gross National Happiness (GNH) developmental framework.鈥�

探花直播Himalayas have long been a magnet for western travellers, who have included mountaineers, naturalists and collectors. Cambridge鈥檚 Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) holds an exceptional collection of photographs taken by Frederick and Margaret Williamson, who took advantage of a colonial posting in Sikkim to travel extensively in the region during the 1930s. 探花直播adjacent Haddon Library for archaeology and anthropology has a collection of some 62,000 publications gathered over nearly 90 years, including rare books relating to the Himalayas.

鈥淚鈥檒l not forget the time I went into the Haddon and first picked up Nari Rustomji鈥檚 Bhutan Venture: A Guest at the Royal Court, documenting his trip to Bhutan in the 1955. He was, in his own words, 鈥榯he first Indian after independence鈥� to visit Bhutan, which 鈥榳as then regarded, like Tibet, as the forbidden land鈥�. Written in ink on the fly leaf was that this book was a gift to the Haddon Library from the author, via the managers of the Frederick Williamson Memorial Fund. It was a direct connection to the past, to lived experience, and to the thinking and life history of a key historical actor. Rustomji鈥檚 admiration for the Bhutanese, and his travels in Bhutan took me straight back to my fieldwork year,鈥� says Kuyakanon Knapp.

鈥淟ater I went and looked at some of the images in the Williamson Collection, and also read Margaret Williamson鈥檚 book Memoirs of a Political Officer's Wife in Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan which includes a wonderful description of travelling on the back of a pony and then a yak in the 1930s.鈥�

In recollections published in 1987, Williamson paints a vivid picture of the journey she undertook with her husband. 鈥淗aving passed a moraine and the Tsogyu lake, we exchanged our ponies for sure-footed yaks, which were better-suited to high-altitude travelling. Mine was a nice, brown, silken-haired animal. We climbed higher and higher until we reached the foot of the glacier. On the way we passed more lakes and also saw some bharal (wild blue sheep). It was hard going even for yak over the ice, but in two and a half hours we reached the Mon-la Kar Chung pass 鈥� Gigantic crags 鈥� reared up on all sides, with the snow and ice on their knife-edged ridges glistening brilliantly in the crisp morning sunshine. Derrick [Frederick] and I stood there, utterly amazed at the sublime beauty and grandeur of the Himalayas.鈥�

Next聽in the聽Cambridge Animal Alphabet: Z聽is for a transparent animal that provides a surprisingly good model for studying tuberculosis.

Have you missed the series so far? Catch up on Medium聽here.

Inset images: Travelling by yak in the 1930s, Tibet聽(漏MAA聽N.101191.WIL, photograph taken by Frederick Williamson); Ku-Dru (Yak skin boats) in Tibet聽(漏MAA聽N.103814.WIL, photograph by Frederick Williamson); 探花直播yak choe festival in the village of聽Ura (Riamsara Kuyakanon Knapp).

探花直播Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge鈥檚 connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, Y is for Yak: an animal that is an integral part of high-altitude livelihoods throughout the Himalayas, Tibet and Central Asia.

In addition to the animals鈥� practical place in community livelihoods, yaks have a place in legends, songs and festivals

Riamsara Kuyakanon Knapp

漏MAA, N.101188.WIL, photograph by Frederick Williamson

Yaks crossing mountain pass, Tibet - Bhutan

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Where to find a dragon in Cambridge

jeh98 — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 08:00:00 +0000

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Earth, water, air and fire. If you were to pick an element that you most associate with dragons, you would probably choose the last 鈥� fire. And though the jaws of all the dragons to be found lurking in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) are devoid of flames, they do speak to the immense power of the dragon to ignite cultural imagination in all corners of the globe.

From the Anglo-Saxons of Old England, to the lamas of Tibet and the jungles of Borneo, dragons have been carved, stitched and emblazoned on countless artefacts of human creativity and endeavour.

But on closer inspection, a more appropriate element to associate with these mythical reptiles may indeed be water.

