Tibetan culture

Ethnolinguistic map of Tibet

The Tibetan language is spoken in a variety of dialects in all parts of the Tibetan-inhabited area which covers 1/2 Million square miles. Some of these dialects are tonal like the Chinese language, while others remain non-tonal. Historically Tibet was divided into three cultural provinces called U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo. Each one of these three provinces has developed its own distinct dialect of Tibetan. Most widely spoken is the Lhasa dialect, also called Standard Tibetan, which is spoken in Central Tibet and also in Exile by most Tibetans. In Kham the Khams Tibetan dialect is spoken and in Amdo the Amdo Tibetan dialect. The Tibetan dialects are subject to the Tibetic languages which are part of the Tibeto-Burman languages. Modern Tibetan derives from Classical Tibetan, which is the written norm, and from Old Tibetan. The official language of Bhutan, Dzongkha, is also closely related to Tibetan.

Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, a form of religious art. It spreads over a wide range of paintings, frescos, statues, ritual objects, coins, ornaments and furniture.

Tibetan art is deeply religious sacred art. Tagong Monastery, 2009, using butter lamps

Rugs

The Tibetan uses rugs for almost any domestic use from flooring to wall hanging to horse saddles.

Main article: Tibetan rug

Tibetan rug making is an ancient art and craft in the tradition of Tibetan people. These rugs are primarily made from Tibetan highland sheep's virgin wool. The Tibetan uses rugs for almost any domestic use from flooring to wall hanging to horse saddles. Traditionally the best rugs are from Gyantse, a city which is known for its rugs.

The process of making Tibetan rugs is unique in the sense that almost everything is done by hand. But with the introduction of modern technology, a few aspects of the rug making processes have been taken over by machine primarily because of cost, the disappearance of knowledge etc. Moreover, some new finishing touches are also made possible by machine.

Tibetan rugs[1] are big business in not only Tibet, but also Nepal, where Tibetan immigrants brought with them their knowledge of rug making. Currently in Nepal the rug business is one of the largest industries in the country and there are many rug exporters.

There is a rich ancient tradition of lay Tibetan literature which includes epics, poetry, short stories, dance scripts and mime, plays and so on which has expanded into a huge body of work - some of which has been translated into Western languages. Tibetan literature has a historical span of over 1300 years.[2] Perhaps the best known category of Tibetan literature outside of Tibet are the epic stories - particularly the famous Epic of King Gesar.

The White Palace of the Potala Palace

Tagong Monastery with prayer flags

Tibetan architecture contains Chinese and Indian influences, and reflects a deeply Buddhist approach. The prayer wheel, along with two deer or dragons, can be seen on nearly every gompa in Tibet. The design of stupas (chörtens) can vary, from roundish walls in Kham to squarish, four-sided walls in Ladakh.

The most unusual feature of Tibetan architecture is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south, and are often made of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel is available for heat or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in the mountainous area.

Architecture and monastic architecture

Gyantse Kumbum, a good example of Dzong architecture

Potala Palace

The events that took place in Tibet in the twentieth century exacted a heavy toll on Tibetan monastic architecture.

Under the 13th Dalai Lama, the Tengyeling monastery was demolished in 1914 for seeking to come to terms with the Chinese.[5] Under Regent Taktra, the Sera monastery was bombarded with howitzers and ransacked by the Tibetan army in 1947 for siding with former regent Reting.[6]

It is important to see that Sera monastery was by no means destroyed but only looted partially. The major destruction happened during the Cultural Revolution. China's Cultural Revolution resulted in the deterioration or loss of Buddhist monasteries, both by intentional destruction and through lack of protection and maintenance.

Starting in the 1980s, Tibetans have begun to restore those monasteries that survived. This has become an international effort. Experts are teaching the Tibetans how to restore the building and save the remaining monasteries on the eastern plateau.[7]

Monasteries such as the Kumbum Monastery continue to be affected by Chinese politics. Simbiling Monastery was completely flattened in 1967, although it has to some degree been restored.

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery shows the influence of Mongol architecture. Tradruk Temple is one of the oldest in Tibet, said to have been first built in the 7th century during the reign of Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire (605?-650). Jokhang was also originally built under Songsten Gampo. Jokhang Temple is the most splendid surviving building of the Tubo period in Tibet and also the earliest civil structural building in Tibet. It integrated the architectural styles of Tibet, Tang Dynasty of China, Nepal, and India, and has become a model of Tibetan religious architecture for thousands of years. Tsurphu Monastery was founded by Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama (1110–1193) in 1159, after he visited the site and laid the foundation for an establishment of a seat there by making offerings to the local protectors, dharmapalas and genius loci.[8] In 1189 he revisited the site and founded his main seat there. The monastery grew to hold 1000 monks. Tsozong Gongba Monastery is a small shrine built around the fourteenth century Palcho Monastery was founded in 1418 and known for its kumbum which has 108 chapels on its four floors. Chokorgyel Monastery, founded in 1509 the 2nd Dalai Lama once housed 500 monks but was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Ramoche Temple is an important temple in Lhasa. The original building complex was strongly influenced by Tang dynasty architectural style as it was first built by Han Chinese architects in the middle of the 7th century. Princess Wencheng took charge of this project and ordered the temple be erected facing east to show her homesickness.

