Thammasat University students interested in Tibet, Asian studies, literature, folklore, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and related subjects may find a new book useful.

Shépa: The Tibetan Oral Tradition in Choné is an Open Access book available for free download at this link:

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0312

It is compiled and translated by, among others, Dr. Gyatso Marnyi, a Postdoctoral Associate in East Asian Studies and Lecturer in Religious Studies at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, the United States of America.

The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of cultural life in Tibet.

The publisher’s description notes:

This book contains a unique collection of Tibetan oral narrations and songs known as Shépa, as these have been performed, recorded and shared between generations of Choné Tibetans from Amdo living in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Presented in trilingual format — in Tibetan, Chinese and English — the book reflects a sustained collaboration with and between members of the local community, including narrators, monks, and scholars, calling attention to the diversity inherent in all oral traditions, and the mutability of Shépa in particular.

From creation myths to Bon and Buddhist cosmologies and even wedding songs, Shépa engages with and draws on elements of religious traditions, historical legacies and deep-seated cultural memories within Choné and Tibet, revealing the multi-layered conceptualization of the Tibetan physical world and the resilience of Tibetan communities within it. This vital and unique collection, part of the World Oral Literature Series, situates Shépa in its ethnographic context, offering insights into the preservation and revitalization of intangible cultural heritage in the context of cultural Tibet, Indigenous studies and beyond.

Scholars and students in the fields of anthropology, linguistics, ethnic and minority relations, critical Indigenous studies, Tibetan studies, Himalayan studies, Asian studies and the broader study of China will find much to reward them in this book, as will all readers interested in the documentation and preservation of endangered oral traditions, intangible cultural heritage, performance and textuality, and Tibetan literature and religions.

The Choné district is in the northeastern region of Tibet.

The Choné people are part of the Tibetan ethnic group—one of the fifty-five ethnic minority groups classified by the Chinese government in the 1950s.

The Choné people, who number around 30,000, work at farming, herding, trading, and occasionally logging. Their Chinese and Hui Muslim neighbors refer to them as half barbarians or Western barbarians, a term used by Chinese historians to refer to Tibetans since the Tang dynasty.

Shépa, meaning explanation, is an encyclopedic collection of songs practiced by the Choné people living in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province in northwest China.

Shépa describes Tibetan geography, history, social customs, and cultural as well as religious themes. Researchers argue that it is part of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of Tibet.

An ICH is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to be part of a place’s cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Intangible heritage consists of nonphysical intellectual wealth, such as folklore, customs, beliefs, traditions, knowledge, and language. Intangible cultural heritage is considered by member states of UNESCO in relation to the tangible World Heritage focusing on intangible aspects of culture.

The editors note:

Shépa occupies a particular site of emotional and cultural attachment for the Choné people. The social and cultural meanings of Shépa are situated in the everyday lives of local people, and are transmitted through their lived and embodied experiences. Our project is but a starting point—perhaps more of a midway point, given how much earlier work has already been undertaken—in service of the preservation of Shépa in Choné. We appreciate the many varied opinions that individuals hold over the interpretation of Shépa, both its specific elements and its abstract meanings. We also hope that all those invested in Shépa will consider how multiplicity and variability, rather than standardisation, can assist in the sustainability and vitality of Shépa, in the long run. […]

Shépa can be appreciated in many distinct ways: both as a composition of Tibetan poetry delivered in accessible language, or as a repertoire of Tibetan culture in which myths of creation, legends, religious traditions, rituals, and local customs are documented and described. […] The most celebrated and perhaps most salient element of Shépa is that it has endured the great transformations that occurred within Tibetan culture, transmitting and carrying forward elements of Tibetan civilisation, reflecting Tibetan political and religious history, and speaking to the shared culture, beliefs, and experiences that tie geographically distinct Tibetan communities together.

In one example, human aspects are compared to the body parts of a lion:

The lion’s right leg represents the formation of the physical world.

The left leg represents the origin of mankind.

The back represents the geography of the world.

The right hand symbolizes the genealogy of rulers.

The left hand symbolizes the genealogy of the human race.

The middle finger symbolizes the formation of Buddhism.

The neck represents lay people.

The head represents the lineage of one’s parents.

The tail represents songs of joy.

Here is an excerpt from another recitation:

• Answer:

Speaking of how the five hundred horses appeared,

The Eleven-faced Great Compassionate One,

From the five fingers of his second hand,

Appeared a rainbow of five-coloured rays:

White, red, and black,

As well as yellow and blue.

• Question:

What emerged from the white light of the rainbow?

Please sing the song slowly, there is no hurry.

• Answer:

Emerging from the white light of the rainbow,

Were a hundred white horses and a hundred white men.

The hundred white men were wood gods.

When arriving in a woodless region,

Each wood god would bring wood.

• Question:

What emerged from the red light of the rainbow?

• Answer:

Emerging from the red light of the rainbow,

Were a hundred red horses and a hundred red men.

The hundred red men were fire gods.

When arriving in a fireless region,

Each fire god would bring fire.

• Question:

What emerged from the black light of the rainbow?

• Answer:

Emerging from the black light of the rainbow,

Were a hundred black horses and a hundred black men.

The hundred black men were iron gods.

When arriving in an ironless region,

Each iron god would bring iron.

• Question:

What emerged from the yellow light of the rainbow?

Please sing the song slowly, there is no hurry.

• Answer:

Emerging from the yellow light of the rainbow,

Were a hundred yellow horses and a hundred yellow men.

The hundred yellow men were water gods.

When arriving in a waterless region,

Each water god would bring water.

This is the response to the song.

• Question:

What emerged from the blue light of the rainbow?

• Answer:

Emerging from the blue light of the rainbow,

Were a hundred blue horses and a hundred blue men.

The hundred blue men were human gods.

When arriving in an uninhabited region,

Each human god would bring a human.

Four pillars [of the tent] penetrated the ground firmly.

The skylight was steadily lifted up overhead.

The felt tent was raised. […]

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)