tibetans 15 days of prayer for · tibetan people. the word ‘losar’ is a tibetan word for new...

The New Year is the biggest festival in the Tibetan world, similar to Christmas in the West. There are a lot of religious activities held during this period, so it is really a good time for us to pray for them.

Why 15 days?The Tibetan people normally celebrate the New Year for 15 days.

What should you do?Each day, we will introduce you to different cultural things about the Tibetan New Year and Tibetans. We hope this will provide you with great stimulus for prayer.

• Firstly, read the article.• Then, go through the prayer items.• Finally, ask the Holy Spirit for special revelation about

how to pray.

Why have we chosen to pray during the Tibetan New Year?

Security concern: You are advised not to make hard copy print outs if you are living in China

Please note that these are random photos and are not of those people specifically mentioned in this prayer guide.

Tibetans15 Days of Prayer for

during the Tibetan New Year Feb 19th - March 5th, 2015

Tashideleh!” “ Tashideleh!” Today you can hear

“Tashideleh” in every region and in every street in Tibetan areas. “Tashideleh” means good luck. Tibetan New Year is really the most important festival for Tibetan people. The word ‘Losar’ is a Tibetan word for New Year. ‘LO’ means year and ‘SAR’ means new.

The celebration of Losar can be traced back to the pre-Buddhist period in Tibet. During the period when Tibetans practised the Bon religion, every winter a spiritual ceremony in which people offered large quantities of incense to appease the local spirits, deities and protectors was held. This religious festival later evolved into an annual Buddhist festival which is believed to have originated during the reign of


during the Tibetan New Year

Pude Gungyal, the ninth King of Tibet.

Long history comes with customs. WhenLosarcomesandthefirstrooster crows, housewife Drolma brings her buckets, Tibetan wine, “grain hopper” and spices, and rushestobethefirsttofetchwater which is believed to bring blessings to her.

Unfortunately, before she arrives at the well, she already sees her neighbor fetching water. It means

this year she could notbethefirst.Drolma, however, stilllightsafireand offers tea and water to worship the Water God. Then she takes the “new water” and goes home without

turning back. It is said that the water will no longer bring them any blessing if one turns back.

When Drolma returns home, she fillsthegod’scupwiththe“newwater” and pours the rest into a water jar. She also needs some of the water to prepare congee with highland barley wine to show that this is the beginning of the new year.

In Tibet today, however, it is not common to see women like Drolma and her neighbors still fetching water following the traditional customs. Nowadays, Tibetan houses have a tap water supply. “Creative” housewives sacrificea“kada”(awhitescarfwith the meaning of blessing) to the tap, start smoke with mulberry leaves, pray sincerely and then turn on the water tap. The water that comes out is also called “new water” with blessings.

Day 1 Tashideleh!

Pray that:

• The Tibetans will enjoy a happy new year.

• Jesus will be the Lord of the Tibetan New Year.

• Christian friends will have opportunities to celebrate with Tibetans, and gain insight into the culture and discover new bridges to sharing the good news.



Today Dorjie was very excited. He was going to the monastery

with his family. They were not necessarily going to appease any goddess, but rather, to watch the spiritual dance.

In Tibet, Losar is not only a culturalcelebration.Youcanfindthousands of related activities or

ceremonies throughout the process. The spiritual dance is among them.

During the Losar celebration,

each monastery will arrange their spiritual dance, a religious ceremonial dance. It can be in the form of solo, dual, or even group dance. All dancers are monks, strictly chosen and trained. When they are dancing, they wear masks and long gowns with colored ribbons, accompanied by musical

instruments such as cymbals, battlehorns, and reeded horns.

Today the spiritual dance was followed by the blowing of a conch horn. Dorjie and his family were waiting quietly for the monks who would be wearing masks of protecting deities, monsters

and demons to enter the dancing avenue. Every action of the monks had its religious meaning. Dorjie concentrated to watch the dance. He knew that the spiritual dance was a religious activity that was said to expel demons, take away bad luck and bring them blessings. Such an auspicious activity was something not to be missed during this big festival of the year.

During the dancing ceremony, the audience paid close attention. Dorjie’s mother kept mumbling and Dorjie knew that his mother was chanting. A moment later, Dorjie saw many neighbors and relatives bow down on their knees, with their foreheads touching the ground in worship. The worshipers’ up and down movements and the monks’ dancing seemed to form a perfect picture of harmony.