See List of Tibetan monasteries.

• Tibetan monastic architecture
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  Rongbuk Monastery
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  Tashi Lhunpo Monastery reflects a style which would influence that of Mongol styles of architecture
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  Potala Palace
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  The Dalai Lama's Quarters in the Potala Palace
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  Palcho Monastery
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  Roof of the Jokhang
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  Pillar design

• Tibetan architectural details
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  Drepung Monastery stairway
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  Entrance
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  Shrine courtyard
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  Guardian lion on ground
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  Guardian lion on roof
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  Entrance
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  Windows
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  Guishan Temple
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  Prayer wheel

Children

Woman's traditional studded belt at TCVs 50th anniversary. 2010

Tibetans tend to be conservative in their dress, and though some have taken to wearing Western clothes, traditional styles still abound. Women wear dark-colored wrap dresses over a blouse, and a colorfully striped, woven wool apron, called pangden signals that she is married. Men and women both wear long sleeves even in summer months.

In his 1955 book, Tibetan Marches, André Migot describes Tibetan clothing as follows:

Tibetan woman's dress, Field Museum of Natural History

Tibetan herdsman's coat, fur-lined. A portable shrine for worship was carried with a shoulder strap. Field Museum of Natural History

Except for the lamas and for certain laymen who shave their heads, the Tibetans wear their hair either long or in a braid wound around their heads and embellished with a complicated pattern of lesser braids which make the whole thing look like some sort of crown. They often wear a huge conical felt hat, whose shape varies according to the district they come from; sometimes its peak supports a kind of mortarboard from which dangles a thick woolen fringe. In order to prevent their hats being blown away, they attach them to their heads with the long braid I have just described, and which has to be unwound for the purpose. In their left ear they wear a heavy silver ring decorated with a huge ornament of either coral or turquoise. Their costume is not elaborate. It normally consists only of a chuba, a long capacious robe with wide, elongated sleeves which hang almost to the ground. This is caught up at the waist by a woolen girdle, so that its skirts reach only to the knees and its upper folds form an enormous circular pocket round its wearer's chest. This is called the ampa, and in it are stowed a wide range of implements — an eating bowl, a bag of tsampa, and many other small necessities. Many chubas are made of wool, either the plain gray wool they spin in Sikang or the splendid, warm, soft stuff from Lhasa, dyed a rich dark red. The nomads, on the other hand, generally wear a sheepskin chuba, hand-sewn and crudely tanned in butter, with the fleece on the inside. The town-dwelling Tibetans, prosperous merchants for the most part, supplement this garment with cotton or woolen drawers and a cotton or silk undershirt with long sleeves, but the nomads normally wear nothing at all underneath it, though in winter they sometimes put on sheepskin drawers. The Tibetans hardly ever do their chubas up over their chests. The right shoulder and arm are almost always left free, and when they are on the march or at work the whole top part of the robe is allowed to slip down so that it is supported only by the belt. This leaves them naked above the waist and clad in a very odd-looking sort of skirt below it. They hardly feel the cold at all and in the depth of winter, heedless of frost or snow or wind, they trudge imperturbably along with their bosoms bared to the icy blast. Their feet, too, are bare inside their great high boots. These have soft soles of raw, untanned leather; the loose-fitting leg of the boot, which may be red or black or green, has a sort of woolen garter around the top of it which is fastened to the leg above the knee with another, very brightly colored strip of woolen material.

— André Migot (1953), Tibetan Marches[9]

A chab chab is a piece of jewellery which wealthy Tibetan ladies attached to their clothes beneath the right shoulder.

• Tibetan people
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  Young woman wearing a chuba
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  Monk churning butter tea
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  Monks at Sakya Monastery
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  Elderly pilgrim
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  Tibetan women in the White House
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  Tibetan people at the Tibet Nagqu Horse Racing Festival
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  Young girl
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  Woman from Kham
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  Pilgrim with prayer wheel, Tsurphu Monastery, 1993
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  Monks at Shigatse
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  Young Monks in Litang County
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  A Tibetan young girl wearing a fur hat
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  Pilgrims or locals at Drepung Monastery, wearing Ü-Tsang chubas.
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  Tibetan woman praying
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  Monk's robes in a gompa
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  Tibetan woman with a prayer wheel praying

Thukpa is a Tibetan delicacy.