Sporting arguably the finest beard in the MAA, this dragon formed the fearsome figurehead of a canoe. On display in the Maudslay gallery, it was found in the Baram River District of Borneo by alumnus of Christ鈥檚 College and influential anthropologist, Dr Alfred Cort Haddon, during his fieldwork expedition to Malaysia and the Torres Strait Islands in 1898.

In the folklore of Borneo, the dragon is a goddess of the underworld. She protects the living, guards over the dead, and is associated with earth, water, thunder and lightning. One particular folktale tells of a dragon that guards a precious jewel on the top of Mount Kinabalu, the highest point of the island.

This fellow, and his mighty fine facial hair, has been temporarily removed for conservation but will be back to take his place in the museum soon.

A few paces across the gallery take you all the way from the coasts of Borneo to the former Kingdom of Derge, high in the Himalayan peaks of Tibet, and takes our watery connection in a slightly different direction. This extremely rare piece of Derge ware is an iron water bottle covered in silver and gold ornamentation and bound with brass. 探花直播hexagonal spout rises from the mouth of a sea monster at the base, and anyone looking closely at the handle will notice that it is in the form of a dragon.

探花直播dragon, or zhug, is a deity in Tibetan mythology. Influenced by the dragons of Chinese and Indian culture, Tibetan dragons are believed to have control over the rainfall and represent water. 探花直播dragon keeping a close eye on this water container was presented to Frederick Williamson, a Cambridge graduate and Political Officer of the British Raj, by the Prime Minister of Tibet in 1933 and deposited in the museum by his wife, Margaret, in 1976.

Stepping further back in time, we find dragons that were traded across the seas by Anglo-Saxons between the 5th聽and 11th聽centuries.

探花直播museum's聽collection of Anglo-Saxon brooches, some聽with dragon-like creatures engraved on the front, were among the first in Britain to have testing carried out on their garnets 鈥� decorative pieces of red gemstone. 探花直播results of this testing have provided evidence that the Anglo-Saxons were trading with India.

Serpentine or dragon-like shapes were common in Anglo-Saxon art as they were easy to work into the interlaced designs that were popular during the period. Beyond just being carved on jewellery and armour, the association between dragons and treasure was particularly strong in Anglo-Saxon writing 鈥� even entering proverbial sayings such as the maxim 鈥渄raca sceal on hl忙we, frod, fr忙twum wlanc鈥澛�(a dragon must be in a mound, old and proud in his ornaments).

Students in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNAC) come face-to-face with dragons in a number of courses, according to Dr Richard Dance. Probably the most famous of these is the dragon that defeats the eponymous hero of Beowulf in the epic poem鈥檚 dramatic finale.

聽

脨a se g忙st ongan 聽聽聽gledum spiwan,

beorht hofu b忙rnan; 聽聽聽bryne-leoma stod

eldum on andan;聽聽聽no 冒忙r aht cwices

la冒 lyft-floga 聽聽聽l忙fan wolde.

W忙s 镁忙s wyrmes wig 聽聽聽wide gesyne,

nearo-fages ni冒聽聽聽nean and feorran,

hu se gu冒-scea冒a 聽聽聽Geata leode

hatode and hynde: 聽聽聽hord eft gesceat,

dryht-sele dyrnne 聽聽聽忙r d忙ges hwile.

(Beowulf 鈥� XXXIII. Project Gutenberg.)

聽

探花直播stranger began then to vomit forth fire,

To burn the great manor; the blaze then glimmered

For anguish to earlmen, not anything living

Was the hateful air-goer willing to leave there.

探花直播war of the worm widely was noticed,

探花直播feud of the foeman afar and anear,

How the enemy injured the earls of the Geatmen,

Harried with hatred: back he hied to the treasure,

To the well-hidden cavern ere the coming of daylight.

(Beowulf 鈥� XXXIII. Project Gutenberg.)

