YAK HORNS

'Bhuchung D. Sonam articulates the voice of a new generation of Tibetans in exile – voiceless and stateless – longing for a space to call home. He eloquently describes the hopes and aspirations of young Tibetans. He is perhaps one of the very best spokespeople
for the youth of his generation.'
Tsering Shakya, author of Dragon in the Land of Snow


Backcover:
Tibet has been written about, commented on and described by travellers, ‘experts’ and scholars for centuries – each presenting their own version of reality. This title brings together a collection of essays on contemporary Tibetan arts and social issues, expressed through the eyes of a Tibetan writer
in exile who experienced and lived through
many of the events narrated here. 

YAK HORNS
Notes on Contemporary Tibetan Writing, Music, Film and Politics

Monsoon Reading List

Here are six books that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and also made me think, act and frame myself differently. Hope that you will enjoy them during the monsoon as you spend more time indoor hiding from the rain.

TIBET: A History by Sam Vam Schaik, a scholar on  ancient Tibetan history and Buddhism, is a narrative history of Tibet. This is an easy-to-read, balanced and detailed history of Tibet starting from around seventh century to the present.  

Volumes have been written on Mao, but this one by Jonathan Spence, arguably the finest historian on China, is  a balanced book grounded on up-to-date research.

The Joys and Sorrows of Nagtsang Boy is  an epic title about China's occupation of Tibet and its Great Leap Forward, a mammoth failed campaign and their impact on Tibet. Told through the eyes of eight-year-old Nulo, this is arguably the finest first-hand Tibetan testimony that can stand up to any of China's best 'scar literature'.

Ju Kalsang's poetry collection གངས་གྲོང་གི་རླུང་བུ། was published under 21st Century Tibetan Writers Series. This is a gem of a collection with of range his poetry written from 1980s to the present. 

At a time when the line between propaganda and advertisement blurs with both throwing super-saturated photographs before our eyes, we need new dreams, new visions and new concept. Ben Ogri's A Time for New Dreams shows us ways to think afresh and anew boldly.

'No doubt you will ask - / Hold on - but hold on to what?' .... asks Lhasang Tsering in his new collection of poetry. He answers the question for you 'Well, you can hold on to yourself; / You can hold on to your goals and your purpose / You can hold on to what you believe...'

That's all for the moment. If you find interesting titles that you think others should read, please let me know so that I can share them here.

Enjoy monsoon! Enjoy reading!

Last Words of Tamding Thar

These were the last words of Tamding Thar:


''བླ་མ་ཡི་དམ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ།
འཛམ་གླིང་ལ་ཞི་བདེ་ཡོང་བའི་རེ་བ་དང་།
 ༸རྒྱལ་དབང་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་རང་ཡུལ་དུ་ཕེབས་པའི་རེ་འདུན།

བོད་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ཀྱིས་རང་ས་ཟིན་པའི་དོན་དུ་རང་ལུས་མེ་མཆོད་དུ་འབུལ་རྒྱུ་ཡིན།”

'I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

I am setting myself on fire as an offering of light

with hope that His Holiness the Dalai will return to Tibet,

that peace will prevail on earth and that

Tibet will be ruled by Tibetans.'

On 16 June 2012, Tamding Thar, an elderly Tibetan in his 50s, set himself on fire in front of Chinese People's Armed Police office in Chentsa, Amdo, Northeastern Tibet, to protest against China's rule over Tibet. Since 2009 as many as 40 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to demand freedom in Tibet, the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama  and to end communist rule in Tibet.

Lang Dharma told me

"I was his brother, Ralpachen's brother

Born of the same flesh and blood.

He who is one of the Three Great Dharma Kings,

He who followed what the other two believed

He who spread what the other two brought in.

And I, his brother, had a different view.

I believed in what we had,

A set of philosophy born out of our land

A set of tenet as good, if not better.

And I loved my country, oh I did.

I was as human as anyone in our land

I was smart as any of the Dharma Kings

I had no horns poking from my head

I had no tail hanging from behind.

But he killed me with a shot of an arrow

That monk called Lhalung Paldor

Who wore long black robes

Who rode a mighty black stallion

Who came in a flash of light

Who ran away across the river

Who turned white after crossing.

He now adorns your history books.

And I became the infidel, enemy of the dharma,

Misjudged by history as the misfit king.

But I loved my country, oh I did.

I wasn't as bad as your history books say

But that fratricidal maniac monk killed me.

For what?

The history has answered --

One hundred years of chaos

A fragmented nation

The end of the warrior's bloodline.

My dream for tomorrow was erased.

My vision for the future mismanaged.

My name debased to a condescending metaphor.

I watched all these happened from where I am now.

And I am tired of endless blunders

That rape and wreck the people I love.