After several rounds of solo and dual dances, the crowded group dance began, and Dorjie knew that today’s spiritual dance was coming to an end. Although he had already stood there to watch for nearly two hours, Dorjie was not tired. On the contrary, he felt relieved, joyful and blessed. He believed that the religious dance was not only a ceremony that could expel demons, but also, it could clean one’s soul. He believed that this year would be better than the previous.

Day 2 The Spiritual Dance for the New Year

Pray that:

• The Tibetans will be set free from the demons and those spiritual rituals.

• The Tibetans will no longer be cheated by the lies from the monks

• The Tibetans will know Jesus is the only one worthy of worship.

Today(the3rddayoftheNewYear) is really a happy day for

Losang, a young Tibetan man. Last night he made a lot of preparations for today’s worship, for example, incense, holy water, wine, and food. The most important thing, however, was putting a new prayer flagonabamboostick.Allsuchpreparations can only be done by males. This morning Losang



woke up very early, about 5:00 am. He rode a horse and went to the mountain with his neighbor. It is normal practice that males should represent the family to carry out theworshipritualsonthe3rddayof the New Year.

The males burnt juniper leaves and incense, put their bamboo sticks on the mountain, and worshipped the mountain god. Then they ate, drank and danced. At about 4 pm they left and went back home. Losang cut a small bush, and put it in the front of his home, thus representing the protection of the mountain god.

Though Losang was busy all the day, he didn’t rest. He had to do the circle dance with his friends. The circle dance is a Tibetan folk dance. The dancers dance hand in hand, usually without music, but accompany themselves by singing. The males dance with big motions, likeeaglesflying.Thefemales

dance gently, like butterfliesflyingina garden. Everyone can join or withdraw whenever they want. Nowadays, the dances are well-organized, and amplifierswithMP3music are used.

Losang and his friends joined the circle quickly. Losang, although not good at dancing, enjoys singing and dancing, just like most other Tibetans. They danced for over two hours,thenfinallywent home with joy and excitement.

Day 3 Let’s dance together

Pray that:

• The Tibetans will know Jesus is the highest God.

• Jesus Christ will break through all the chains and bondages.

• The Tibetans will have good time with their friends.

prepared, at the auspicious corner of the village at night. According to her father, the best location is the junction of three streets.

After she disposes of the garbage, she goes home and gets ready for a bath. Tibetans are used to taking a bath be-fore the New Year, which symbolizes washing away all the bad luck. Yet, there are taboos for picking a right dateforbathing.MenbatheontheNew Year’s Eve whereas women have to bathe on the day before New Year’s Eve or before; otherwise it is unlucky.

Onthefirstmorn-ing of the New Year, Bumo’s mother gets many different kinds of food ready for Bumo and other family mem-bers to eat. The more they eat, the better it is for them as this is the only day of a year, which means that the whole family will be satiated through-out the whole year without worrying about a lack of food.

There are countless taboos for Tibetans’ living habits. Taboos are

particularlysignificantintheNewYear, a festival which emphasises auspicious meanings. Tibetans, rang-ing from the elderly to children, have to speak and act carefully so as not to irritate or annoy relatives and friends, hence everyone can celebrate the festival delightedly and peacefully.

Bumo has been a very obedient girl since she was young. She strictly fol-lows her parents’ teaching and com-mands, including the traditional living taboos. During the New Year, she is especially cautious.

The penultimate day of every year is the day for all families to have a thorough house clean-up. They sweep every place, ranging from scripture hall and kitchen to children’s bed-rooms and pens for livestock. Bumo diligently helps her mother to do all sorts of cleaning; meanwhile, she collects all the garbage and dumps it together with portraits of evil be-ings, which her father has already



Inaddition,Bumodefinitelydoesnotdo any cleaning such as sweeping floorsandwashingclothesonthisday.There are several reasons for not do-ing so. First, Tibetans think that this will sweep or wash away all the good luck.Inaddition,sweepingonthefirstday of the New Year represents that their house will be dirty every day and it will always need a lot of cleaning. OnthefirstdayoftheNewYear,parents cannot reprove their chil-dren because of the effect on their fortune. So not matter how mischie-vous Bumo’s siblings are, her parents can only remind them gently but not severelyscoldthem.Moreover,theelder brother who usually speaks foul language also tries to control himself so as to avoid bad luck. What’s more interesting is that neighbours cannot throw yak dung outside as it will mean that they will suffer great loss in terms of horses, yaks and sheep, as well as harvests of crops. In other words, they can never be rich.Bumo has also heard from her father that Tibetans never borrow from others, especially money, in the New Year or he will end up needing to borrow a lot and having lots of debt and misfortune. A Tibetan proverb says: “Whoever is rich owes no debts”. Therefore, Bumo returns all the bor-rowed books to her classmates a few days in advance, even though she has notyetfinishedreadingthosebooks.Only when Tibetans return all the borrowed items can they enjoy the New Year without cares.

