Tibetan Lifestyle

Travelers to Tibet have lots of questions about the lifestyle, people, religion, and culture that they encounter. What are the colourful flags for? Are there any common festivals? What makes Tibetan Buddhism unique? What are the ingredients in yak butter tea? Whatever your questions – whether you are preparing for your first trip to Tibet, or just want to know more about this remarkable culture – you’ll find answers to many of your questions here.

There is a beginning to this section of our site below with many more articles to come in the future.


Tibetan Dancing

Tibetan Women Dancing

Born to Dance To say that Tibetan people are very good at dancing and singing is a gross understatement. There is a common saying that Tibetan people dance when they start walking, and sing when they start talking. In Tibet, dancing and singing accompany every occasion, such as harvest celebrations, …

Prostration

prostration in front of a monastery

 In Tibet, prostration (ཕྱག་འཚལ་བ།) is a common religious practice. Tibetan people perform prostration in their home shrine in the early morning or when they enter monasteries, nunneries, holy mountains and stupas. What is Prostration? Prostration is performed by dropping the body forward and stretching it full length on the floor, …

Caterpillar Fungus (Yartsa Gunbu)

Caterpillar Fungus (Yartsa Gunbu)

Caterpillar fungus are known as yartsa gunbu  (དབྱར་རྩྭ་དགུན་འབུ།) in Tibet—yartsa means summer grass, gunbu means winter worm. In Chinese it’s called “chongcao” or “dong chong xia cao” which also translates to “summer grass winter worm.” It’s a rare herb found in Tibet and other Himalayan regions and only grows above an …

Sky Burial

WHAT IS  SKY BURIAL? When a Tibetan person dies, the family lights butter lamps beside the deceased while monks pray and give blessings over the body for three to five days. During this time the body is not touched. The funeral day is determined by divination. Family members and relatives …

Khata

Khata

It is a Tibetan custom to offer a khata (ཁ་བཏགས།) or greeting scarf to friends, relatives or guests as a way of indicating your honorable intentions, and wishes of happiness. When given as a farewell gesture it symbolizes a safe journey. When given to arriving guests it symbolizes welcome. Why …

Tsampa (Barley)

Tsampa /Barley

Tsampa ( Barley) (རྩམ་པ། ) is one of the main cuisines in Tibet. Tibetan crops must be able to grow in the high altitudes of Tibet. The most important crop in Tibet is barley.  Flour milled from roasted barley, called Tsampa, has been the staple of Tibetan food for centuries. This …

Mani Stones

Mani stone

Mani stones  (མ་ཎི་རྡོ་འབུམ།)are stone plates or rocks that are carved with the Tibetan Buddhism six-word mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. But nowadays people not only carve the six words, but also carve other texts from Buddhism. The Meaning of Om Mani Padme Hum The first word, Om, symbolizes the practitioner’s …

Tibetan Antelope (Chiru)

The Tibetan antelope (གཙོད།) (Pantholops hodgsonii), traditionally known as the Chiru, is a rare and remarkable creature. While denominated as an antelope, the Chiru is in face more closely related to a wild goat.  Description The Tibetan antelope possesses the softest and warmest wool in the world, incomparably delicate and …

Kora (Circumambulation)

Kora

Introduction: Kora (བསྐོར་བ།) is a form of pilgrimage and meditation that is shared by both Tibetan Buddhist and Bon traditions. The foundation of Kora is that, because of the trials of the pilgrimage, religious merit will be generated and obtained. Bodhicitta, or “an enlightened mind”, will result from purifying negative karma …

The Lammergeier

The Lammergeier The lammergeier (བྱ་རྒོད། ) is the largest of the old world vultures and traditionally revered as the sacred bird of Tibet. The Lammergeier (which is German for ‘lamb vulture’) is also referred to as the Ossifrage (Latin for ‘bone-breaker’) and the Bearded Vulture. Corpses are offered up to …

Momos (Tibetan Dumplings)

Momos (Tibetan Dumplings)

Momos ( ཤ་མོག) are seen as one of the most quintessential Tibetan foods, and travellers love to enjoy them. Often described as “Tibetan dumplings”, most see momos as a basic home cooked meal and it is often a family affair to prepare them. Whether you like to dip, dunk, bite, or …

Yaks

The yak (འབྲོང་། ) is considered the backbone of Tibetan nomad life, with this animal being important to the economic and personal wellbeing of the family. From the products crafted from yaks, the nomad family is able to clothe, shelter, and feed their family, so it is little wonder that …

Windhorse

The Windhorse (དར་ལྕོག) is a legendary Tibetan creature, considered to carry prayers from the earth to the heavenly gods using the strength and speed of the wind. This basic symbol is thought to possess powerful energy—an energy that carries colossal power to the lives of all beings who come into contact with …

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (བོད་བརྒྱུད་ནང་བསྟན། ) is the major religion of Tibetans around the world. It covers the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism along with Tantric and Shamanic rituals, and is in some part influenced by Bon, the ancient, indigenous religion of Tibet. Apart from the traditions of koras, prayer flags, mantras, and …

Saka Dawa

Saka Dawa (also known as Saga Dawa) (ས་ག་ཟླ་བ།) represents the holiest and most sacred days in Tibetan Buddhism. Falling on the fourth month of the Tibetan Calendar, the religious festivities of Saka Dawa peak on the 15th Lunar Day when there is a full moon. This day is associated with …

Nyingma Sect

The Nyingma sect (རྙིང་མ་པ། ) of Tibetan Buddhism is the oldest amongst the four schools and the second largest after Gelugpa sect. Nyingma in Tibetan means “ancient” and has roots going back to the 8th century when the indigenous Bon religion was strongly adhered to by Tibetans. The Nyingma sect …

Losar (Tibetan New Year)

The Tibetan New Year (བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་གསར། ) is referred to as Losar. The Tibetan Calendar is based on the lunar calendar and consists of twelve (or thirteen) months. Losar starts on the first day of the first month of the Tibetan Calendar when the new moon is sighted. Oftentimes, Losar and …

Gelugpa Sect

The Gelugpa Sect  (དགེ་ལུགས་པ།)of Tibetan Buddhism, despite being the youngest, is the largest and most important school of thought. Having emerged in the 15th Century through the reforming efforts of Tsongkhapa, adherance to the Gelugpa sect is considered to be purest form of Tibetan Buddhism. The sect achieved its peak …

Chorten (Stupa)

A row of chortens

Chorten or Stupa (མཆོད་རྟེན་དཀར་པོ།) is an important religious monument in Buddhism, symbolizing Buddha’s presence. It also holds precious Buddhist relics and sometimes even preserved bodies of renowned lamas. Tibetans believe that performing Koras of the monument is an act of high merit. Structure of Chorten The shape of the Stupa …

Bön (Tibet’s Ancient Religion)

Bön (བོན་པོ། )is the indigenous religion of the Tibetans of the ancient Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. As a shamanistic religion, it is characterized by mystic rituals, spells, sacrifices, and spirit manipulation. This religion involves much emphasis on meditative practice. It was the major religion of the people of Tibet before Buddhism found …