Tibet - Roof of the World
Cerulean skies, icy mountains, and turquoise lakes; ancient
near-mythical palaces and monasteries shimmering in the
crystalline distance; red, yellow, green, blue, and white
prayer flags fluttering in the rarified air. The Tibetan
Plateau, which goes from 3,500 m to the soaring heights of
Mt Everest, is the legendary 'roof of the world'. Home to
venerable religious and educational traditions including
Tibetan Buddhism and the ancient BE/span>n
religion as well as a complex social and cultural heritage
that boasts an enviably systematised study of the human body
and medicine, Tibet today is a curious study in contrast
between the old monastic way of life that pervaded every
aspect of society, and the modern, development-oriented Han
Communist system. People love travelling to Tibet the first
time and on repeat visits for its heady mix of splendid
landscape, wonderful aesthetics, deep-seated cultural and
religious traditions, and uncrushable spirit.
A quick historical background
For most people, the history of
Tibet 'really begins' after the introduction of Buddhism
there in the 7th century
by Padmasambhava who brought this already century-old
religion from India. There are all manner of intricacies and
complications, both social and religious (in Tibet authority
has not for centuries been secular), that make it difficult
to compress the history of the country, or to breeze through
why and how the borders of the political entity known as
'Tibet' have changed, diminished, and expanded over time.
Suffice it to say that there was an intricate system of
dependence and exchange between feudal masters and figures
of religious authority that dominated Tibet as well as its
interactions and incursions into the rest of the world.
There have for centuries been strong trade links between
Tibet, Nepal, China, and India. Finally, over the last few
centuries there have been periods when much of Tibet pledged
allegiance to Han Chinese authorities, often theoretically.
All this changed, of course, with the events of 1959 and
Communist Chinese the occupation (also called the
'liberation') of Tibet. The Chinese government was in
control of the administration and economy, not to mention
the politics, such as it was, of Tibet by the mid-1960s.
Tibet's history is one of relaitve insularity -- foreign
travellers were neither encouraged nor often allowed to
enter the borders of the old state. This did not change
after 1959 and in fact until the mid-1980s, foreign
travellers were simply not allowed inside Tibet. Now, over
20 years later, Tibet is safe and one of the top alternative
travel destinations in the world.
Geography
Over one half of Tibet, mostly the
north, is uninhabitable due to the extraordinarily harsh,
cold climate and arid, lunar landscape. For the rest, it
varies from the high-altitude desert that you see in classic
Tibet photographs, and a near subtropical lushness, all
riven through with some of the mightiest snow-fed and
glacial-melt rivers in Asia, including the intimidating
Yarlung Tsangpo. The average altitude of habitation in Tibet
is 3,500 m, and the nomads in the summer go much higher with
their yaks in search of warm weather pastures. There are
splendid gorges and mountains and lakes through the country
and in the Outer Plateau are golden-green-yellow of barley,
buckwheat, and potato fields as well as highly productive
greenhouses and some impressive irrigation systems.
Weather
While the summers are never
blazing, temperatures in the Outer Plateau can go up into
the mid-20s (Centigrade). Around Lhasa the lows in winter
are around -10 (C). In general, except for August, when it
rains, there is low humidity. Summer or winter, the intense
sunlight must always be factored into how you cover up -
it's easy to be sunburnt here.
People and language
Tibetans are descended from the
nomads who have roamed Central Asia for centuries for
reasons of climate and summer pasturing, as well as,
historically, to avoid the more controlling aspects of a
feudal society . There are many year-round settlements in
Tibet now, and also still nomads through the country, though
this is slowly changing as the government discourages
nomadic lifestyles. In the Outer Plateau there are farming
villages that thrive due to the more hospitable climate and
fertile soil drained by rivers.
In Lhasa there is a small
community of Newars from Kathmandu Valley. Traders and
artisans travelled regularly between Lhasa and Kathmandu,
and many had two wives and families, one in each city, and
many today are the product of mixed marriages. There are
many Han Chinese in Tibet due to government-supported
resettlement programs, and in many places they are in the
majority.