Day 4 Taboos in Tibetan New Year

Prayer Points:

• The Tibetans can enjoy the New Year freely and peace-fully.

• The power of the evil spirits behind these taboos will be broken over the Tibetans.

• The Tibetan believers are brave enough to say ‘NO’ to these taboos.

New Year is the busiest time of year. Tibetans prepare dif-

ferent food to eat and clothes to wear. They also prepare decora-tions of various sorts, depending on their wealth.

Lhamo planted some grain seed last year. She used what was har-vested from that for decoration this year, and as a way of asking for blessing of a good harvest in the coming year.

Lamb’s heads are not easy to buy, especially when New Year is coming as the demand is high. In the Tibetan language, the pro-nunciation of “lamb’s head” is very close to “Losar”. Therefore Tibet-ans like to decorate using lambs’ heads during New Year. Fortunate-ly, Lhamo had quite a good rela-tionship with the butcher, and had already asked him to reserve one



for her. As it is a festival, Lhamo colored the lamb’s head with oil, and stuck some sun and moon-shaped graphics on it. A lamb’s head can be used as a decoration, or to show celebration. There is a custom in Lhamo’s family: They must cook lamb meat to eat, sym-bolising good fortune.

Nonetheless, for Lhamo the most time-consuming work is to prepare the Chemar, which is given a place of honor in the home. Chemar is a type ofsacrificethatis used in all cel-ebrations, such

as moving house and weddings. When Lhamo was preparing for theChemar,shefilledonesideofabasket with barley grain and fried barleygrain,andfilledtheothersidewithtsamba(Tibetanbarleyflourmeal).Thisgrainisthesym-bol of good harvest. She covered

the top of the basket with butter, symbolising the prosperity of live-stock. Finally, Lhamo stuck in some ears of barley and highland barley tomakethefivecropsbasketmorebeautiful.

In the early morning of the New Year, Lhamo’s family members gathered together and sat ac-cording to the order of seniority. Lhamo held the Chemar and came respectively to the front of her el-ders one by one. Each family mem-ber would say “Tashideleh!” to

Day 5 Auspicious offerings

Pray that:

• The Tibetans will know Jesus is the source of all kinds of blessings.

• The Tibetans will know Jesus is their protection.

• Tvhe Tibetans will receive Christ’s goodness and peace.

Lhamo. They took some grain from the basket and threw it to the sky. Thisisasacrificetothegoddesses.They then wished everyone peace and happiness throughout the year. Then they took some grain to eat. It symbolised celebrating the good harvest in the previous year and prayer for abundant harvest of all food crops in the coming year.

Tibetans attach huge impor-tance to their family. This is

reflectedevenmoreduringNewYear days.

To Losang’s family, Losar is a huge annual family gathering. Everyone comes back in time to spend their new year together, even if they are studying far away, or working out of town.

The Festive Dinner is the highlight of the New Year Festival. On New Year’s Eve in the Tibetan calendar, Losang’s family joins together to eat “Ku-ta”. “Ku-ta” is made of nine ingredients including, car-rots,ginsengfruit,pea,flour,whitecabbage. Eating Ku-ta symbolizes getting rid of the old and welcom-ing the new, and also expelling the bad luck of the previous year, and all demons. On other days, cook-ing Ku-ta is his wife’s job but for the New Year Ku-ta, Losang and his wife prepare it together. He does so because the way of doing



this New Year’s Ku-ta is differ-ent from normal days. They make some shapes such as moon and sun usingflour,andothernoodlesinordinary shapes, just a bit larger. These noodles encircle an array of symbols which will represent the fortunes and conduct of the re-spective persons joining the meal. Ku-ta will be randomly distributed in each bowl. This year, Losang’s elder son got the noodle with the

shape of the sun and the moon, symbolising his health and fortune for the coming year. His wife got the one with a little square cush-ion, representative of the coming daysbeingeasyforher.Hisfirstdaughtergotawhitelamb’sfleece,symbolising her generosity and gentleness. As for his younger daughter, she got ceramics which symbolises her laziness. It is a cus-tom. It is a game. Family members praise and tease each other. On New Year’s Eve night, the family becomes lively.