聽

鈥淎 major theme in heroic and epic literature is obtaining treasure and giving it out to the people 鈥� treasure was particularly important in a pre-monetary economy. Dragons, often depicted jealously guarding their hoard, represent the obverse of generosity, like a bad king figure,鈥� says Dance.

鈥�Beowulf is the longest Anglo-Saxon poem that we know of, and it is complex, carefully wrought and evocative. It鈥檚 good poetry as well as being a good poem 鈥� a finely crafted piece of treasure in its own right. A lot of words and the way it arranges its ideas are recognisably poetic compared to Old English prose鈥�.

Dance explains that the words 鈥渄raca鈥� (dragon) and 鈥渨yrm鈥� (serpent, reptile) are used fairly interchangeably in the poem to refer to the hero鈥檚 final foe.

鈥淲hen the dragon appears towards the end of the poem we see that, very early on in written culture, the fantasy fiction idea of a dragon that we have today is already formed. Looking at dragons in modern fiction you can see that our ideas of what a dragon is depend quite closely on the ways they are presented in medieval literature like Beowulf, especially via the works of authors like J. R. R. Tolkien, himself an Anglo-Saxon scholar,鈥� says Dance.

Dr Judy Quinn of ASNAC, who researches Old Norse poetry, says that Scandinavian and Icelandic poems demonstrate how productive a symbol the dragon remained for poets in the medieval period.

鈥淧oets were drawn to the legend of dragons such as F谩fnir and N铆冒h枚ggr found in the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda 鈥� a 13th聽century Icelandic anthology of traditional anonymous verse. 探花直播proverb 鈥榙ragons often rise up on their tails鈥� is recorded in the 12th聽century Icelandic poem M谩lsh谩ttakv忙冒i,鈥� says Quinn. 鈥� 探花直播dreki or dragon most often encountered in medieval Scandinavian poetry is a ship, named for the dragon shape carved out of the prow of Viking-Age war-ships.鈥�

Whether in it, or on it, or providing a useful container for it, the dragons of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology have a long and storied relationship with water. Which is perhaps unsurprising given how the fire-breathing lizards of our imaginations started life in many cultures and mythologies 鈥� as serpents, sea monsters, or river deities.

But to find the most unusual connection between the MAA鈥檚 dragons, we need to turn to an even more essential element 鈥� tea.

Medieval England, between the 16th聽and 18th聽centuries, gives us an exhibit affectionately nicknamed 鈥淒ragon in a cup鈥�. One of the highlights of the MAA鈥檚 permanent Archaeology of Cambridge display, this piece of stained glass depicts St John the Evangelist. At the end of an outstretched arm, St John holds a poisoned chalice 鈥� with a tiny dragon peeping over the rim. It is a fairly common motif for St John to be depicted in this way, bearing an ominous cup of dragon 鈥� although the dragon in question looks far too friendly to be poisoning anybody.

For the next stop on our tea cup quest, we鈥檙e off to Borneo by canoe again to find another intricately carved prow, known to the museum staff as George.

Part-crocodile, part-dragon, George is afflicted by a condition that most tea-lovers will be able to sympathise with 鈥� he聽sees tea cups wherever he goes.

And finally, once more to Tibet and this tea cup decorated with a long, green dragon. Donated to the museum by the Williamsons, this cup is part of a large collection of Tibetan artefacts, including a teaspoon and a folding tea table both decorated with images of dragons.

All that remains is for someone to discover a dragon using a tea cup and the MAA鈥檚 collection will truly be complete.

You can meet all of these dragons, and many more of their friends聽prowling聽the treasures at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 鈥� from Javanese Batik cloth, to Japanese netsuke.

During the summer, children can embark on their own animal adventure and try their hand at finding all of the exhibits in the museum鈥檚 Animal Safari Trail.

Admission to the museum is free and it is open every day except Mondays.

Next in the Cambridge Animal Alphabet: E聽is for an animal that聽takes pride of place among the medieval manuscripts in the Parker Library, and is the subject of vital conservation research in Thailand's 'Golden Triangle'.

