A new library
This week has been quite eventful. There are many new and exciting developments in our village. A few people in the village are planning an expedition into the mountains. It is a dangerous but rewarding journey they will be making, and it would be amazing if they discover some texts they can bring back to the village. Also, I have heard from a fellow friend here in the nunnery that a Tibetan medical factory is being built, and that many of the builders, doctors, and ritualist have gathered together to start the process of getting the factory built. On top of all that really exciting news, another meeting was held this week; a meeting to discuss our new library and printing press that will be built in the nunnery. I got together with many of my scholarly friends at the nunnery, other scholars in the village, a few builders, a doctor, and a ritualist to discuss the development of a new library and printing press. How inspiring this week has been. Words cannot describe the joy and gratitude I feel towards my fellow villagers who are working together to develop our home in a positive way, and to the Lama who so generously donated the funds to make these wonderful developments possible.
During the meeting that I attended this week about the library and printing press, we discussed the preliminary steps that need to have happen in order to get this project started. We need to research what texts we want in our library, and how we plan to get these texts; we also need to research how to build the library and printing press and what tools are resources are needed to do so. There is a lot to get done, so we divided the tasks among ourselves. I am working with Maha (Nikki) to research texts that would be good to have in the library. Many of the books we will be able to make ourselves with the new printing press, but there is also a fellow villager Herbert, who is a book trader, that we will be able to get books from.
Having a printing press and library is so important to our culture in Tibet. Our monastic curriculum is heavily focused on reading and writing. A customary part of our day to day routines in the monastic community is the translating and rewriting of texts. The printing press is clearly a blessing to our community and traditions. In our culture, books are a symbol of authority. Leaders earn authority through their reputation of being skilled readers, writers, and pursuing other scholarly endeavours. Those who can read and write well are seen as exceptionally intelligent and are well respected in our community. Books are not only a symbol of authority or great intelligence, but they are a symbol- an object, that represents something beyond itself. Books represent knowledge, stories, teachings, and practises of past generations which would be lost and forgotten without a record of them. Books are a very important part of our culture and an important feature of institutional wealth.
A very influential and meaningful part of the Tibet Buddhist education system is memorizing rituals and texts. It is our belief that knowledge needs to be immediately accessible. When our minds are engaged with the teachings and texts of our rituals and culture, their deeper meanings become apparent to us and the knowledge they convey become useful in our day to day lives. Knowing the texts is only the beginning, we need to share our knowledge. Sharing the readings and teachings out loud by reciting them in a rhythmic pattern is considered virtuous and can earn us merit, because we believe that we are constantly surrounded by gods and spirits and when we recite texts, they can learn and hear the teachings of Buddhism.
A very important text we would want to have in our library, is the Kangyur- the words of the Buddha. The Kangyur is divided up into sections on the vinaya, Prajnaparamita sutra, other sutras, and tantras.
As part of the Tibetan monastic curriculum, there are five consistent focal points that are taught: Abhidharma, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, Pramana, and vinaya. The material taught in each of these topic may be emphasized and weighted differently among different schools, but overall, the main topics are the same and meaningful to our traditions. Abhidharma means a “higher teaching”. The abhidharma is part of the Tripitaka (three baskets). Tripitaka is a term we use to describe the various canons of scripture in Buddhism. Prajnaparamita means perfection of wisdom. It is the way of the bodhisattva (an enlightened being motivated by compassion to stick around to help others reach enlightenment). Madhyamaka the study of the “middle way”, an idea between eternalism and Nihilism. The middle way was also described by the Buddha as moderation between the extremes of sensual indulgence and estheticism. Pramana is the study of logic and reason, the means of knowing. Vinaya (one of the three pitaka baskets) is a set of disciplinary codes for the monastic community. It consists of five lay precepts (no killing, no stealing, no lying, no sexual misconduct, and no consumption of alcohol), ten monastic precepts, over 200 rules for fully ordained monks, and over 300 rules for fully ordained nuns. These a many of the texts that would be meaningful to have in our new library. I must return now to my research.
