DAKPOGYOP

To Preserve and To Protect.

Every Wednesday, we will share a post to highlight the importance of culture, language and identity. Culture preservation and promotion is our biggest priority at 1959 and #DAKPOGYOP will be an initiative to share and connect with today’s online community. Our goal is to educate youth and the larger community on the traditions, values, and cultures that make us unique.
We hope to inspire the future generations to learn about Tibetan culture and explore the concept of identity. We hope to empower you to voice your own stories and identity through this reflection
བོད་ཀྱི་རིག་གཞུང་གཅེས་འཛིན།

THRENGWA, MALA BEADS

This week, we will be focusing on Tibetan prayer beads, more specifically the use of prayer bracelets. Known in Buddhist culture as Malas (Sanskrit) beads, we will be using the Tibetan term, Threngwa’s (ཕྲེང་བ). Threngwa’s are utilized to help focus one’s awareness and concentration during spiritual practice.
There are various kinds of Threngwa’s, from lengths, to colours and even the beads themselves. The beads can be made from wood, bones, as well semi-precious stones that are each hand strung , knitted and blessed from Tibetan monks.
Not created for just monks alone, however, Buddhists all around the world use Malas on the daily.
What colour is your Threngwa?

Learn more down below.

THE POTALA PALACE

The Potala palace, located in Lhasa, Tibet, is the highest palace in the world, sitting at 12,138 feet above sea level. A symbolism for Tibetan Buddhism and its central role in the traditional administration of Tibet, it is the winter residence of the Dalai Lama and Norbulingka is the summer residence. The Potala’s construction dates back to the 7th century and it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1994. With the palace consisting of a thousand rooms, it is filled with murals and Thangkas (ཐང་ཀ་) which are Tibetan scroll paintings made on silk, cloth or paper that usually depict Buddhist deities, mandala and scenes/historic events. Thousands of Tibetans from all over Tibet undertake a prostration pilgrimage to visit the Potala Palace to pay their respect.

Have you had the privilege of visiting the Potala Palace in Lhasa? Or is it on your bucket list, because it is on ours!

Learn more down below.

YUMBULAGANG

Yumbulagang is known to be the first palace in Tibet, built during the reign of the first Tibetan King, Nyatri Tsenpo (གཉའ་ཁྲི་བཙན་པོ་). Located in Tsetang (Tsethang), Tibet, its establishment dates back to the 2nd century. It is believed that the first Buddhist texts were stored in this palace, marking the initial introduction of Buddhism in Tibet.

Learn more down below.

TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY

The Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was founded by His Holiness the First Dalai Lama, Gendun Drubpa (དགེ་འདུན་གྲུབ་པ།) in 1447 in Shigatse, Tibet and became one of the largest and most vibrant monasteries, providing spiritual teachings and a place of residence for over 5000 monks before the occupation by the Chinese Communist Party. In 1972, the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was re-established in exile in the Tibetan settlement of Bylakuppe in Mysore, India.

Tashi Lhunpo is one of the Four Great Centres of the Gelugpa school of Buddhism and the monastic seat of the lineage of the Panchen Lama.

April 25, 2021, marked the 32nd birthday of His Holiness the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཉི་མ།). After being recognized by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in 1995, the 11th Panchen Lama was abducted and detained at the age of six, making him the youngest political prisoner. His whereabout remain unknown.

Learn more down below.

LITTLE TIBET

To preserve and protect: Little Tibet (Toronto)

The greatest population of Tibetans in Canada can be found in Little Tibet, a neighbourhood in Parkdale. Along Queen Street W ranging from Sorauren Ave to Dunn Ave, you can find some of the best traditional Tibetan cuisines in the city of Toronto, and enjoy celebrating Lhakar here on Wednesday's!

Learn more down below.

TSAMPA, TIBETAN BARLEY

This week, we’ll be keying in on the hearty Tibetan diet, more specifically, TSAMPA! Barley has definitely been a staple food for the weather and overall conditions back home as it is high in nutrients and allows its calories to be quickly incorporated into the body.
Versatility is one way to describe Tsampa. From hunger to celebrations to mourning and best wishes. From your daily meal necessity to sculpturing Torma’s used for deity meditations. From mournful meditations to New Years celebrations, barley throwing is yet another ritual act that can be used amongst special occasions accompanied by chants expressing good luck for the near future for yourself as well as those surrounding you.
Not only for celebrations, however, Tsampa throwing also occurs at most Buddhist funerals, where the action is intended to release the soul of the deceased.
Have you ever tried Tsampa?

Learn more down below.

NORBULINGKA

Norbulingka, known as the Park of Treasures/Jewels, is located in Lhasa, Tibet. Its earliest construction dating back to 1755 and it is the summer residence of the Dalai Lama. Today, it has been converted to a public park and a museum. Termed the “Plateau Oxygen Bar”, it is one of the most well-preserved ancient man-made gardens, filled with a plethora of plants and trees. Norbulingka was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2001.

The annual Sho Dun (ཞོ་སྟོན་) Festival, also known as the Yogurt/Curd festival, is held at Norbulingka, where Lhamo (Tibetan Opera) is performed throughout the days with many visiting to celebrate and see the unveiling of the giant Buddha Thangka (around 42 METERS long!) at the Drepung Monastery (འབྲས་སྤུངས་དགོན་པ་).