Butter tea

Tibetan kitchen items. The butter churn is of a small size with shoulder strap, suitable for nomadic life.

The Cuisine of Tibet is quite distinct from that of its neighbours. Tibetan crops must be able to grow at high altitudes, although a few areas in Tibet are low enough to grow such crops as rice, oranges, lemon and bananas.[10] The most important crop in Tibet is barley. Flour milled from roasted barley, called tsampa, is the staple food of Tibet. It is eaten mostly mixed with the national beverage, the butter tea. Butter tea perfectly fits the needs of the human body in these high altitudes as it contains butter (protein and fat), milk (protein, fat and calcium), salt and tea. Tibetan cuisine contains a wide variety of dishes. The most famous are Momos (Tibetan dumplings). Balep is Tibetan bread eaten for breakfast and lunch. There many other types of balep bread and fried pies. Thukpa is noodle soup. It consists of noodles of various shapes, vegetables, and meat in broth. Tibetan cuisine is traditionally served with bamboo chopsticks, in contrast to other Himalayan cuisines which are eaten by hand. Small soup bowls are also used by Tibetans, and the rich are known to have used bowls of gold and silver.[11] Since only a few crops grow at such high altitudes, many features of Tibetan cuisine are imported, such as tea, rice and others. Meat dishes are likely to be yak, goat, or mutton, often dried, or cooked into a spicy stew with potatoes. Tibetans would never eat dogs and fish only in special cases as dogs are regarded as domestic animals and also guard dogs, and fishes are one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism.

Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet, and therefore features strongly in its cuisine. Yak yogurt, butter and cheese are frequently eaten, and well-prepared yogurt is considered something of a prestige item.

In larger Tibetan towns and cities many restaurants nowadays serve Sichuan-style Chinese food. Western imports and fusion dishes, such as fried yak and chips, are also popular. Nevertheless, many small restaurants serving traditional Tibetan dishes persist in both cities and the countryside.

Jasmine tea and yak butter tea are drunk. Alcoholic beverages include:

• Chang, a beer usually made from barley
• Raksi, a rice wine

Tibetans traditionally venerate their elders within their families.[12]

Butter lamps

The Tibetan calendar is the lunisolar calendar, that is, the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added approximately every three years, so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year. The name of the months are ༼ མཆུ་ཟླ་བ།༽ January, ༼ དབོ་ཟླ་བ།༽ February, ༼ ནག་པ་ཟླ་བ།༽་ March, ༼ ས་ག་ཟླ་བ།་༽ April, ༼ སྣྲོན་ཟླ་བ།༽ May, ༼ ཆུ་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ།༽ June, ༼ གྲོ་བཞིན་ཟླ་བ།༽ July, ༼ ཁྲུམས་སྟདོ།༽ August, ༼ དབྱུ་གུ་ཟླ་བ།༽ September, ༼ སྨིན་དྲུག་ཟླ་བ།༽ October, ༼ གོ་ཟླ་བ།༽ November and ༼ རྒྱལ་ཟླ་བ།༽ December. |-, but the fourth month which is called the saka dawa, celebrating the birth and enlightenment of Buddha.[16]

The Tibetan New Year celebration is Losar.

Each year is associated with an animal and an element. The animals alternate in the following order:

The elements alternate in the following order:

Each element is associated with two consecutive years, first in its male aspect, then in its female aspect. For example, a male Earth-Dragon year is followed by a female Earth-Snake year, then by a male Iron-Horse year. The sex may be omitted, as it can be inferred from the animal.

The element-animal designations recur in cycles of 60 years, starting with a (female) Fire-Rabbit year. These big cycles are numbered. The first cycle started in 1027. Therefore, 2005 roughly corresponds to the (female) Wood-Rooster year of the 17th cycle, and 2008 corresponds to a (male) Earth-Rat year of the same cycle.

Days of the week

Tibetan inscription on a stupa

Tent made of yak wool

The days of the week are named for celestial bodies.

Day	Tibetan (Wylie)	THL	Object
Sunday	གཟའ་ཉི་མ་ (gza' nyi ma)	za nyima	Sun
Monday	གཟའ་ཟླ་བ་ (gza' zla ba)	za dawa	Moon
Tuesday	གཟའ་མིག་དམར་ (gza' mig dmar)	za mikmar	Mars
Wednesday	གཟའ་ལྷག་པ་ (gza' lhak pa)	za lhakpa	Mercury
Thursday	གཟའ་ཕུར་པུ་ (gza' phur bu)	za purpu	Jupiter
Friday	གཟའ་པ་སངས་ (gza' pa sangs)	za pasang	Venus
Saturday	གཟའ་སྤེན་པ་ (gza' spen pa)	za penpa	Saturn

Om mani padme hum, prayer written in Tibetan language

Nyima "Sun", Dawa "Moon" and Lhakpa "Mercury" are common personal names for people born on Sunday, Monday or Wednesday respectively.