As for the following days, Losang and his family join different cel-ebrations in the village, and visit their relatives. After all, Tibetan New Year is a season in which people celebrate and enjoy their family time together.

Day 6 Happy New Year Family Time

Prayer Points:

• The Tibetans will enjoy their family life.

• God will use the Tibetans’ family time as a time to share His love and mercy.

• Christians will bring His Good News to every family.

Tibetans believe in animals sym-bolic of Terrestrial Branches.

There are 12 animal symbols in the Tibetancalendar:Mouse,Ox,Ti-ger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep,Monkey,Chicken,DogandPig. Although it is similar to the Han Chinese calendar year, there is a slight difference between them. The Tibetan calendar has its particular characteristics. Tibetan animal symbols are combined with yin-yang philosophy and 5-phases of Chinese philosophy.

Tibetans believe in counteraction, such as, the horse counteracts with the mouse, the ox counteracts with the sheep, etc. In the year of the Sheep, for example, people born in the year of the Ox would have bad luck. Tibetans must counteract the bad luck by chant-ing, or wearing some decorations. The most common and fashionable decoration is the copper mirror with 12-animal symbols on it. You can simply tie one around your waist to get rid of the bad luck.

This year is the year of Wood Sheep. Tibetan life is closely relat-



ed to Sheep. Their ancestors had long treated the lamb as a goddess to worship. In Tibet, some families will hang a lamb’s head, decorated with 5 colors of wool, on their door frames.Monksmustbepresentand consecrate the lamb’s head as it is being placed in the home. The lamb’s head symbolises that the goddess will protect the family, and the power of the lamb head expels demons.

In some areas when people offer sacrificestothegoddesses,theywillsacrifice“goddesslambs”.“Goddess lambs” usually have a black head with a white forehead.Their wool is totally white. Tibet-ans believe that after the god-dessesacceptthesacrifice,theywill hide in certain internal organs in the goddess lamb. The exact location can only be known be the lama who presides over the cer-emony. The lama will speak differ-ent blessings regarding different organs.

In Tibet, the sheep represents “good luck”, and also meekness and harmony. Therefore, Tibetans

believe that if children are born in the year of the Sheep, they will tend to be gentle and well behaved. Parents are very glad if they have a baby daughter born in this year.

Day 7 The Year of the Wood Sheep

Pray:

• The Tibetans will know our Father God is the true Creator of the Universe.

• The Tibetans will receive the true blessings that come through Christ.

• The Tibetans will know they are all destined to be children of God, no matter which year they were born in.

Monlam‘ is a big festival in Lhasa. It runs from the 8th to

15thdayofthefirstmonth.

Theword‘Monlam’isaTibetanwordfor‘Prayer’,soMonlamisalso known as the Great Prayer Festival. It is in memory of the Buddha. According to the legend, inthefirstmonthoftheyear,Buddha conquered or converted six holy men of false religions. The event was established in 1409 by Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama’s order.

The main purpose of the Great Prayer Festival is to pray for the long life of all the holy Gurus of all traditions, for the survival and spreading of the Dharma in the minds of all sentient beings, and for world peace. The communal prayers, offered with strong faith and devotion, help to overcome obstacles to peace and generate



conditions conducive for everyone to live in harmony.

MonksfromtheThreeGreatMonasteriesofTibet(Monasteriesof Drepung, Sera and Ganden) assemble in the Jokhang Temple to pray to Buddha Sakyamuni’s image as if it were the living Buddha.

As the grandest religious festival in Tibet, Tibetan mask operas are performed and thousands of monks gather for chanting, showing the giant Buddha Thangka paintings before the Jokhang Temple, attracting enthusiastic crowds of locals and pilgrims. Some people will even prostrate step by step all the way to Lhasa. The examination for Geshe degree (thehighestdegreeinBuddhisttheology), in the form of sutra debates, is held. Pilgrims crowd to listen to sermons and to make religious donations.

The last day of the Great Prayer Festival, the Butter Lamp Festival celebrates the victory of Sakyamuni over non-Buddhist opponents. The festival was established by the Lord of Neu Dzong in 1409.

Giant butter and Tsampa sculptures varying in forms of auspicious symbolsandfiguresaredisplayed in the Barkhor market. People keep singing and dancing throughout the festive night. Often, a puppet show is held as well and the event will last for several days. The Butter Lantern Festival is believed to be the

happiest festival in Tibet.

Day 8 “Mönlam”Festival

Pray that:

• The Tibetans will know that Jesus is the only wor-thy object of their prayers.

