With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple

[telophase]

Due to the next project that rachelmanija and I have started Gay Tibetan Martial Artists, I've been mining the library I work in for books that will give some sort of insight into the daily lives and the landscapes of Tibet, Bhutan, and other Himalayan areas. Because of renovations to the ceiling, the quartos (oversized books) are currently wrapped in plastic, so I can't browse through the enormous photography books like I really need, but there's a decent amount of non-photo books available. Most of which are elderly.

I grabbed this With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple by Dr. Susie C. Rijnhart, thinking that it probably wouldn't be that useful. It hasn't been that useful so far, but I've found myself interested in it anyway. It was published in 1901 and is an account of the four years she and her husband, Petrus Rijnhart, spent as missionaries in Tibet from 1895-1899.

You can't quite be sure of the attitude that missionaries will have towards the locals and their lifestyle before reading any account, but was pleasantly surprised to realize that she was as open-minded to the Tibetan and Chinese cultures as I think a Victorian American woman could have been.* She adores Chinese food, although she can't bring herslef to like the Tibetan staple of tsamba, does her best to avoid insulting her Tibetan hosts with actions or words, and hides her revulsion at the different standards of cleanliness she encounters. :D

She and her husband offered medical services to the locals, as well as Bible classes and discussion with the lamas they run into. They were pleasantly surprised at the discussion they could get into with many of the lamas, especially Mina Fuyeh, one of the most important lamas in the country, who read the Gospels they gave him and engaged them in theological talk and debate. I think they hadn't realized the extent to which Tibetan Buddhism emphasized learning and discussion.

I'm only about 100 pages in and already they've weathered two Islamic rebellions - the area they were in was settled by a mix of Buddhist and Islamic Chinese and Tibetans, and relations were, to put it mildly, strained. Anyway, I shall keep reading.



* I would think that most successful missionaries would have to be quite sympathetic about local customs and religion, but I've heard accounts otherwise. Admittedly from anthropologists mostly, so there may be some bias there.

Comments

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Anthropologists? Biased? Say it ain't so!

:-p

Me? Cynical? Naaahhh...

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The trick is to find anthropologists who admit that to be human is to be biased. :D

(The account I'm mostly remembering is, I think, from Nigel Barley's wickedly funny accounts of fieldwork among the Dowayo in Camaroon, where there were Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the area and I think he said the Catholics were easier to get along with and had more sympathy with the locals than the Protestant ones did. But I can't remember for sure; it's been a while.)

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Well, yes.

Admittedly, most of the Cultural people I took classes from were entirely upfront about their biases and made certain that type of 'self-awareness' was beaten into us from fairly early on in the program. Still, there's a reason most Cultural Anthropology makes me want to introduce my forehead to the desk at a rapid rate of speed.

[sky-country.livejournal.com]

There is a mystery series set in modern Tibet by author Eliot Pattison. Not exactly quick research but lots of little facts about TIbet and the current situation with China.
There are some interesting resources on Tibetan martial arts online as well.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Do you happen to have any links to or recollections of the online resources on Tibetan martial arts?

[sky-country.livejournal.com]

This one (http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/9358/tibetan.html) is a pretty decent start and has some pretty good links off of it. Most things I come across abut Tibetan martial arts refer to Lion's Roar or White Crane, but there are also references in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tibetan_martial_arts) that you can track down.

[literaticat.livejournal.com]

Yes, the SKULL MANTRA (http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-0312978340-4) is really quite excellent.

[sky-country.livejournal.com]

Yes, he's up to book four now I think?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I was at the bookstore at lunch and idly looked him up. And, dammit, the only book they had was the one I'd already read.

[(Anonymous)]

I got PBR!

I DEMAND A SEQUEL!

[literaticat.livejournal.com]

I got PBR!

I DEMAND A SEQUEL!

[fascinoma.livejournal.com]

Look up somebody by the name of Alexandra David-Neel.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062503456/104-1394847-3015940?v=glance&n=283155

She was a Frenchwoman who travelled to the Himalayas in 1912. She disguised herself as a local as best as possible.

As for homosexuality in Tibet:
There was a lot of monk-on-monk action going on in the Geluk ("Yellow Hat") monasteries in pre-Occupation Tibet. It was no secret.

In many cases, this was an act of service of a younger monk toward an older monk, with older monks having boy lovers. However, Heinrich Harrer (author of Seven Years in Tibet) reported homosexual relationships between similar aged monks.

The present Dalai Lama is dissapproving of homosexuality, and doesn't condone it, but one must understand some of the context he comes from... he is a reformer who in some ways wishes to purge his sect of what he sees as non-Buddhist elements, such as young monks being coerced into sex with older monks. He also did away with practice of a particular traditional protector.

-- Fascinoma, who's a Jew and not a Buddhist, but fascinated with Tibet nonetheless.

[sky-country.livejournal.com]

yeah, what fascinoma said