One cultural item that stood out from the reading was the strong sense of revenge among different chiefdoms and clans or even towards a mere stranger. For example, when the young monk urinated on Nalo, Japey suddenly became so violent and attacked the young monk. To the author, he saw the revenge necessary to assert his family’s dominance. According to his Uncle Jakho, by holding back his tears, Nalo showed his strength.
I found this to be quite odd since Buddhism is such a peaceful religion, yet the Tibetans seem to be capable of being quite revengeful and violent over minor issues. The Tibetan culture appears to really value a sense of independence and to not show weaknesses to others. Also, the Tibetans do not seem to necessarily value friendship between others besides that are close to each other, as indicated by the wars among various nearby groups. These cultural attributes overall just do not seem to align that well with Buddhist teachings.
Another item that I found to be surprising from the reading was the burial ritual for the author’s mother. I was shocked the burial ritual was so grotesque and involved her flesh being torn and eaten by vultures. From the text, it seemed like the author did not really understand the rationale behind such a ritual, as he just merely recounts the details and briefly mentions that he was slightly frightened by it. The vivid details suggested that the ritual is culturally significant to the Tibetans in some way. It seemed really unusual for such a ritual to be used by Buddhists and na
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I would have expected a much more peaceful ritual to release one’s soul to be reincarnated. The violent ritual may be used to showcase the terribleness of death. However, Nalo’s mother made it appear as if death was nothing to be feared and was just merely a transition to a new “life” during the scene when she gave her last words in such a peaceful manner.
Furthermore, another interesting cultural item from the reading was the strong sense of duty to family and religion. Through the interactions between the author and his family members, it was made clear that strong family ties was important led to success and wealth in life. As the family lost members, the Tibetans seem to be believe that it weakened the family and led to more suffering.
This friendliness among family members is greatly different from the strong sense of hostility and revenge against outsiders, excluding revered Buddhist teachers, and aligns with Buddhist teachings. I just find it highly interesting that the Tibetans almost appear to have two different personas: one for when around strangers and one for when around family or during religious practices. During fervent prayers and when talking to revered Buddhist teachers, the author and his family members also expressed their concerns and in a way readily showcased their weaknesses. I also found this to be an interesting part of Tibetan culture as in any other circumstances, the characters in the reading did not want to show their weaknesses and express their concerns.