Inset images: Figurehead of a canoe, accession number Z 2403 ( 探花直播 of Cambridge);聽Derge iron water bottle, accession number聽D 1976.115 ( 探花直播 of Cambridge); Viking ships (Jos van Wunnik); Circular panel of glass, showing a saint with a dragon in a chalice, accession number Z 16318 ( 探花直播 of Cambridge); Head for front of canoe, accession number聽Z 2698 ( 探花直播 of Cambridge); China tea cup ( 探花直播 of Cambridge).

聽

The聽Cambridge Animal Alphabet series聽celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, D is for Dragon.聽Watch out for聽fire-breathers聽among聽the treasures of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, in Anglo-Saxon proverbs,聽and in fantasy literature from medieval Scandinavia to the present day.

When the dragon appears in Beowulf we see that, very early on in written culture, the fantasy fiction idea of a dragon that we have today is already formed

Richard Dance

探花直播 of Cambridge

Derge iron water bottle. Accession number: D 1976.115.

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Animal, vegetable, mineral: the making of Buddhist texts

amb206 — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 08:00:00 +0000

A yak will provide most of the things humans need to survive: meat and milk, fibre and fuel, traction and transport 鈥� and, last but not least, warmth and companionship. A traditional Tibetan recipe for making a luxurious blue-black paper goes a step further: it lists fresh yak brain, along with soot and a small amount of hide glue. Mixed into a glutinous paste, these ingredients create the glossy surface used to stunning effect in illuminated manuscripts.

Buddha鈥檚 Word: 探花直播Life of Books in Tibet and Beyond, an exhibition at Cambridge 探花直播鈥檚 Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), explores not just the cultural and religious significance of the texts used in Tibetan manuscripts but also the production of these manuscripts 鈥� from the making of paper using locally available plants through to the sourcing of pigments used for writing and painting 鈥� as well as their transmission across mountains and oceans.

探花直播interdisciplinary exhibition is the outcome of a number of AHRC-funded projects that made it possible to explore the vaults of Cambridge libraries and museum, connect literary artifacts to their place of origin, and the living traditions of book making, and in some cases discover the significance of objects that have long been kept hidden in boxes and never put on display before.

Suspended above the entrance to Buddha鈥檚 Word is an oblong book wrapped in bright orange cloth. This is a Buddhist text. 鈥淚ts presence reminds us of the Tibetan pilgrims鈥� practice of walking underneath book shelves in the monasteries they visit to get the blessing from the sacred scriptures,鈥� said Dr Hildegard Diemberger, curator of the exhibition with colleagues Dr Mark Elliott and Dr Michela Clemente.

鈥淚t also reminds us of a story narrated in many Tibetan texts telling of the miraculous arrival of the first Buddhist scriptures.聽 At the dawn of the Buddhist civilisation, a text fell from heaven and was received by a king. Unable to read it, and unsure what to do, he placed it in a casket and worshipped it. 探花直播scripture dispensed its blessings and the king鈥檚 youth and vigour were restored.鈥�

Diemberger went on: 鈥淭ibetan stories and ritual practices highlight the power of the written word and connect the Land of Snow to the wider context of Buddhist civilisations in which books containing the words of the Buddha and of Buddhist masters have travelled widely and shaped the spiritual and material world of many peoples.鈥�

Buddha鈥檚 Word and the accompanying catalogue provide a window into the world-wide scholarship that explores the techniques and technologies developed by Tibetan craftsmen and scholars to illustrate and disseminate the teachings of Buddha. 鈥淚n creating the displays we鈥檙e telling multiple interconnecting stories about the production and dissemination of texts right up to the present day when Buddhists have embraced the opportunities offered by digital media and the internet,鈥� said Diemberger. 鈥淲e鈥檝e also made exciting connections across time and space as we鈥檝e traced objects in Cambridge 探花直播 collections back through their trajectories to their sources.鈥�

A wide range of beautiful exhibits that found their way to Cambridge from various parts of Asia聽over the 19th and early 20th century are on display, including some of the world most ancient extant Buddhist illuminated manuscripts. Together they provide an insight into the variety and beauty of Buddhist literary artifacts, setting Tibetan book culture in its wider context.