But I can tell you one thing for sure --

I was the last king of Tibet.

I was killed in 842.

The king is dead.

There are no more kings.

You are all tsampa-eaters of equal standing."

'...the day has come to sacrifice your life'

(This is my translation of the last written words of Pawo Jampel Yeshi, who has sadly passed away from burns at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi.)

  16 March 2012

1

Long Live His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the shining example of world peace. We must strive to ensure return of His Holiness to Tibet. I pray and believe that the Tibetan people in and outside Tibet will be united and sing the Tibetan national anthem in front of the Potala Palace.

2

My fellow Tibetans, when we think about our future happiness and path, we need loyalty. It is the life-soul of a people. It is the spirit to find truth. It is the guide leading to happiness. My fellow Tibetans, if you want equality and happiness as the rest of the world, you must hold onto this word 'LOYALTY' towards your country. Loyalty is the wisdom to know truth from falsehood. You must work hard in all your endeavours, big or small.

3

Freedom is the basis of happiness for all living beings. Without freedom, six million Tibetans are like a butter lamp in the wind, without direction. My fellow Tibetans from Three Provinces, it is clear to us all that if we unitedly put our strength together, there will be result. So, don't be disheartened.

4

What I want to convey here is the concern of the six million Tibetans. At a time when we are making our final move toward our goal – if you have money, it is the time to spend it; if you are educated it is the time to produce results; if you have control over your life, I think the day has come to sacrifice your life. The fact that Tibetan people are setting themselves on fire in this 21st century is to let the world know about their suffering, and to tell the world about the denial of basic human rights. If you have any empathy, stand up for the Tibetan people.

5

We demand freedom to practice our religion and culture. We demand freedom to use our language. We demand the same right as other people living elsewhere in the world. People of the world, stand up for Tibet. Tibet belongs to Tibetans. Victory to Tibet!

signed: Tawu Jampel Yeshi

Have you seen a yak?

གཡག Yak

My name is Tenzin
I am Tibetan
I was born in South India
On a hot July day in 1984
When my mother was still weak from labour –
Our neighbour Mr Malickarjun
Broke a coconut for luck
His wife brought a garland of jasmine.
Mother even now calls me Tenzin Jasmine.

My father, Yeshi Phuntsok, died
Three months after my birth
He was on his way to Ludhiana
To buy sweaters for the winter business -
‘He fell down the shaft between train and platform’
My mother told me years later.
She took a long sigh
‘He was suffering from TB,
He didn’t have to go.
Your father was stubborn as yak hide
He listened to no one,' she said.

My grandfather, Dorjee Gyalpo
Is my favourite person in the world.
He was born in Chu Marlep in Northeastern Tibet –
That wide expanse of grassland
Where the famous Tibetan horses come from.
Grandpa told me about yaks.
How he rode them across the mountain passes

འབྲི། Dri - female counterpart of YAK

How his mother weaved their tents from yak hair
How their mastiffs barked at the menacing wolves.
'A yak can easily take on an elephant,' he said.

My name is Tenzin
I am Tibetan
I have never seen a yak
But I have a pretty good idea
How it looks.
Long rough hair hanging down
Black horns very sharp at the tips
Hooves as tough as cannonballs.
A yak can eat a truckload of grass.

My name is Tenzin
I am Tibetan
I love coconuts
Especially ones that grow in our backyard
My grandfather hates them
‘Its juice looks like donkey's piss,’ he would say.
He loves to eat meat

Once we went to Hot Yak Café
Located in Yalakudam Street.
It claims to serve yak meat thenthuk
And yak-cheese cakes
‘Yak cheese?’
Grandpa wouldn’t stop laughing.
Acha Tsedon, the owner came and asked,
‘Pola, garey nang song?’ Grandpa wiped the tears from his eyes
‘Can I a have a glass of ox milk?’
He burst out laughing again
Buried his face in the menu
Written in English, Tibetan, Kannada
‘Wozi, Pola nyo yin pa da!’ Acha Tsedon said
She stomped back into the kitchen, upset.

My name is Tenzin
I was in Hot Yak Café
With my grandpa who couldn’t stop laughing –
I elbowed him in the stomach
‘Pola, stop laughing
Everyone's staring at us’
Suddenly he posed dead serious
‘I want a plate of yaksha momo’ he said.
When Acha Tsedon served the momo
Grandpa asked her to sit down —
‘Yak is male. Dri is female.
Dri gives milk. You give milk.
I don’t give milk. Neither does a yak.
No yak milk. No yak cheese.
I am old. You are young.
Yak is big. Dri is small.’

My name is Tenzin
I am Tibetan
I have never seen a yak
But I have a pretty good idea
How it looks.

Have you seen a yak?