Tibetan monks, though driven out of their homes, still find a way to keep their native culture and religion.
The Gaden Shartse Cultural Foundation is bringing monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastery in India to Albuquerque this week for a series of cultural events including dances, rituals and purifications.
Their stop in Albuquerque is one of many on a global tour to promote Tibetan Buddhism and culture.
Jangchub Chophel, spokesman and translator for the monks, said the tour was critical to maintaining the heritage of Tibet.
“Because of the Chinese invasion into Tibet — the destruction of 6,000 monasteries — the Tibetans have lost quite a bit of their culture and their traditions,” he said. “So now, Tibetans are actually the minorities in their own country; there’s more Han Chinese than there are Tibetans.”
Chophel said India created refugee camps for the displaced Tibetans in the ’60s in an attempt preserve their culture, but Indian culture and Tibetan culture are so similar that they are becoming indistinguishable. Also, the Tibetan culture and the Buddhist religion are closely intertwined, but Chophel said it is just as important to focus on culture as it is on the religion.
“When we get into an actual culture that’s literally being wiped off the face of the earth, it’s important to preserve those aspects as well,” he said. “Buddhism will survive; the Tibetan culture, that’s questionable.”
In order to save the way of life they cherish, Chophel said the Gaden Shartse monks decided to create an educational foundation, and thus their world tours were born.
“We can really work with universities and public places to bring the monks and be able to share things like sand mandalas and other cultural experiences,” Chophel said. “It really allows us to get into the culture and share some of that, the actual ancient traditions not just the religious ones. The non-profit aspect allows us to put money back into the refugee settlements.”
Chophel said Tibetan culture needs worldwide support and recognition to achieve this goal.
“To preserve your culture is not to keep it isolated and separate … (but) to be able to share with others,” he said.
Before the Chinese invaded, Chophel said, one-third of the Tibetan population was monks and nuns, and those who weren’t directly involved in the study of Buddhism still had a spiritual understanding of the world.
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“So in the folk dances and all of the different rituals they have in regular life, there’s always the element of offering for others, preserving life, honoring the natural energies of plants and animals, living in harmony with nature, not destroying the mountains or the earth,” he said. “They would never dig for gold or anything like that.”
Chophel said the monasteries were supported by the communities, and in exchange the communities received spiritual fulfillment from the monasteries. Without the community, the religion vanishes.
“Now who supports the monasteries in India?” he asked.
For now, it seems Albuquerque could be that support while experiencing their religion first hand.
Their program includes many traditional Buddhist rituals including the creation of a sacred sand mandala (which occurs at UNM); the Tara Puja ritual, an ancient Buddhist chant which honors the female Buddha, and a performance of the sacred Tibetan dances and chants. As with every ritual, Chophel said the sand mandala has many layers of significance.
“When it’s completed, you’ll see a beautiful, rich, symbolic representation of art in grains of sand that represent the whole path to enlightenment,” he said. “Meditators can actually enter them, and they’ll sit in these mandalas holding the visualization of being there and being Tara herself. This one gets created with all these elaborate symbols that have all these layers and meanings.”
CJ Ondek, administrative director of the RigDzin Dharma Foundation, a local Tibetan Buddhist center, said the monks’ work is inspiring.
“What I think is really amazing about them is that they do travel around the world, and they teach everyone about these sacred healing arts” she said. “That’s a very beautiful thing. Not only are they teaching about their culture, but they’re dealing with community centers and giving a very profound blessing to the communities that they actually do their rituals in.”
Gaden Shartse Monastery: Sacred Earth & Healing Arts of Tibet
Green Tara Sand Mandala – Thursday through Sunday 9 a.m. To 5 p.m., Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
Tara Puja Chant – Friday 8 p.m. UNM Anthropology 163 $10
Journey to the Roof of the World: Sacred Dance and Chants of Tibet – Saturday 8 p.m. KiMo Theatre $15, $20, $25