For the first time in the UK, the public are also able to see the tools and processes used to create sacred texts that are both spiritually significant and visually stunning. They include examples of the moulds, mallets and stirrers used to make paper, and the printing blocks and cutting tools needed to produce prayer flags as well as pens and pen cases.聽

鈥� 探花直播objects we have taken out of store for the first time include an iron pen case given, along with other items, to MAA by Alexander (Sandy) Wollaston, a doctor on the 1921 British Everest Exhibition, and we can imagine it being used by a local official in Kharta or one of the other valleys north of Mount Everest. Other objects come straight from the living context like the bamboo pen recently donated to the exhibition by a hermit living in the Sherpa area to the south of Mount Everest,鈥� said Diemberger.

探花直播curators have invited experts from throughout the world to contribute their insights into the craftsmanship of manuscript production. Among them is James Canary of Indiana 探花直播, who has travelled extensively in the Himalayan region researching Tibetan book craft. In an article for the catalogue, he focuses on the production of mthing shog manuscripts 鈥� those in which a burnished blue-black surface provides the background to sacred writings.

鈥淭o prepare the black mixture, the craftsman kneaded by hand the brains of a freshly slaughtered yak, sheep or goat combined with the very fine powdered soot and a small amount of cooked glue hide,鈥� explained Canary.

鈥淚f there is too much brain material in the mix the paper will have an oiliness that will resist later writing and can also develop saponification problems, resulting in a white soapy bloom. 探花直播paste is painted on the surface of the paper which is then burnished with a piece of conch shell or a bead to make a lustrous surface for the calligraphy.鈥�

On display in the exhibition is a modern mthing shog manuscript by the late Sonam Norgyal, one of the few artists to have maintained the tradition to the present day. Collected by Canary, its gold lettering on a rich background is a fine example of a technique known to scholars as chrysography.

Wood, birch-bark and palm leaf predated paper as a writing surface in Tibet: palm-leaves, which do not grow in Tibet, have had a long lasting impact on the physical characteristics of Tibetan books; the majority of them is in fact made of narrow long sheets of paper that remind of the ancient palm-leaf manuscripts with which Buddhist teachings travelled from India to Tibet and across Asia. It is thought that the craft of paper-making spread from neighbouring countries at a time when Tibet developed a powerful empire and record keeping became a critical undertaking. Research suggests that from at least the ninth century Tibetans began to collect plants growing locally to make paper.

A number of plants in the Thymelaeaceae family have stems and roots with conductive tissue that is strong and fibrous 鈥� ideal for making string and paper. Several early medical treatises listing plants used for medicinal purposes also mention their suitability for paper making.聽探花直播widespread use of some of these plants, according to reports by British visitors to Tibet, continued right up until the 1920s - and even today a few printing houses and paper-making centres make use of plants gathered locally to make specialist products.

Research by paper specialist Agnieszka Helman-Wazny ( 探花直播 of Arizona) shows that the hand processes of making paper from plant material has changed little over the centuries with each sheet being made separately. Paper pulp is prepared by beating the plant material on a stone with a wooden mallet. 探花直播resulting fibrous mass is mixed with water and poured into a mould. This mould is 鈥榝loated鈥� in water and tipped to and fro until its contents are evenly distributed. 探花直播mould is then removed from water and left to dry.

鈥淔urther processes were often used to make a smooth surface for writing and to produce particular types of paper. Tibetan paper makers often glued several sheets together using a paste of boiled wheat flour or animal-based glue,鈥� said Helman-Wazny. 鈥淭hey were extremely resourceful in their exploitation of materials to make books and used ramie, hemp and mulberry bark as well as stone, metal and rock.鈥�
Tibetan artists and painters used pigments and colourants obtained locally from minerals and plants.

