སྨོན་ - ལམ་ Monlam - A Path of Blossoming Wishes
by Takma Metok
Sacred objects are the material and tangible forms that embody our sacred རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ ten-del (interconnections). Sacred objects such as སྐུ་ ku (statues), ཐང་ག་ thangka (paintings), མཆོད་རྟེན་ choeten (stupas), and དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ kyilcor (mandala) are the bodies and abodes of our ཡིད་དམ་ yi-dam, བླ་མ་ lama, ལྷ་ lha, སྲུང་མ་ srungma, ཀླུ་ lhu, མེས་པོ་དང་མེས་མོ། mepo memo, ཡུལ་ལྷ་གཞི་བདག་ yulha shidak, and many མི་མ་ཡིན་ mimayin (nonhuman) kin. We also carry these interconnections on our bodies through sacred objects such as སྲུང་ང་སྲུང་མདུད་ srung-nga srung-due (protection lockets & knots), ཕྲེང་བ་ tren-ngas (beads) and བླ་གཡུ་ la-yu (turquoise).
We honour the sanctity of these objects and care for them by reaffirming our ten-del relationships to them, each other, and the land. We uphold these relationships through rituals practised intergenerationally in households and community spaces like དགོན་པ་ gompas (monasteries and nunneries) and beloved mountains, lakes, and rivers. For example, we mindfully braid the precious land with sacred objects in daily rituals of making offerings of ཡོན་ཆབ་ yon-chab (clean water), བསང་གསོལ་ saang (incense of aromatic medicinal plants and tsampa), མཆོད་མེ་ choe-mey (butter lamps), ཁ་བཏགས་ khata (ceremonial scarves), མེ་ཏོག་ (flowers), and where possible, the first fresh harvests of our crops.
Thus, in these acts of care, our sacred objects become sites of collective intergenerational re-membering, learning, and praying. In the company of our sacred objects, we tell the stories of our ancestors across time, learn our ten-del ways of being, and materialise (སྨོན་ - ལམ་ monlam) the worlds we wish for all of our futures. Hence, in our communities, our sacred objects are our ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་ yishin norbu (wish-fulfilling treasures).
…
Following the colonisation of Tibet in the 1950s and the subsequent crackdown on Tibetan ancestral ways of life, hundreds of thousands of our sacred objects were blatantly defaced and looted from our communities by the colonisers and opportunistic “collectors”.
(Affluent predatory collectors “purchased” the remaining sacred objects for little money from community members in dire conditions of dispossession and displacement).
These stolen sacred objects continue circulating in museums, research facilities, universities, collectors’ homes, and repositories beyond our communities’ circles of care. Many of our community members cannot access these institutes due to intersectional issues of visa restrictions, statelessness, class divides, ableism, and more. Outside our self-determined, collectively-tended spaces, such is the “provenance” of sacred objects in many so-called ‘Museums of Tibetan and Himalayan Art’.
The Rubin Museum of Art alone “possesses” at least 3600 sacred objects.
These museums who purportedly “steward” our traditions, including the Rubin Museum, hoard and exhibit our sacred objects for profit in sterile naked conditions, deprived of the community-based care they require. These objects are continually and doubly displaced from the ancestral land and the interconnections of our living communities. Most alarmingly, we have noticed that many of the kus and choetens in the Rubin Museum have been disembowelled of their zung-shoog. Sacred objects such as kus and choetens must typically house གཟུངས་གཞུག་ zung-shoog (རིང་བསྲེལ་ ring-srel precious relics and གཟུངས་སྔགས་ zung-ngak prayers blessed during special ceremonies) inside as their essence.
Where are our object relatives’ zung-shoog? Where are their offerings?
When will you allow us to prostrate before our sacred objects?
Why do you appropriate and then censor our narratives?
References (for further reading)
བོད་བརྒྱུད་ནང་བསྟན་ལྷ་ཚོགས་ཆེན་མོ། འཇིགས་མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྡོ་རྗེས་སྒྲིག་རྩོམ་བྱས། ལྷ་རིས་པ་ཤ་བོ་ཚེ་རིང་། 2001 མཚོ་སྔོན་མི་རིགས་དཔེ་སྐྲུན་ཁང་། ISBN: 7542008161
མདའ་དང་འཕང། མཁར་རྨེའུ་བསམ་གཏན་གྱི་གསུང་རྩོམ་ཕྱོགས་བསྒྲིགས། 2007 ཀྲུང་གོའི་བོད་རིག་པ་དཔེ་སྐྲུན་ཁང་།
བསང་མཆོད་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ་བ། ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ།
Tsering Wangmo Dhompa
Tsering Yangzom Lama