Annotated Source

Mantras & Misdemeanors: An Accidental Love Story by Vanessa Walker, forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

So, I picked up this book when I first got interested in Tibetan refugee communities. I opened it the other day, just expecting a good read - you know those days when academia is just repulsive and you can't take it anymore? Yeah, it was one of those days (truthfully, it's been one of those months). I was surprised to find that it is not only a good read, but is also a treasure trove of firsthand accounts of the crazy lives these exiles live. Vanessa Walker, an Australian convert to Buddhism daylighting as a journalist, had traveled to India several times for spiritual reasons. This trip was purposefully designed to gather material for a book. She lived in Dharamsala, and, of all things, fell in love with a former monk and they got pregnant (I haven't gotten to read about the birth yet - just wait!). Mantras & Misdemeanors is one of those wonderful books that combines serious journalism with compelling, often hilarious storytelling. Hearing her Tibetan boyfriend/husband (it's ambiguous which) tell her in all seriousness how lucky and auspicious it was that she had a double chin just like the Dalai Lama about killed me. It easily and transparently transitions into transcriptions of interviews with some of the most important figures in the diaspora, some of those with whom an interview must have been a miracle to arrange. She sits down with the prime minister, the leader of the resistance movement (not all Tibetans are for the Middle Way approach of non-violence), the spirit-medium of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, and has frequent dialogue with her boyfriend/husband and other former monks. Their varying stories, opinions, and insights go a long way to show the complexity of the situation. The Dalai Lama's stamp of approval in the forward adds a powerful degree of legitimacy, and also shows how honest and open His Holiness is - several of the people Walker interviews are openly critical of the Dalai Lama and his politics.

One interesting and telling event, from an ethnomusicological perspective, is a wedding party Walker attends. The MC invites any who wish to come to the stage and sing songs, and several young men from Amdo (a region in Tibet) storm the stage and vigorously sing traditional shepherd songs. After the traditional repertoire is exhausted, a karaoke version of "Hotel California" is performed, and the rest of the night is spent bumpin' to techno. All of this is led by Tibetans, quite without regard for any Westerners who might be in attendance. It's simply what that group liked. It seems that, for that particular crowd anyway, tradition is beloved at the same time that modernity is embraced. Cool.

Milarepa, bones, and other things

"Like bubbles is
This life, transient and fleeting -
In it no assurance can be found."
A layman's life is like a thief
Who sneaks into an empty house.
Know you not the folly of it?

Youth is like a summer flower -
Suddenly it fades away.
Old age is like a fire spreading
Through the fields - suddenly 'tis at your heels.
The Buddha once said, "Birth and death
Are like sunrise and sunset -
Now come, now go."
Sickness is like a little bird
Wounded by a sling.
Know you not, health and strength
Will in time desert you?
Death is like an oil-dry lamp
(After its last flicker).
Nothing, I assure you,
In this world is permanent.
 - Milarepa

Milarepa is a way cool dude. The beginning of his life was no good, and he ended up turning to black magic and murdering nearly 40 of his cousins in a vengeful act upon his aunt and uncle who had taken his inheritance after his father's death. Later on he realized what heavy karma he had incurred through his hatred, and turned to the dharma for peace. He went on to study with Marpa, one of the great teachers of the Tibetan tradition, who gave Milarepa crazy tasks to do and refused to teach him the dharma. Marpa also beat and ridiculed Milarepa with some regularity, and made Milarepa build a tower three times and tear it down, all without explanation or apparent remorse. One day everything changed and Marpa became the epitome of loving father figures, going on to explain that all of the harshness was simply to help Milarepa burn off the effects of his negative deeds. Milarepa then was initiated into some high-level meditation methods, and went happily on his way to be a hermit and a yogi for the rest of his life. His teaching method usually took the form of songs, such as the one above.

Here's a typical depiction of Milarepa:

He's holding a skull cap begging bowl, a continual reminder of the transiency of life and the interdependence of all beings, and he has his hand to his ear so he can better hear the whisperings of the dharma.

