DON RIN NYIN དོན་རིན་ཉིན TIBETAN VILLAGE'S LAB TSE RITUAL

DON RIN NYIN དོན་རིན་ཉིན TIBETAN VILLAGE'S LAB TSE RITUAL

བདེ་སྐྱིད་སྒྲོལ་མ། Bde skyid sgrol ma (Deji Zhuoma 德吉卓玛)

Don rin nyin Village is located in Nya lung Town, Reb gong (Tongren) County, Rma lho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in the eastern part of Mtsho sngon (Qinghai) Province, PR China. Elders say our village is in a valley shaped like a sitting elephant, and we reside on its head: don 'ultimate truth', rin 'treasure', and nyin 'sunny side'. Together, these terms convey the idea of the true treasure of an elephant on the sunny side of a valley.

There are around 43 families in my home community. The 17^th day of the 6^th lunar month annually is a very auspicious day for our village. We hold a lab tse ritual and offer incense, insert mda’ shing in the lab tse, and place gher 'treasure' to our mountain deity, A mye brag skya, on Mount Dpal ri 'Peaceful Deity’ to increase our livestock and protect villagers. It takes 30 minutes to 2 hours to reach Dpal ri Mountain from our village. According to village elders and family members, only men went to Dpal ri Mountain to celebrate our mountain deity before 1958. After monasteries reopened in the 1980s, it was decided that elders, men, women, and children would all go to Mount Dpal ri to attend the lab tse ritual and picnic there.  

We prepare various items as the ritual day approaches including gher, dmu thag, sher rtsig, rlung rta, mda’ shing, bsang 'incense', milk, rtsam pa, yogurt, liquor, yak dung fuel, water, pots, bowls, ladles, bread, butter, and tea bricks.

Every household gets up early on the ritual day. After washing, people wear their most beautiful Tibetan robes and new clothes. They put bread, rtsam pa, milk, yogurt, and other food in bags and carry them on their backs. Some people ride motorcycles while others walk to Mount Dpal ri. After reaching Mount Dpal ri, each household piles their things together. Women make a hearth with three big stones, put a big pot on the stones, and make a fire. Water, brick tea, and milk are added to the pot, and milk tea is boiled. Since it is for offering to the mountain deity, milk from each household is poured into the pot. After the tea boils, gher is positioned, and participants offer incense. Next, mda’ shing are inserted and sher rtsig is offered.

People, including some women, take rtse brgya and circumambulate the lab tse while chanting ma Ni. They give rtse brgya to men who are inserting mda’ shing. Women also circumambulate and chant ma Ni. Men use dmu thag to tie the mda’ shing and then use long silk to wrap the bottom of the mda’ shing.

Next, milk tea is boiled. After drinking some, participants sit in a circle, put rtsam pa, butter, fruit, and snacks and put in the center among the villagers. Then eating begins. Some people perform skor bro 'circle dance' and sing. After eating, women go to Gnas mdum beneath the lab tse.

Elders describe a practitioner, Bse kyi rgyal ba byang chub bron, from our village who meditated on Mount Skya rgan grub gnas for many years. One day, he could fly and flew to Mount Dpal ri where we hold the lab tse ritual. Locals named the place Gnas mdum, also known as Sgrub gnas byang chub phug. He continued to meditate at Gnas mdum. During the lab tse ritual, village women offer incense, chant ma Ni, and place gter to remember Bse kyi rgyal ba byang chub. Women then collect their things and return home.

TERMS

bzang drug བཟང་དྲུག, purification powder

bsang བསང་།, incense

bsang khug བསང་ཁུག, incense bag

dmu thag དམུ་ཐག, In terms of local traditional culture, the dmu thag symbolizes the ladder to the sky — grasp it to ascend to Heaven. Additionally, people believe that if the Ddmu thag is wound around the lab tse, it has a special power that remains untethered for a long time.

don ryi nyin དོན་རིན་ཉིན, Anin阿宁, The Tibetan village where the video was made.

gnas mdum, གནས་མདུན།, name of a place below the lab tse

go rti'i rgyal bo, གོ་རེ་རྒྱལ་བོ།, diamond-shaped bread as big as two palms. Such bread is offered as incense and with gter.

gter khung, གཏེར་ཁུང་།, treasure hole

lab tse, lab tse ལབ་རྩེ།, are where mountain deities dwell. Lab tse are constructed with wooden poles resembling arrows, sheep wool thread, stones, and prayer flags, suggesting presenting weapons to the mountain deities. Locally, lab tse are atop mountains and renewed yearly to receive protection from mountain deities.

mda’ shing, མདའ་ཤིང་།, wooden poles resembling arrows. Some mda' shing tops resemble arrows. Some resemble spears, swords, and guns. In my home community, mda'shing are not colored. The mda' shing suggest a close relationship with the mountain deity and a state of peace and non-violence. Wooden arrows decorated the color of blood implies that the mountain deity is more violent.

mdong mo མདོང་མོ།, diamond-shaped bread as big as two palms. Such bread is offered as incense and with gter.

rlung rta, རླུང་རྟ།, rectangular pieces of paper with specific elements in fixed positions, e.g., a Garuda on the top right, a dragon on the top left, a horse in the center, a lion on the bottom right, and a tiger on the bottom left. Rlung rtabring good fortune to villagers and protect them.

rtsam pa, རྕམ་པ།, roasted barley flour

rtse brgya, རྕེ་བརྒྱ།, birch branches are tied with sheep wool and offered to the mountain deity because the birch tree has beautiful branches and is not poisonous.

spen ma,སྤེན་མ།, tamarisk

sher rtsig, ཤེར་རྕིག, wheat grain is stirred as it is roasted. Some wheat grain turns black after being roasted, while others do not. The grains of two colors are mixed. Black represents yaks, and white represents sheep. The more grain provided, the better the growth of your livestock will be in the next year.

tsha gsur, ཚ་གསུར།, offering made by roasting a mixture of rtsam pa with the three whites (milk, yogurt, butter).