One of the star items in the exhibition are two pages/folios of the 1521 Royal Edition of the Mani bka鈥� 鈥榖um (One hundred thousand proclamations of the Mantra), a treasure given to Cambridge 探花直播 Library by Lt-Col Laurence A Waddell in 1905 following the Younghusband Military Expedition to Tibet.聽 A non-invasive analytical technique called reflectance spectroscopy, carried out by experts at the Fitzwilliam Museum, revealed that the colours seen in the figures it depicts were achieved using a red obtained from cinnabar, blue from azurite, indigo from woad, and yellow from arsenic, a chemical that had the added benefit of protecting manuscripts from insect damage.

Developments continue. Tibetans and the worldwide community of Tibetan scholars have enthusiastically embraced the opportunities offered by digital media and the internet to collate and open up access to manuscripts that lie scattered across the world.聽 Just as past technologies 鈥� such as printing 鈥� provided a means for circulating Buddhist teaching so are digital technologies being increasingly explored and used today. In the words of the well known Tibetan lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche:

I鈥檒l be doing prostrations every morning to this computer.
Thank you so much
You are giving all of us a huge gem,
a jewel and a gem.

Inset images: detail of Mani bka' 'bum (Tibetan 149) (Cambridge 探花直播 Library), example of mthing shog by late Sonam Norgyal (James Canary);聽manufacture of daphne-bark paper in Bhutan (Karma Phuntsho).

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探花直播wide-ranging objects on display at Buddha鈥檚 Word, an exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, show how Tibetan book makers used the resources around them to produce manuscripts conveying the messages of a faith in which texts themselves are sacred objects.聽

In creating the displays we鈥檙e telling multiple interconnecting stories about the production and dissemination of texts right up to the present day when Buddhists have embraced the opportunities offered by digital media and the internet.

Hildegard Diemberger

Maria-Antonia Sironi

Buddhist books are paraded through the valleys and invited to bless the environment

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探花直播Tibetan lama who wrote a world geography

amb206 — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 07:00:00 +0000

Early in the 1800s, a Tibetan lama travelled from Drepung monastery in Lhasa to Beijing.聽探花直播journey of more than 2,000 miles would have taken him around four months. As an important Buddhist leader, he may well have been conveyed most of the way in a sedan chair. On the way, his retinue would have fallen in with travellers from other lands and heard unfamiliar languages. Perhaps this journey wakened the young lama鈥檚 natural curiosity about the world鈥檚 geography and its peoples, their customs and characteristics.

No-one knows why Btsan po no mon han wrote the remarkable Tibetan text, the Dzam gling rgyas bshad (DGRB), which translates as 探花直播Detailed Description of the World. First published in Mongolia in 1830, the book is in several parts, divided by continent and country. 探花直播section that describes Tibet, which comprises less than a quarter of the text, has been translated into European languages and has become one of Tibet鈥檚 most-read classics. 探花直播remainder of the text, however, has not been widely researched in the west.聽

Research by Lobsang Yongdan, a PhD candidate in the Department of Social Anthropology, now sets the entire text of the DGRB into a more deeply informed historical, political, anthropological context. In particular, Yongdan shows through his tracing of the many influences apparent in the book just how widely its author interacted with other thinkers in the intellectual circles of early 19th-century Beijing which was host to missions, trading posts and diplomats from many parts of the world.

鈥淎s a Tibetan, I come from a country that has been a magnet for western anthropologists who are drawn to the integrity and 鈥榦therness鈥� of its culture.聽 I began my academic career as a historian of Tibet but in studying the DGRB within a western framework, I have taken an anthropological approach in order to look at the text from multiple viewpoints in terms of spiritual belief systems and history of science as well as national and cultural identities,鈥� said Yongdan.聽

鈥淚 am myself the 鈥榦therness鈥� because I am that 鈥榥ative鈥� or 鈥榣ocal informant鈥� on whom anthropologists rely to conduct interviews and to obtain information. Returning to the places where I was born, grew up and was educated is not the typical model for conventional anthropological inquiry. However, I considered that by going to back to Tibet and conducting my inquiries at Kumbum monastery, I was carrying out 鈥榓nthropology at home鈥�, an approach that is making an increasingly important contribution.鈥�

Historically, interest in the DGRB has been patchy. From the later 19th century onwards, Europeans focused on the section of the text that deals with Tibet as a useful source of information. Tibetans, on the other hand, were much more intrigued by the sections that describe the world beyond their borders.