Old Tibetan banknote

Tibetan coin

Censer from Tibet, late 19th century, silver

A gift traditionally given at the time of a new birth is that of an ibex figurine, as described below by August Hermann Francke.

"Our Christian evangelist at Khalatse had become a father a few weeks before, and the people of the village had made presents of "flour-ibex" to him and his wife. He gave me one of those figures, which are made of flour and butter, and told me that it was a custom in Tibet and Ladakh, to make presents of "flour-ibex" on the occasion of the birth of a child. This is quite interesting information. I had often wondered why there were so many rock carvings of ibex at places connected with the pre-Buddhist religion of Ladakh. Now it appears probable that they are thank offerings after the birth of children. As I have tried to show in my previous article, people used to go to the pre-Buddhist places of worship, in particular, to pray to be blessed with children."[17]

Tibetan festivals such as Losar, Shoton, the Bathing Festival and many more are deeply rooted in indigenous religion, and also contain foreign influences. Tibetan festivals are a high source of entertainment and can include many sports such as yak racing. Tibetans consider festivals as an integral part of their life and almost everyone participates in the festivities.

• Tibetan musicians
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  A musician at The Tibetan Culture Festival.
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  A musician
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  A street musician in Shigatse
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  Sho dun (Shotun) festival

• Tibetan Domestic animals
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  Shepherd with his Tibetan Mastiff
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  Tibetan pet having a bath
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  Horse Racing in Tibet
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  Domestic yak. In Tibet, yaks are decorated and honored by the families they are part of.
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  Yaks
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  Sheep
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  Tibetan Mastiff
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  A Lhasa Apso with a long, dense coat, a dog originating in Tibet.

Since 2010, thousands of ethnic Tibetans worldwide have called on Unicode Consortium and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to approve and also release the Tibetan flag emoji. The main purpose of this is to help evoke their sense of belonging to regional and cultural Tibet via online means and also to further spread the Tibetan culture and representation across borders.

However, as of August 2019, despite the efforts of members of the Emoji Subcommittee and Unicode's negotiating body (and Unicode's official admission that the flag proposal is strong), the decision-making process of approval and eventual release of the Tibetan flag emoji by Unicode has been and remained stalled. This is probably due to strong opposition by millions of Mainland Chinese citizens, Mainland Chinese members of Unicode Consortium and the Chinese government's willingness to place economic sanctions against the company if Unicode ‘unilaterally’ releases the Tibetan flag emoji (unless China returns to a state of democracy and is willing to support the rights and freedoms of Tibetans in Tibet Autonomous Region).

Nonetheless, Tibetans across the globe have been pushing on. In light of the ongoing 2019–20 Hong Kong protests that have been taking place since June 2019 and subsequent Mainland Chinese interference in major social media platforms, Tibetans have called or are calling for Unicode to extend the timeline for at least one more year, to ensure the elimination of Mainland Chinese influence in operations conducted by social media platforms and Unicode before prioritising on the eventual acceptance and release of the Tibetan flag emoji to the public. The flag emoji may only be released in Emoji 13.0, 14.0 or later, depending on the socio-political circumstances.

• Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center
• Culture of Bhutan
• Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts
• Ghosts in Tibetan culture
• List of Tibetan poets from India
• List of Tibetan monasteries
• Ma Jian, modern Chinese author whose works feature depictions of traditional Tibetan culture
• Tibet since 1950
• Snow Lion

• Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization. (1962 in French). I1st English edition with minor changes 1972. Stanford University Press, pp. 248–281. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1(cloth), ISBN 0-8047-0901-7 (paper).
• Francke, A. H. (1914). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Two Volumes. Calcutta. 1972 reprint: S. Chand, New Delhi.
• Chophel, Norbu. Folk Tales of Tibet. (1984) Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala, H.P., India. Reprinted 1989, 1993. ISBN 81-85102-26-0

• Gelek, Lobsang. "A General Introduction to Tibetan Culture and Religion." Chinese Sociology & Anthropology. Volume 34, Issue 4, 2002. Published online on 20 December 2014. DOI: 10.2753/CSA0009-4625340415. See profile at ResearchGate.

• Conserving Tibetan Art and Architecture
• Chinese colonialism in Tibet causes cultural identity crisis
• Chinese Drama Sites
• Origin of Tibetan Masks

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