• The true light will shine in the darkness of the Tibetan areas.

• God will change the festi-val activities to those that are channels for glorifying and praising Him.



Tibetan Buddhism is the form of Buddhism prevailing in the

Tibet region of China, Bhutan, the stateofSikkiminIndia,Mongolia,and parts of Siberia and Southwest China. It is sometimes also called Lamaism, from the name of the Tibetan monks, the lamas [superior ones]. The religion is derived from theIndianMahayanaformofBuddhism, but much of its ritual

is based on the esoteric mysticism of Tantra and on the ancient shamanism and animism of

Bon, an older Tibetan religion. It isalsocalledTantrayana(Tantravehicle)orVajrayana(vehicleofthe thunderbolt).

HistoryThe history of Buddhism in Tibet began in 641, when King Songtsen GampounifiedTibetthroughmilitary conquest and took two

Buddhist wives, Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wen Cheng of China. One thousand years later, in 1642, the Fifth Dalai Lama became the temporal and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. In those thousand years Tibetan Buddhism developed its unique characteristics and also

split into four major schools, called Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug.

Beliefs and PracticesThe most dedicated Tibetan Buddhists seek nirvana, but for the common people the religion retains shamanistic elements which help them in daily life. The people may gain merit by performing rituals such as food and flowerofferings,waterofferings(performedwithasetofbowls),religious pilgrimages, or chanting prayers. They may also light butter lamps at the local temple or fund monks to do so on their behalf, many rituals are also performed in honour of the local deities and sacred places.

Praying is very common for the Tibetans. Actually, they use a number of different methods to pray. In the temples, you can see a series of prayer wheels. In the streets, you can see many Tibetans clutching hand-held prayer wheels. In the mountains, you can see colourfulprayerflagsflyinginthewind. In the houses, you can see electric prayer wheels move round and round. These things ensure the Tibetans can pray in every moment.

The path to enlightenment is tantric. Tantric practitioners make use of rituals and objects. Meditationisanimportantfunction which may be aided by the use of special hand gestures (mudras)andchantedmantras(suchasthefamousmantraof Avalokiteshvara: “om mani padmehum”,whichyoucanfindeverywhere in the Tibetan areas).

Day 9 Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism

Pray that:

• The Lord can release the Tibetans from bondage to Buddhism.

• The Tibetans will realise they don’t need to make any merit to earn eternal life.

• The Tibetans will use their devoted hearts to serve our Lord.

After breakfast Dawa goes to a temple with her husband,

spinning their prayer wheels in their hands. During this period they sometimes meet with monks, taking the opportunity to ask for advice; sometimes they meet with their friends, with whom they chat. That is the way Dawa spends her mornings, everyday, every month, every year.

In another family, Garma has insisted on being a vegetarian for more than a year. Before that Garma was seriously ill. He recovered following instructions from a lama. To thank



Buddha for blessings, Garma keeps his promise to be a vegetarian for two years. Today whenever people ask Garma why he chose to be a vegetarian, he enjoys telling of his experience of being cured.

Life is about religion. Religion is about life. Tibetans never question the differences between the two.

Religious activity is the most vital part of life for Tibetans. Even though some Tibetans are poor, they still spend a lot of money on religious activities. They make the Buddha or god place the most splendid area of their house. They save the money they earn daily in order to donate to the temples, living Buddhas and monks.

In Tibetan society, many festivals and very important ceremonies are related to Tibetan Buddhism. New Year is the most important festival for the Tibetans. A lot of

customs and practices are highly related to the religion.

Throughout the celebration of the New Year, Tibetans have to worship and pray to the different Buddhas many many times. They will visit the temples. They normally burn juniper leaves or incense as offerings and put new prayerflagsintheirhomes,hopingthey can receive happiness and blessings.

Day 10 Religion & Life

Pray that:

• Jesus Christ will break through all the strongholds and demonstrate His power in the Tibetan areas.

• Jesus Christ will change the living habits of all Tibetans. They don’t need to use their money, time, and efforts to appease their gods.

• God will open the Tibetans’ eyes, so they can see that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Given that generations of Tibetan people have been living in the

tough environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tibetan’s daily lives are not as easy as other people’s. They have a strong desire for more luck and fortune in their lives, which charac-terises their daily needs. After a long history of thousands of years, the Tibetan people have created a lot of lucky signs and mascots.Festive days are good opportunities to observe the “luck culture” in Tibet. New Year is the most important festi-val in Tibet. During the New Year, the Tibetan people place various mascots at home, celebrating the festival and



praying for blessings for the family. Cherma and luck drawings are among the popular choices for praying for blessings during the New Year. Of all of them, the “Eight Auspicious Sym-bols”ranksthefirst.

