Tibetan food Part 1—Tsampa

The Tibet Plateau is a barren area and most crops can’t bear its harsh weather. It is extremely cold, extremely dry and under extreme ultraviolet exposure, so the Tibetans’ food is very limited. Tsampa is their staple food; it is made of roasted flour, usually barley flour. It is usually eaten mixed with the salty Tibetan butter tea. Or Tibetans can eat the flour while drinking salty Tibetan butter tea or barley wine.

Tibetans love to eat Tsampa not only because barley is their major crop, but also it is very convenient. As Tibet is a Plateau, the agriculture developed very slowly，while animal husbandry flourished. Tibetans depend on animal husbandry for their livelihood. They will move around to find the best meadow for their herds. Eating Tsampa is very easy and convenient to bring when Tibetans are far away from their home. Meanwhile, Tsampa is very nutritional; it can give Tibetans power and energy. It makes them strong enough to protect their herds and handle the harsh weather of the Tibet Plateau. They love Tsampa. 

Here are some videos I found on the Internet that may help you have a better understanding of Tsampa.

How to make Tsampa:

How to eat Tsampa:

TenDawa regain his power after eating Tsampa:

An American tastes the Tibet Tsampa:

བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས！Tashi delek!

The prayer flag

རླུང་རྟ་

As all the Tibetans are Buddhists, not all are monks. Unlike the monks have plenty times to chant the mantra all the day, the Tibetans have their own way to pray for the Buddha. The smart Tibetans create some special ways to chant the mantra; they use wind and prayer wheels. Tibetans print the mantra on the flags and let the wind flow through it. The wind chant the mantra means when the wind flow through the prayer flag, it means the wind is chanting the mantra for Tibetans. The prayer flag is an essential thing in Tibetans daily life. The Prayer flag in Tibet is a very special flag. It has five different colors, which have different meaning. It even has a certain sequence for the different colors when Tibetans hang the flags.

The sequence on the flag is blue, white, red, green and yellow that informs the change from sky to ground. Blue prayer flag reflects Sky. White prayer flag reflects cloud. Red prayer flag reflects fire. Green prayer flag reflects water. Yellow flag reflects ground.

In Tibet, one can always find the prayer flags, Tibetans hang the flags in everywhere: on the roof, near the lake, in the temple or on the mountains. When I was in Tibet, I also hung a flag on the mountain to pray for my family. 

THE PRYER FLAG

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The center of the universe

There is a temple has very special meaning in every Tibetan’s mind, they think this temple is the center of the universe. Every Tibetan has a same dream: in their life, they must walk to Lhasa, especially that temple. I mean walk is not only walk to there step by step, but also kotow and prostration in each steps. So the Tibetans may take years to walk to Lhasa; three years, eight years, ten years or even more. This temple is Jokhang temple, my second stop in Lhasa.

Jokhang temple was built during the reign of King Songsten Gampo. Like Potala Palace, this temple was also built for his marriage. It is the oldest Tibet Empire architecture in Lhasa, with Tang architectural style and Nepal architectural style. His two wives Princess Wencheng from China (Tang Dynasty), Princess Bhrikuti from Nepal are all brought some important Buddhist statues; he need a temple to enshrine them. These Buddhist statues made the Jokhang temple become the most sacred temple in Tibet because these statues were made by Buddha. Gautama Buddha only made three statues of himself, the eight year old statue, the twelve year old statue, and the twenty-five year old statue. The eight year old statue was enshrined in Ramoche Temple (Lhasa) and twenty-five year old statue was enshrined in Buddha- gaya^ (India). In these three statues, the twelve year old statue was the most gorgeous one, it reflect the prince status of Gautama Buddha when he was twelve. Princess Wencheng brought it to Tibet and enshrined it in Jokhang temple.

The gilt roof with Tang architectural style 

The gilt roof with Nepal architectural style

This statue is more than 2500 years old and it is still gorgeous, while the eight year old statue was broken. That means the twelve year old statue must have some super powers which protected it for thousands years. The Tibetans thought if they pray for this statue, the super power would also protect them. This belief makes Tibetans go to the Jokhang temple to see this statue through their lifetime. That makes Tibetans think this temple is the center of universe because Buddha is there.

The eight year old statue of Gautama Buddha

   

The Tibetans are kotow and prostration outside the temple

If one day you have a chance to visit Tibet, go to the Jokhang temple to pray to Buddha for yourself and your family.