Sonam is a Tibetan Buddhism believer, who worked in Nepal now as an HR. I knew her in a volunteer community in Lhasa, Tibet, two years ago. She agreed to use her first name since Sonam is a very common name in Tibet culture. The activity I chose to observe is chanting sutras (Buddhism religious canon, like Bible in Christianity), because I remembered she mentioned it to me before, and this is a routine activity she has insisted for a long time. Furthermore, I am curious about the process of this private ritual, which seems mysterious to me as an outsider of Tibetan Buddhism. I introduced the assignment’s purpose and the requirement to her, and received consent from her, we scheduled a time when she chanted every day as usual (9 p.m.in Nepal Time, before she goes to sleep), through WeChat App, video time function. I watched her chanting without interruption for the whole process, about 20 minutes, taking notes by hand. After she finished, I interviewed her by Chinese, about 10 minutes to clarify some ritual details, and to explain meanings of these behaviors. Then I transcribed all to the digital version and translated it into English.

Double-entry Notes

Direct Observations (Bold for jottings made during observations; underline for expansion and explanation in the interview) Personal Reactions (wonders, surprises and follow up questions)
clean up and wear properly1

She usually takes a shower before chanting, if it is not convenient or does’t have enough time, she will at least wash face and hands. Then she wears comfortably as usual. This is necessary to show respect and piety.

 

sit down upright2

She said the posture is like doing meditation, sitting down upright, and closing eyes mildly and softly, not tightly because it needs to be relaxed rather than strained.

 

have a mala (a string of beads) in hand3

She touched the mala and made it like a circle, holding in both hands to start with, then she put it around the right-hand wrist.

She said it does not have special meanings of the mala, these procedures are only her personal habits.

 

chanting and murmuring4

She is chanting classic Tibetan Buddhism sutra in Tibetan. Most of the time she is reciting and murmuring very fast with a low voice, which is hard to hear clearly for others. There are no facial expressions and variations.

She learned these classic Tibetan Buddhism sutra from her uncle, who is a Tibetan Buddhism monk. The uncle taught her when she was in primary school, by listening, repeating a segment of sutra every day. After reciting the segment, she will continue to the next one until she can chant the whole sutra by herself. The content of the sutra is usually the praise of the buddhas and masters, and the descriptions of their appearances and their merits. So, when she was chanting these contents, she will imagine these images and landscapes in the mind*. She has her own pace when chanting, if she has enough time she will not do it so fast or urgently, but sometime she will omit some episodes.

 

close eyes for most of the time, sometimes open eyes, open a sutra and read5

She sometimes read a sutra that is long or she is unfamiliar with, so she will open the sutra and read it, after she is familiar with the content, she will just recite it.

clapping several times, different gestures of hands6

During a part of chanting, she is clapping her hands with a certain tempo, and changed to a different hand gesture after that.

She said she was just doing what her uncle taught her, she doesn’t know what the meanings or functions of clapping. When she learned the whole ritual, she was very young and could not remember all the meanings and explanations. She did it routinely because it is a family tradition and she followed it without too much thinking. It is a ritual practice to make her more self-disciplined and doing things habitually. Now she is learning the meanings of the sutra by watching videos on YouTube, she felt more confident and motivated to do it after knowing and understanding more about it. Every time finishing this ritual, she felt calm and relaxed. She will pray for and think more for all creatures, including human beings and all other living things, become more selfless rather than self-centered. It is a way to cultivate compassion she viewed as the essence of this ritual.  

 

 1. wonder how to prepare for this ritual, what’s special features?1. wonder how to prepare for this ritual, what’s special features?

2. she sits down more seriously than usual, I wonder could she keep this posture for the whole ritual process? what’s the requirement of the posture?

3. what’s the function of the mala? And the meaning of the gesture?

4. what’s the content of chanting? Is it required to recite? Why someplace is fast and some slowly?

*she used a special word here in Chinese （观想）, I didn’t find a corresponding word in English, which means “see thought process”.

5. surprised when she opened eyes, why?

 

 

6. what the symbolic meanings of different hand gestures?

to see more Buddhism hand gestures through this link https://lovepeaceboho.com/blogs/mudras-hand-gesture/m-u-d-r-a-s-hand-gesture

the two inserted pictures are downloaded online