Historically the language used in
Tibet was, naturally, Tibetan, of which there are many
compellingly different dialects, such as those of Lhasa,
Kham, etc. Now, however, young Tibetans are increasingly
growing up to be more comfortable in Chinese, since that is
now the official language of the land.
Religion and festivals
Prayer flags fluttering in thin air against a piercing blue
sky - although our perception of Tibet and Tibetan culture
is fundamentally linked with Tibetan Buddhism, that religion
is in fact the newer one. Before Guru Rinpoche, or
Padmasambhava introduced Buddhism from India to Tibet in the
7th century,
and it gained widespread acceptance especially among the
political elite. The older religion is called BE/span>n,
and it is often described as being animist, focusing more on
appeasing and propitiating local deities and natural
spirits. There has been plenty of influence of each religion
on the other, and in addition to the prayer flags, cairns
and shrines also dot the landscape. You'll see one of the
most interesting differences between the two traditions
manifested in most holy places you visit. Circumambulation
and spinning prayer wheels in Buddhism must be done
clockwise, as in other religions. In BE/span>n,
however, these actions as well as others whose direction is
prescribed are all done counterclockwise.
There is also a lesser-known but
few centuries-old community of Tibetan Muslims. Its members
are said to be descended from Kashmiri Muslim traders who
settled in Lhasa, rather than from Central Asian Muslims
such as Uighurs.
There are festivals virtually
every month, with the most important ones being Lhosar
(Tibetan New Year) in February and Saga Dawa, the birthday
of the Buddha in late-May. In addition there are numerous
festivals specific to individuals monasteries in as well as
secular horse-racing and archery festivals in Gyantse,
Shigatse etc.
The arts, architecture and culture
Although much of it has been
vandalised, destroyed, or smuggled out to go to Western
museums and private collectors, there remains some
spectacular art in Tibet. The murals and frescoes in
monasteries, as well as the thangka are sublime
examples of how religious art can display both brilliant
craftsmanship, as well as intricate systems of iconography.
Thangka uses pre-determined symbols and figures to
tell various stories about the life of the Buddha and his
many manifestations. Ideally the paints used are of a deep,
dull sheen and made from stone and other natural materials.
There's a whole set of conventions ruling the traditional
consutruction of palaces, temples, and gardens, as also the
lovely coloured furniture you see in Lhasa as well as
Kathmandu, usually in specialty shops. Tibetans are known
for their strong aesthetic feel for design outside these
conventions, too, and as refugees in the 1960s in Kathmandu
one of the major ways that the Tibetan community got back on
their feet was through putting to use their traditional
carpet-weaving skills to use. Their success, however, came
from developing new, very modern-looking designs that draw
on the geometric, floral, and animal motifs that occur in
traditional art, architecture, and carpentry.
The Newar artisans of Kathmandu
Valley have for centuries been in demand Tibet for their
facility with wood and metallurgy. A man called Arniko,
after whom the highway to Tibet today is named and who is
credited with having introduced the pagoda style of
architecture to China and Tibet was in the 13th century
a consultant to the court in Lhasa.
Flora and fauna
Animals found here include the
kyang (Tibetan wild ass), fox, blue sheep, pika, blue sheep,
pika, marmots, and the fearsome Tibetan mastiffs. Tibet is,
to the surprise of many people, a paradise for birders -
here are all manner of finches, pheasants, warblers, geese,
cranes, buzzards, grouse gulls and other birds.
Food and drink
Tibetan food, at least as most travellers experience it, is
simple, but hearty and nourishing. You don't have to drink
the butter tea - yak butter, often rancid mixed in with
brick tea to create a savory, almost soupy, and very very
buttery - but it will be difficult to avoid or, indeed,
object to much else. In Lhasa you'll find some western food,
but in most other places it is wiser to stick to Tibetan
and Chinese food. A common favourite is thukpa, the
noodle soup with vegetables and meat. Other preparations
include the famous steamed or fried stuffed ravioli called
momo, a savory stuffed griddle bread called
shabhalay and various meat-and-veg preparations such as
shyapta, sautE/span>ed
beef with green peppers. Traditionally the Tibetan diet was
heavy on meat, buckwheat, and potato, but the year-round
greenhouses have done some good, and there are fresh fruits
and vegetables available