The Eight Auspicious Symbols is a Tibetan style drawing containing deep meanings.Mostofthesedrawingsaredisplayed as wall pictures while some of them are sculptures. The signs have strong correlation with the Buddha and Buddhism. Their images can easily be found in a lot of daily life prod-ucts and fashion, which are put on as amulets.

From top to bottom the symbols are shown in this order:

The Parasol, the traditional symbol of protec-tion and royalty. The umbrella protects from all obstacles, illnesses and harmful forces.

The emblem of Buddha, victorious enlighten-ment and the methods for overcoming worldly defilements.

The Conch Shell. It is an emblem of power, au-thority, and sovereignty whose blast is believed to banish evil spirits and avert natural disasters.

The Golden Fish. It represents happiness, fertil-ity and abundance.

The Dharma Wheel, the ancient symbol of creation became the symbol of spiritual and universal law in Buddhism. The hub of the wheel symbolizes moral discipline, the eight spokes, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the rim, meditative concentration.

The Knot of Eternity. It represents the medita-tive mind. It is an endless knot that overlaps without a beginning or an end – symbolizing the Buddha’s endless wisdom and compassion.

The Lotus. The symbol of absolute purity and compassion. It represents spiritual unfoldment, the transmutation of passion into compassion.

The Treasure vase. The divine vase of inexhaust-ible treasures possessing the quality of spontane-ous manifestation.

Day 11 Eight Auspicious Symbols

Pray that:

• Jesus Christ will satisfy the Tibetans’ desire for blessings.

• The Tibetans will receive the true “luck” from God.

Although Wongmo became a Christian more than a decade

ago, her family members still do not accept her conversion to Jesus Christ. They regard Wongmo as an apostate and thus, in their every-day life, they rarely talk about her with their relatives, the Tibetan peoplearestronglyinfluencedbyTibetan Buddhism. What is the point of mentioning a person who has left their faith?

Wongmo has very few friends in her village. The family gath-erings at the Tibetan New Year give her unspeakable pressure. The festivities are more than simply a family reunion. They involve a lot of religious customs. There seems to be even more tension between Wongmo and her family at New Year.



On the New Year’s Day, every fam-ily member has to take the high-land barley from a “Drosu Chemar”, a wooden boat-shaped New Year decoration which is believed to be able to bring good luck, and throw the highland barley in the air. At the same time, he or she should recite the religious scriptures so as to pray for blessings in the com-ing year. Wongmo still remembers how nervous she was when she was waiting in the line to perform theceremonythefirstfewyearsafter she had just converted to Jesus Christ. She hoped to witness for Jesus Christ but at the same time she was so afraid of making her family angry that she chose to give in eventually. In recent years, she has learnt to “strike a balance”. When she throws the highland barley in the air, she prays God’s guidance and joy for her family.

Another headache is whether Wongmo should eat the food her family receives from the monaster-ies. Luckily, the elders in her family have not forced her to eat the food

in recent years. Thus, Wongmo can avoideatingthefoodsacrificedtoidols.

Wongmo has not attended other festive activities, such as going to monasteries and watching Tibetan folk operas. Though her family members still complain about this, to Wongmo, this is just a trivial matter. She has been used to these kinds of grumbles, which happen from time to time.

What hurts Wongmo most was a remark her elder sister once made. Her sister said to her daughter one day, ‘Aunt Wongmo is no longer a Tibetan!’ Without the acceptance from her family, care from friends and recognition of her individual identity, Wongmo feels heartbro-ken but she still strongly believes that her loving God will keep her and help her witness for Jesus Christ with her special identity as a Tibetan Christian.

Day 12 Intense Pressure

Pray that:

• The believers are brave enough to say ‘NO’ to certain kinds of religious activities. Also, ask for fewer tests that they need to face.

• God will teach the believers how to be Tibetan Christians.

• Believers will understand Bibli-cal truth and be deeply rooted in God’s Word. Pray that they especially will understand that salvation is by grace, not by works or earning merit.

• Pray that they will see the need to meet with other Christians.

A few years back, I was in the Tibetan town of “X” where

there were many Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. I mostly was spending time with local Tibetan friends. One old lady who is a mother of one of my Tibetan friends said, “I wouldn’t send my male grandchild to be a monk in the monastery.” I was a bit shocked because I presumed that old Tibetan ladies especially would be very devoted to Buddhism and easily would send their children to the monastery. It seems that Tibetan society is changing now.

