Monday, August 17, 2020

Sacral Lights in Ladakh and Tibet

 
Ladakh - oil lamps



In the monasteries / gompas of Tibet and Ladakh as well as other parts of the Himalayas you will always find burning oil / butter lamps. Maybe you've heard of the yak butter lamps. And there's a difference nowadays between Tibet and Ladakh. In Tibet yak butter is burnt, whereas in Ladakh one uses vegetable oil.

 

 Filling oil in the lamps

Igniting the lamps

 

དཀར་མེ་ is Tibetan for butter lamp, Chinese uses  酥油灯 (酥油燈). The first and second character mean butter and the third one light [1]. Pilgrims and lay buddhists offer butter or oil to gain merit. Because of the danger of fires in th wooden structures butter lamps are often restricted to separate closed cabins, which sometimes resemble a greenhouse, in another courtyard on stonefloor. The the lighting of „an oil lamp represents the light of wisdom illuminating the darkness of ignorance“ [2].


Ladakh: wicks swimming in oil


Phakchok Rinpoche explains that „light removes and dispels misunderstanding. All of our suffering comes from not knowing and not seeing. Offering lights or butter lamps indirectly removes confusion.“ [3]

Tibet: five wicks in yak butter

Tibet: yak butter ready for the lamps


So how can we explain the difference in practise? My educated guess is that the people always used what they had. And maybe there had been enough yak butter in Ladakh when trade was possible with the Tibetan nomads. There are yaks in Ladakh, but in small numbers as is lacking the vast pastures of the Tibetan highland. Ladakh is rugged and agriculture is restricted to the bottomland around streams.


Tibet: grocery store in Lhasa
with yak butter on the desk

 

Tibet: yak butter lamps in a gompa


Links and References:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_lamp
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offering_(Buddhism)
[3] https://samyeinstitute.org/philosophy/light-offerings-why/

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