Workshop I in Dehradun: Initial Questions

Question 1: Why is it important to protect our heritage?

“The more it vanishes the more valuable it becomes and the greatest the need to preserve it” 

Tsultrim Dorje Nakban

“From the point of view of the health of the people, the artifacts of the past were not dangerous to our health. Nowadays even the metal pots we use for cooking are not as healthy as the old clay ones, and the wood stoves have been replaced by gas stoves that can affect us in a negative way.”

Ani Tsering Angmo

“We need to preserve our heritage and continue to learn from the past. When we have forgotten everything we will no longer be identified as Ladakhis.”

“There was a correct way to build a statue, it followed particular rules of proportion. It we don’t learn them now, we will not be able to achieve the same level of perfection.”

Thundup Namgyal

“From these objects we learn of the lifestyle of the people of old, their language and their knowledge, so we benefit from them. Then there are the old technologies which would be lost forever when the monuments disappear. Also in a spiritual way. For example in Bodhgaya, the value of the place comes both from the monuments themselves, but also from all the learned and holy individuals that have passed through it.”

Ven. Konchok Pandhey

 Question 2: Is it possible to bring the modern and the traditional way of life together?

“In Wanla we can see how important it is to combine the two. Before, always after it had snowed and people noticed that there were some cracks on the roof cover, they just piled more earth to add another layer and cover the cracks. In this way the roofs would become very heavy and collapsed. Now there is a new plastic synthetic material that seals the roofs. This is an improvement. Through its use we are protecting the old.”

Rinchen Angmo

"Through globalization we are flooded by new things, but our culture is still rich and strong. This is the time when we need to preserve our culture. But not by rejecting the new.”

Nilza Angmo

“I lived seven years in Taiwan, and there people very concerned about the way things are changing so fast. They are afraid of dangerous chemicals in the food. And they have mangos that are so much bigger than those in India. Giant mangos are not natural.”

Ani Tsering Angmo

“Culture changes. So we should try to learn from the good elements of tradition and leave the negative ones. Sometimes in the old times weak decisions were made. Ego influenced them sometimes. There was little free thought. Blind faith and strict continuity were problematic too.

A monk called Gedun Choepel (1905 – 1955) travelled to the West. When he returned wrote critically about the typical Tibetan attitude towards change which declares: ‘Old is grand and glorious. New is inauspicious.’”

Ven. Konchok Pandhey

“With change many people migrate to Ladakh (army, skilled labour) so the environment has come under stress. We used to be able to drink water from the streams, now this is not possible in and around Leh. The reason why we feel strong and healthy is because the water and air are still pure in the villages.

Many traditional ways are being lost. Now we copy the West in many ways. I even feel the changes in myself. Every time I return to the village I find it harder to live in the dark and smokey rooms, and I frankly don’t like the food anymore.

Even with the Gompas, there are now residential buildings being built higher than them. And sometimes one now can find the use of symbols that used to be reserved for the religious buildings in the houses of the wealthier people. One can almost not distinguish them anymore.

Regarding the protection of buildings, the same way that we wash every day and change our clothes, in the same manner we should repair and maintain our old buildings. Now there are not enough monks and nuns, so we need to spread the awareness among the villagers and the village authorities so they too take care of the religious buildings.”

Ani Sonam Angmo

» Field campaigns I and II: Wanla