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January 13, 2008
The People in My Neighborhood
After a week spent teaching English to Tibetan kiddies and generally increasing the pungency of my body odor, I've managed to make it to a town large enough to offer Internet access and a hot shower. I'm writing from Dahejia in Gansu Province (click for a centered Google Map), a truck stop along the Yellow River just over the border from Qinghai. It's about 60 kilometeres southeast of Jinyuan Township (aka Szer Dzong) where I've been transmiting the ancient wisdom of the USA to the locals whilst freezing my ass and fingertips off.
I thought it would be best to convey the atmosphere in Szer Dzong by posting a few photos I snapped this past week. It was a good week for photography, as our (there are four foreign teachers) first full day in the town coincided with a Bon religious festival. As luck would have it, a Bon temple is located just 10 minutes up a hill from our school in a nearby village:
Are there any religion experts out there who can tell me what the name of this festival is? All I can tell you is that it took place on January 7th and that the ceremony involved lots of dancing deities, the mutilation of a small representative demon, and the blessing of the village's young children through the blowing of long horns.
That's all for this week. More updates when I can.
posted January 13, 2008 at 07:00 AM unofficial Xinjiang time | HaoHao This!
Comments
The only thing that I could find for January on the Buddhist Calendar is this:
* 1/5: Mindfulness Day--Zen Buddhist day for being mindful of the peace, joy, and beauty of the moment.
* 1/8: Shakyamuni Buddha Day--Day Tibetan Buddhists meditate on the Buddha's teachings and strive to fulfill the Precepts. [a/k/a Siddhartha Buddha Day, 30th Tibetan day, UT New Moon day]
* 1/16: Day for meditation on Tantric Buddha Deities Amitayus and White Tara, who grant good health and long life. Buddhists study sacred texts, meditate, pray, chant mantras, and make devotional offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. [a/k/a Medicine Buddha Day, Tara Puja, 8th Tibetan day]
* 1/22: Amitabha Buddha Day--Day Tibetan and Mahayana Buddhists do good deeds and chant the name of Buddha God Amitabha/Omito/Amida to gain entry to His Pure Land and aid in attaining nirvana. [15th Tibetan day, UT Full Moon day]
Posted by: 王 甜 at January 13, 2008 06:53 PM
Bon is shaman religion, so it is not in Buddhist calendar. In the old time, the Buddhist festival in Lhasa would involve killing Bonpas.
Posted by: sha at January 14, 2008 11:04 AM
Wow - another religion I never new existed.
Posted by: Norm at January 17, 2008 07:07 AM
The name of this dance is the same in Buddhism as it is for Bon - 'CHam. In Rebgong, which is not very far from Hualong, the ceremony is called CHos THog Chen Mo. It is held twice a year, once to celebrate the birth of a famous figure in Bon history (SHes Rab rGyal mTSHan), and once to commemorate the death of another famous figure in Bon history (Zla Ba rGyal mTSHam).
I am an English teacher in Xining (Qinghai) and this information comes from one of my students, who wrote about Bon religious dance in Rebgong for her graduation paper.
Posted by: Gerald at January 18, 2008 09:40 PM
@Gerald: thanx for the most helpful information!
Posted by: michael at January 19, 2008 09:03 PM
Amazing photos. I love those bright colours. -a Chinese student in Edinburgh.
Posted by: Xiaobai at January 20, 2008 01:55 AM
Beautiful pictures and lively people, unlike the drab, huddled masses of badirty Mordor/China.
Posted by: nanheyangrouchuan at January 29, 2008 01:22 PM
Those pics are excellent! Do you use an SLR or point and shoot? Or was it more a matter of that Tibetan sun providing great light? The colors are great!
Posted by: Ben Ross at February 3, 2008 07:11 AM
I use a point and shoot, but I'd really like to invest in (or receive from an anonymous rich benefactor) a much better camera. As for the colors, they're a combination of the colorful clothing Tibetan people wear, great light, and my affinity for shooting in "Vivid" mode... followed by turning up the saturation and then maybe bumping it up again some more. Psychedelic, man!
Posted by: michael at February 3, 2008 08:58 AM
Hey ! Very good......
From this afternoon I have been surfing your website.
Wonderful.....Appreciate your efforts to blog unknown informations.
Do you still live in China....
Best Rgds,
Dave
Posted by: R. Dave at February 24, 2008 05:09 PM
The Bon religion is the ancient religion of Tibet & is still very much in practice in modern Tibet & among Tibetan exiles, although over 90% of Tibetans are Buddhist. Actually, many Tibetan Buddhist incoporated & reinvented Bon festivals to give them a Buddhist meaning as the country converted to Buddhism over time.
Unlike the Han chauvinist & ignorant comment made by one person, old Buddhist festivals in Tibet did not involve killing Bon practitioners. Bon religion was widely respected by Tibetan Buddhists.
Posted by: Wangchuk at March 7, 2008 01:42 AM
Great stuff Neil, my favorite blog. Thanks for the current introductory piece. Truly Revealing. The Hierarchy of reward for suppression is an astounding historical phenomenon. James.
Posted by: James the First at March 26, 2008 01:32 PM
By the way your comments and commentators names are out of sync. James the First
Posted by: James at March 26, 2008 01:34 PM
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23431962-5000117,00.html
Posted by: James the Second at March 26, 2008 01:56 PM
Some real nasties in Ngaba: Hao, Hao.
Dont those shot-dead tennage monks look great in the streets. If this website is blocked go to students for a free "t??
http://studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=1337
Posted by: James the First at March 26, 2008 02:09 PM
The above links let yu know what is happening in high Sichuan. Not pretty. Lots of dead monks there.
Posted by: James the Second at March 26, 2008 02:12 PM
This one may be blocked: Its got the morgue shots
http://www.tchrd.org/
Posted by: James the second at March 26, 2008 02:13 PM
May their souls rest in peace:
http://www.tchrd.org/press/2008/pr20080318c.html
Posted by: james the lesser at March 26, 2008 02:18 PM