The Chinese government bans monastic education before the age of18.Thegovernmentjustifiesthispolicy by arguing that monasteries only teach religion and the Tibetan language and students need a complete education with sciences, the Chinese language and math. Senior monks have said that after attending regular schools for nine years many young Tibetans don’t want to become monks.

Daily life in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery

There is a basic pattern to everyday life for a Tibetan monk. However, there are also different levels of status among them. People went to monasteries to get educated, to earn merit for their families and to pursue religiousfulfilment.

Normally a Tibetan monk’s daily life starts in the early morning and ends late at night. The whole day is occupied with communal or individual religious services and the management of the monastery. Older monks, learned lamas, hold greater responsibilities such as maintaining discipline and leading the group prayers. Younger monks help by running the kitchen, shopping and serving food and tea.

Religious study and services are the main theme of the monastic life. The newly ordained monks start with basic Tibetan language, grammar, literature, sutra chanting and prayers. Only a few talented monks can enter a scholarly religious life and advance to a high religious qualification.Thelifeofamonkisnot all just quiet meditation and study. New arrivals and junior monks especially perform chores like doing thelaundry,sweepingfloorsandfetching water.

Manyothersworkatmoresecularjobs doing the work of craftsmen, builders, artists and cooks. Normally monks do 5-10 years of study although it depends on the individual’s situation. After that they do what they are assigned, such as management of the monastery, business etc...

Nuns live a life similar to that of monks, in a more invisible manner. Their religious practice mainly focuses on meditation and prayer rather than advanced philosophical studies in less structured nunneries.

The above description is a general picture of life in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. However, there are many exceptions or distinct practices in different areas and monasteries. For instance, some monks can have 6 months’ holiday or leave whereas some monasteries are very strict about that.

Day 13 TheDailyLifeofTibetanMonks

Pray that:

• The influence of monks and lamas on society will continue to decrease.

• The monks and lamas can explore and learn more new knowledge including that of the Christian faith and Jesus.

• Jesus’ power will be revealed as being much greater than that of the various Buddhist deities and masters that the monks and lamas are committed to.



Day 13 TroubleGettingNewTibetanMonks

Pray that:

• The students can adjust be-tween the different lifestyles in the city and their hometowns.

• The students will follow Jesus, as they have more opportuni-ties to hear the good news.

• The students will be better in-formed, so that they can share the good news to their families and friends.

Kelsang Lhamo was resting in her bed; she wasn’t asleep yet

but she could tell by the sounds of breathing that the others in the room were already sleeping. The New Year celebration was almost over. In a few days’ time she would be making her way back to the big city where she was a third-year university student. Kelsang Lhamo was already used to life in the big city. It was very different from life here in her hometown, a small nomad town in the middle of the grasslands. After having studied in the big city for several years she felt that somehow both of these places had become part of who she was.

It was a very cold night, Kelsang Lhamo was chilled to the bone. The

fireplaceofcoursewas a great source of warmth but now it felt like the coldness was even more powerful than the littlefireplace,nomatter how hard it

tried. Fortunately she had a warm blanket. Kelsang Lhamo thought about the weather in the big city. It was much warmer in the city but sometimes she really missed the comfortingwarmthofthefireplace.



Kelsang Lhamo thought about the past few weeks. First the trip home. She had travelled by bus together with two of her classmates who were also from the same hometown. Sometimes the trip only took about ten hours but this time it had taken sixteen and a half hours. It wasn’t very pleasant either as she had been carsick most of the time. But it was good that they could travel together and of course sixteen and a half hours was still not much compared to some of their classmates who had to travel more than 24 hours to get to their hometowns. On the way she and her classmates had talked about one of their friends who got accepted to a special English program around New Year’s time and so decided to stay in the city for the Losar. They had all felt a bit sorry for her although they understood her decision as it was a goodprogramandbecomingfluentin English was very desirable. But to miss the Losar at home was somehow sad, without the joy of being together, eating and visiting.

And now when it was almost time to go back to the city, Kelsang Lhamo thought that once again it had been a happy time. She had probably eaten too much but what else could she do, with so many people to visit and

always so much food around. It was good to spend time with the family and home town friends. But while lying on the grassland awake in the cold winter night Kelsang Lhamo knew that she was also happy to go back to the city. Sure it would be nice to take some tsampa and other food stuff from home but there were many joys of the city life too. And most importantly it was her life now. As a student in a big city she was constantly introduced to new things, new ideas, and even new clothes. She smiled when she thought about some of the clothes she was quite happy to wear in the city - like short skirts - but would never ever wear here in her hometown where she preferred to have both her legs and arms covered.

