Jain Journal 2002 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 33

Dr. Arpita Chatterjee : Some Perspectives of Ahimsā
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rituals involving these items stems also from the same reasons. Yak oil lamps are found in monasteries simply because they do not have any other means to light one. So, irrespective of the religion they follow, their customs and rituals are in many ways similar to those of the indigenous Bon religion.
Man had little control over nature specially when it is harsh and difficult. So when he is at the mercy of the elements it is but natural that he would try to propitiate the spirits in order to ensure the welfare and good fortune of himself and his near and dear ones.
Going one step further we find that while these customs are still prevalent in Tibet things have changed amongst the Tibetan communities exiled in India. They no longer use Yak oil in lamps but use vegetable oil or ghee. Bodies are either cremated or buried. Tucci, in his "Two Scientific Expeditions To Nepal", writes about a Bon funeral procession in the North of Nepal (where Bon is found) where merely the effigy of a dead man, and not the body, is thrown, symbolically, into the river. The body obviously, must have been disposed off in a more conventional way.
In the rituals too, where once flesh, blood and bones were used, today flour, water and other ingredients are used along with red colour as a symbol.
Food habits too have changed. Meat is no longer their staple diet and they have vegetarian food as much as they have non-vegetarian items.
Thus, the influence of elements - topography, climate and other geo-physical constraints is unmistakably apparent in the way the Tibetans live in the high plateau. Prompted by mother nature, Tibetans are rather compelled to apparently compromise with the basic tenets of the religion they practice, i.e. non-violence of Buddhism. Nevertheless, the rituals, customs and the mundane living ways can be taken not to have penetrated so deep into their spiritual attitude that negates the ultimate teachings of Buddhism, i.e. love, compassion and shunning of violence unless required for the very survival.