Tibetan bone-work is incredible stuff, and the anatomist in me really wants to get one of these one day:

The use of bones in ritual and religious symbolism reminds me of the "ossuary churches" spread throughout the world, mostly in Europe. The monks of one of the ossuary churches (I can't remember which) volunteered their remains for the decoration of these churches as a physical assertion of the reality of the resurrection and their trust in a God who would eventually make all things whole. These churches also serve as a reminder that "to dust we return."

I like that. Maybe I'm a little morbid (who in my family isn't, at least a little), but I think constant reminders that death is a-comin' help me to be happier and kinder and more in the moment. I'm-a-wastin' away, and there's no time to waste! Things are also put in perspective - why worry and struggle so much when all the material I'm leaving behind is a bag o' bones? Why not focus on more enduring legacies than houses, cars, etc., when the only things that really last are love, peace, compassion, faith, and all of those other warm-squishy-feel-goods? It occured to me the other day while on the phone with my Mama (don't mamas have a way of bringing out the best in their chillens?) that once something is over, it's over and done. The biggest things that we plan and slave for - wedding receptions come particularly to mind - are finished in a few hours, and they don't affect us much afterward unless we really want them to. Why not enjoy the planning and the working as part of the event and by-golly-let-it-go when it's done? AND why not see where some of those worries and cares over things that don't really make us happy live, and let them die off peacefully?

Anywho, like I said, Milarepa is a cool guy. I want to find some Kagyu monks and/or nuns who can tell me more while I'm in Little Tibet, because monastics from this guy's lineage are probably cool too.

25 Questions Activity

To get ready for more in-depth research, our teachers asked us to think of 25 questions we would like to explore. Several of these can probably be answered, at least superficially, through reading, but many will have to be addressed in the field.

1. What is the relationship between the laypeople and the monastics in Bylakuppe?
2. What functions does music assume in the lives of the laypeople?

3. Ditto for monastics?
4. What kind of importance is placed on sacred music by the laypeople?

5. Is there a stigma against folk music/secular music, and does such a thing as secular music even exist?
6. What are some reasons given by the monastics for entering monastic life?
7. What, if any, religious principles undergird the sound and arrangement of sacred music?
8. Do these principles have any bearing on folk or secular music?
9. Do any Tibetan instruments depend on Tibet-specific materials (woods, metals, etc.), and if so, are the materials imported from Tibet or have substitutions been made for South Indian materials?
10. Is sacred music thought to have an effect on those who hear and make it, apart from spiritual nourishment (physical healing, mood change, garnering blessings)?
11. Do most Tibetan youth tend to cherish their culture, or is there a tendency towards sloughing off yesteryear and forgetting about the past? Is there a trend, or is it too individual to say?
12. What is being done to educate youth in traditional Tibetan music and art? What pedagogical methods are used?
13. How is this teaching translating into preservation of culture? Is there a feeling that what it means to be Tibetan is changing?
14. To what extent have preservation efforts invented "Tibetan-ness," and is it even possible to ascertain the extent of invention?
15. How do the elderly feel about new musics?
16. What musics are popular among Tibetan youth?
17. What musics are being performed by Tibetan youth?
18. Are western instruments readily available in the settlements?
19. What are some of the mixtures of music taking place in Bylakuppe? I've heard Tibetan techno, Tibetan soft rock, and Tibetan blues, but is there anything else happening there? Hip-hop, metal, latin, show-tunes a-la bollywood?
20. How does the Tibetan landscape affect music/instrument construction? Is the South Indian physical context problematic?
21. Do laypeople participate in sacred music? If so, how?
22. How do most people obtain music for consumption? Do music stores exist close enough, or is the internet the primary source? What effect, if any, does the internet have on the musical culture in Bylakuppe?
23. Is there any written form of Tibetan music?

24. How is Tibetan music learned by those who want to learn it? Is it learned by ear, or is whatever written form that may exist a primary teaching tool?
25. Is there a traditional order for learning traditional music, or does the teacher determine a course individual to each student?