Yongdan is uniquely qualified to research the DGRB and its author. He was raised in Dobi in Amdo, north east Tibet. As a boy he joined a monastery and it was there that he first read the DGRB. Fluent in Tibetan, Chinese and English and conversant with the practice and literature of Tibetan Buddhism, Yongdan brings a multi-cultural viewpoint to his study of the text. 鈥淚 first studied Btsan po鈥檚 work as a young Tibetan monk trying to understand the history of my country and how Tibetans studied world geography in earlier times,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e spent the past four years looking in detail at the geographical conceptualisation, the creation of, and responses to the work.鈥�

Only the sketchiest of details are known about Btsan po. He was born in 1789 in U lan mu ru in Amdo. Identified as a fourth reincarnation of third Btsan po no mon han, Ngag dbang 鈥檖hrin las rgya mtsho, he may have entered the Gser khog monastery as young as two. As a child, he would have been taught Buddhist logic, literature and cosmology.聽 From 1808, he studied at Drepung monastery, one of the largest monasteries in Lhasa.聽 He passed away in Beijing 1839, the year that marked the first Opium War between the Manchu and the British.

Around 1814, Btsan po travelled to Beijing to become a spiritual leader to the Qing emperor. During his long residence in Beijing, Btsan po read early Jesuit works of geography and became friendly with members of the Russian orthodox mission in Beijing. He met European scholars and diplomats, scientists and conversed with them on matters of world geography and the events of the day. 探花直播country-by-country descriptions in the book contain evidence of his encounters.

Yongdan reveals that Btsan po embarked on the compilation of a detailed world geography of his own volition, and as a Tibetan intellectual engaged with western knowledge on an equal footing with Europeans and others. In this respect, his research challenges the accepted view of geography - as a rational or scientific way to study lands, their inhabitants, and features of the physical world 鈥� as an exclusively European enterprise shared with the rest of the world.

He said: 鈥淲estern discourse tends to make a sharp distinction between 鈥榬eligious鈥� and 鈥榮cientific鈥� geography. Geography compiled with religious motivations is often regarded as 鈥榗osmography鈥� and depicted as belonging to the super-terrestrial realms, with little or no relationship to the geographical features of the earth. On the other hand, scientific geography is seen as rational and global. Most importantly, scientific geography was developed in Europe where its driving forces were exploration and imperialism.鈥�

For centuries, Tibet was seen as one of the most remote places in the world. 鈥業solated鈥�, 鈥榤ysterious鈥� and 鈥榰nmodernised鈥� became standard descriptions of historical Tibet. Yongdan suggests that this stereotypical picture is misleading and that Tibetans, like their European counterparts, were intensely curious about the world and open to the communication of knowledge on all kinds of topics.

鈥淢y work contests the view that Tibet was a backward place, closed to the rest of the world, prior to the arrival of the British in 1904 and the Chinese in 1950. Independently of European participation, Tibetans were actively involved in translating, studying and writing about European mathematical, cosmological and geographical knowledge in Tibetan,鈥� said Yongdan.聽聽鈥淏tsan po鈥檚 descriptions of countries in Africa, the Middle East and central Asia suggest that these countries were not new to him by virtue of his encounters with Europeans. Rather, he treats at least some of these countries as places that Tibetans had known for centuries.鈥�

Africa appears in the DGRB as the continent of Ba lang spyod, the western continent in Buddhist cosmology. Btsan po writes: 鈥� 探花直播European calls this continent Libby [Liberia?] or Africa. 探花直播continent is triangular in shape and it is huge. Its north extends to the Mediterranean Sea, the southern tip of continent is near the Steel Wall [Antarctica], the east extends to the Indian Ocean, and the west is bordered by sea. It takes eight months to journey from east to west and one year from the tip of the south to the north.鈥�

探花直播rich detail found in the DGRB indicates that its author had read widely in a range of languages. After giving the names of almost 80 European countries and places, he provides a general description of the continent: 鈥淲hile summer is hot and it rains a lot, in the winter there is heavy snow and cold. Because of the four different seasons, the Earth appears in four different colours, white, yellow, black and green. As I hear, there is a variety of grains in this land, and its harvest is better than other places. There is a tree called 鈥渙live鈥� (a li ba) from which the fruit can be eaten and which can be ground for oil.鈥�

Btsan po describes Europe as a fertile land where all kinds of foods and fruits grew, where people lived happily and in prosperity. 鈥� 探花直播kings are friendly to each other, and they send goods to each other, so if there is a shortage of materials in the one country, the other kings send the materials to that country. Men do not marry until they are thirty years old, and women twenty years old, none have the custom of having more than one wife, whether the person is a follower of Jesus, a monk or nun, a king or a minister, and all respect women.鈥�

In the style of the time, Btsan po makes sweeping statements 鈥� especially in his descriptions of people. 鈥淚n general, Chinese people are beautiful and well-shaped. They speak with gentle voices and are polite. Although they act as deep thinkers and honest, in reality, they are accustomed to trickery and cowardice. They have difficulty in trusting other people. If they do trust someone, they are loyal and steady.鈥澛� 探花直播English do not impress him because 鈥溾€� compared to other Europeans, they are ill-mannered people as they like to drink so much鈥�.

More than 20 years have passed since Yongdan first read the text of the DGRB as a teenager in the Kumbum monastery in the north-eastern part of the Tibetan plateau. He recalled: 鈥淥ne night an older monk invited a group of us to supper. During the course of a conversation about Tibet and the world beyond our borders he told us that Tibetans knew about the world before the British and Chinese arrived 鈥� and that Tibetans charted the world like Europeans did in earlier times. We did not believe it as we had already absorbed the universal message that Tibetans knew little about what lay beyond their borders.鈥�

Yongdan鈥檚 trajectory as a Tibetan scholar has taken him first to monasteries in Amdo, where he studied Tibetan languages, Buddhism and philosophy, then to California where he studied political science, and most recently to Cambridge where he has spent the past five years studying for a MPhil and PhD in Social Anthropology.

He said: 鈥淟ike Btsan po, I was raised in the Buddhist tradition and, like him, I left my country to learn more about the world. Throughout my years of studying in the west, Btsan po and his world geography remained at the forefront of my mind. As a Tibetan, I always wanted to know how Tibetans viewed about the Europeans and its cultures in the past. My research into the DGRB has provided me with answers and insights that have changed my views about the history of east鈥搘est encounters, and those between the west and Tibet in particular.鈥�

Inset images: Amdo, Tibet;聽Btsan po鈥檚 residence in Drepung monastery, Lhasa; globe with place names in Tibetan, said to have been made by Rtse sngags ram pa, a monk at Labrang in the 1920s, based on a wall painting in the Hevajra Temple at Labrang monastery; Lobsang Yongdan as a young monk (all images: Lobsang Yongdan).
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A study by Tibetan scholar Lobsang Yongdan revisits a long-ignored section of a historic text to reveal how Tibetans were engaging with western scientific knowledge two centuries ago.聽 His research into a geography of the world, first published by a lama in 1830, challenges stereotypical views of Tibet as an isolated and inward-looking society.聽

My work contests the view that Tibet was a backward place, closed to the rest of the world, prior to the arrival of the British in 1904 and the Chinese in 1950.

Lobsang Yongdan

探花直播Russian State Library, St Petersburg.

探花直播Fourth Btsan po no mon ham. Watercolour portrait by Zakhar Leont鈥檈vsky (1799鈥�1874).

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