If you have watched the movie Seven Years of Tibet (1997), it was on the grounds of Norbulingka where Heinrich Harrer built a small movie theatre for His Holiness! Have you seen the movie or read the book? We definitely recommend it!

Have you had the privilege of visiting the beautiful Norbulingka? Or is it on your bucket list, because it is on ours!

Learn more down below.

SAMYE MONASTERY

Samye Monastery is the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet by Shantharakshita (མཁན་ཆེན་བྷོ་དྷི་ས་ཏྭ།) and Guru Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche (གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།) during the reign of the 38th King Trisong Duetsen (ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བཙན།) in the 8th century (the three are known as the “Abbot, Master and Dharma” - མཁན་སློབ་ཆོས་གསུམ།). Many Indian and Tibetan scholars gathered here under the invitation of King Trisong Duetsen to translate the Buddhist canon from Sanskrit to Tibetan. Samye monastery is also the site where the first group of Buddhist monks were ordained in Tibet by Shantharakshita, an abbot from India.

Learn more down below.

CHOKHOR DUCHEN

Chökhor Düchen is the auspicious day that marks Buddha Shakyamuni’s first teaching, or the turning of the Dharma wheel, which includes the Four Noble Truths (བདེན་པ་བཞི།) and the Noble Eightfold Path (འཕགས་པའི་ལམ་ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད་པ།). It is one of the most sacred days in the Tibetan calendar and falls on the fourth day of the sixth Tibetan Lunar Month.

Tibetans celebrate this day by visiting monasteries, reading and reciting mantras, making offerings and hanging prayer flags. Positive merits done on this auspicious day is believed to be multiplied a 100 thousand times over. This is why we should use this opportunity to collect positive merits by showing compassion and generosity to all sentient beings.

Learn more down below.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

To preserve and protect: The Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths, which form the basis of Buddhism, were the focus of the Buddha's first teaching following his enlightenment. The noble truths are:
The Truth of Suffering
(Sanskrit: Dukkha)
The Truth of the Cause of Suffering
(Sanskrit: Samudaya)
The Truth of Cessation of Suffering
(Sanskrit: Nirhoda)
The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering
(Sanskrit: Magga)

Learn more down below.

CHAM DANCE, RITUAL DANCE

This week, we’ll be keying in on Tibetan Ritual performances, more specifically, The Cham Dance. When dancing, monks visualize themselves as deities performing ancient movements. The purpose of the dance is to draw in the evil surrounding the crowd and essentially trap it into an effigy (human body made of dough). The performance overall showcases a sense of peace and pathway to liberation. Originated in Tibet, this Buddhist festival dance carries forward to be celebrated amongst those not only in Tibet, however Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, as well as India.
Have you ever seen the Cham Dance live? If not, would you like to after learning a bit more?

Learn more down below..

JOKHANG

Jokhang (transl: the house of the Buddha statue, Jowo Shakyamuni), is located in Barkhor Square in the city of Lhasa. It was first established by the 33rd Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo (རྒྱལ་པོ་སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ), in the 7th century, who is credited with the introduction and foundation of Buddhism to Tibet. The Jowo Shakyamuni is believed to have been carved by a Hindu god, Vishwakarma, known as the divine architect and the statue is blessed by the Buddha himself, making Jokhang the most sacred and important architecture in Tibet. The Jokhang was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

For a virtual tour of the Jokhang and the Barkhor square, check out this youtube video by Amazing Places on Our Planet: Jokhang Temple & the Barkhor, Lhasa, Tibet, in HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtO5DVbQp98

The three components of UNESCO’s “Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa” include the Potala Palace (ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་ - inscribed in 1994), Jokhang (ཇོ་ཁང། - added as an extension in 2000) and Norbulingka (ནོར་བུ་གླིང་ཀ་ - added as a further extension in 2001).

Learn more down below.

LARUNG GAR

The Larung Gar Five Sciences Buddhist Academy is the largest and one of the most significant Tibetan Buddhist institutes in the world. It is located in Kardze, the Kham region of Tibet and was home to 10,000 to 40,000 residents, ranging from monks to nuns to lay people studying Buddhism at this sacred site. In 2016, an issue was decreed by the government of Sethar County to reduce the number of residents to 5,000 within the next year. In addition, the vacated homes and hostels were to be demolished under the order of safety issues such as overcrowding and high risk of fires, however in 2017, constructions of hotels and new roads begun to accommodate the visits of tourists. In recent years, other Tibetan Buddhist institutes have also suffered evictions and demolitions, such as the Yarchen Gar in eastern Tibet.

Learn more down below.

TSUGLAGKHANG

To Preserve and Protect:
Tsuglagkhang (Dalai Lama Residence in Dharamshala)

This week’s Dakpogyap post is in regards to Tsuglagkhang. The renowned monastery is most famous because it is also the residence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the most venerated Buddhist teacher in the world and is widely respected for his commitment both to nonviolence and to the cause of Tibetan freedom.

Within the slides, you can also review some of our interns’ personal experiences during their time around Tsuglagkhang.

Learn more down below.