There were of course confusing things, like in the city there were people who believed very differently and some of the things they spoke about just sounded so right, yet

Day 14 The New Generation

confusing at the same time. Back home religion had never been a topic of confusion. Kelsang Lhamo didn’t quite know what to do with the confusion. But confused or not she had to admit that she was happy to go back.

Prayer for the Workers

• Pray for all those engaged in God’s work in Tibetan areas and among Tibetan people – that they would not look at thatwhichispassingaway(theold strongholds) but would look with eyes of faith at what God has promised to do and isnowdoing!(Heb11:1).Declare an “open heaven” over these people and their land, that the Spirit would be poured out on them and that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord would cover this part of the earth as the waters coverthesea(Is11:9).



• Praise the Lord for the break-through that workers are beginning to see: expat, Han Chinese and Tibetan believ-ers are beginning to step out in faith and unity and see the Holy Spirit’s power demon-strated in these places. Tes-timonies are abounding of open hearts, healed bodies and divineencounters.Maytherebe an increase and may His churchbefirmlyestablishedamong every Tibetan group.

Day 15 TheWorkersandTheirMinistries

Jesus inaugurated a new age – the age of the kingdom. He taught us to pray,

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

His kingdom is advancing, and though there are strongholds that remain on this earth, they cannot stand against His kingdom’spervasiveinfluence(Mt13:31-33).

Indeed, the “gates of Hades” cannot stand against the expansionofthechurch(Mt16:18).

• Pray for God’s people to be able to have increased access and to be able to establish a presence in these areas in times of political instability. The “nations rage”buttheyaretheinheritanceoftheSon(Ps2).Prayformissionalbusi-nesses to be given permission to spread through these areas, for increased favourandinfluence.PrayforothercreativewaysforhispeopletoaccessallTibetan areas, long and short term.

• Pray for workers to persevere in language study and not shrink back from the time and effort required for this. Pray for an increased understanding of language and culture that would result in Jesus being presented in ways that make sense to Tibetans – Jesus is truly “good news” to Tibetans, may they see him not as a “foreign god” but as the one who is truly the answer to their own heart’s needs and desires.

• Translationprojects(Bibleandothermedia):prayforharmonyandunityamong the various projects. Thank God for what has been accomplished already and pray that the new works that spring up would be connected to existing projects with a high level of harmony and unity as well as quality. Pray for the release of new New Testaments this year.

Security concern: You are advised not to make hard copy print outs if you are living in China



Day 15 TheWorkersandTheirMinistries

PrayerforMinistriesandOutreaches

Please note that these are random photos and are not of those people specifically mentioned in this prayer guide.

• Pray for the newly adapted “Hope” video drama, that it would be used effectively and powerfully to show Tibetans that the Saviour has come for them too. Pray for the disseminationofthefirstKham,AmdoandChineseadaptations,andprayforthenextround of adaptations to advance to the next stage.

• Pray for Bible Storying projects to get started, especially among those dialect areas that do not need their own written translation but have large percentages of illiterate people among them. Pray that the Lord would raise up evangelists to tell these stories in every village and dialect area, and that their words would be accompanied by sign andwonders(Mk16:20).

• Looking to the future we can see that the “resources are in the harvest”. That is to say that some of the most effective evangelists and leaders are yet to receive salvation. Call these ones forth in prayer to receive his salvation and walk in the destiny that He has for them. Pray for the leaders of God’s design to be anointed and established that thechurchwouldlacknogiftorequipping(Eph4:11-16).

Photos

Flickr:

Andy HaresCkmckChristian OrtizB_coolCoss and JohannaErikTörnerrDaniela HartmanDaphne ChuiDennis JarvisDing ZhouEliseeva Ekaterina

EricFran SimóGill PenneyGreg WaltersJan ReurinkJonasMerianJonathan ChengJun Jhen LewKirstenLeo ZahradnikMattMing

MonikaAndraePrasad KholkuteRichard IjzermansRobert AichingerSanto ChinoSonja LaukkanenSteve LauSukanto DepnathTim ZachernukWo ShingWonderlaneYang and Yun’s AlbumZiyi Xu

tibetans 15 days of prayer for · tibetan people. the word ‘losar’ is a tibetan word for new...

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