Published by: World Tibet Network News Wednesday, December 10th, 1997 International Human Rights Day

Inter Press Service 08-DEC-97

NEW DELHI, (Dec. 5) IPS - Throughout the four decades since the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, fled to India, his people have clung steadfastly to their culture and recreated mini-Tibet's wherever they have landed in exile.

An eloquent testimony of just how the displaced Tibetan people keep their vibrant culture alive was on show last week at the "Tanghka" exhibition in New Delhi, the first stop on a three-city Indian tour, before moving on to Europe and the United States.

Scrolls of colorful brocade in blues and reds framed exquisite Buddhist "Tanghka" paintings. Each had the brilliance of the new, and yet the peace and patient lines of an antique. How has the richness survived 38 years of exile?

"The young painters Migmar, Bhuchung, and Ugyen who have made these Tangkhas have been trained for almost 10 and 12 years now," says Sangye Yeshe, a venerable master and the private Tanghka painter of the Dalai Lama.

Yeshe is one of the few remaining painters who have been trained in Tibet. As he passes on his knowledge to the younger generation, he says: "We identify children as young as 10-years-old and begin the training right away. The first three years they only learn to sketch and in the following seven years they gradually lean to fill in the colors."

Unlike the common practice of using synthetic colors, those used in these paintings are natural stone colors. "The brilliant blue found so often in Tanghka paintings is difficult to get. It still comes from Tibet. The other colors we get in India," says Ugyen, 25, one of the youngest painters.

The Tangkhas have been mounted on specially woven brocade, typically Tibetan in design. "Tibetan goods are in great demand and are very marketable. But there is also the potential here for commercial exploitation unless people are aware of the quality and integrity that traditional Tanghka painting requires," says master painter Yeshe.

Keeping in touch with the highest values of their tradition, Doboom Tulkul, director Tibet House, says: "Earlier Tanghka painting was not the livelihood of the painters but was their entire life. Today we can not expect that. Our tradition also recognizes that wise people receive respect and alms -- which means both are equally important."

"To maintain the standard we organize competitions and exhibitions. To get them respect, we make an attempt to create a conducive atmosphere. Culture, I think is a way of thinking, or the attitude. It is not necessarily just the external manners," says Doboom Tulku.

The attempt is made at two levels. One is with reference to the community as a whole. The other is to communicate to the literati and thinking minds of India. "For example, we hold medical camps for the poor people around this area. We get doctors in Tibetan medicine from all over India," says Doboom Tulku. This gives exposure to the doctors, service to the people, and fosters the medical science of Tibet.

The strategy followed to keep society's respect for the artists like the Tanghka painter has incredible vision. The Tibet House organizes such events that highlight the commonality between many Indian traditions and Buddhist traditions.

These events, however, insignificant, by themselves, fall into a pattern as they build bridges between the two communities. "We emphasize cultural commonalities, particularly the ethical side, like the emphasis on tolerance or ahimsa," says 'lama' Tulku.

While simultaneously establishing a rapport with the people around them, thus recognizing that no culture can flourish in isolation, the Tibet House organizes various dialogues, seminars and discussions to awaken the intellectuals, for they are the one who can make society respect the painters.

"We organize dialogue between scholars from monastic tradition and modern university scholars," says Tulku.

The effect the dialogues have are two-fold -- they update the understanding of a religious thought in contemporary lingua franca, while inspiring the monastic thought process to be more innovative and communicative in their philosophy.

The results of these dialogues are communicated to the various Tibetan colonies. Young boys and girls are given a chance to thus find many answers to present day problems in their own culture. Their culture is thus still relevant, still living.

One example of this was a workshop the Tibet House conducted for Tibetan teachers from all over India. Scholars, educators, philosophers and environmentalists came together to discuss the need to transmit concern for the environment to the children.

The workshop moved from familiar topics, including Buddhist thought and the Dalai Lama's set of poems on the environment, to the realm of the unfamiliar: how trees can be used to teach the fundamentals of trigonometry, the concept of environment in the teachings of other religions, and so on.

The exhibition is another attempt to keep their culture alive. "There is growing appreciation of Tibetan art across the world," says the proud master, Yeshe. "Today we have students coming in from Korea, Russia, and so on. The Dalai Lama allows anybody to learn the art, for a thing of beauty should be shared, he says."