Articles

Saving The Tibetan Tiger Rug

In the darkness of an ancient Tibetan Buddhist monastery dimly lit by the sporadic flicker of yak butter lamps, often one can still find on occasion a Tiger skin crouching in an unlit corner. These have often been preserved for generations. Possessing the tiger’s spirit, the skin serves as a Symbol of protection against the dangers of ignorance, frustration and greed; the “three poisons” of Buddhism which should be crushed by “correct thought, words, and action” The tiger spirit is there to keep it all correct and the demons in time.

Today, tiger rugs can be seen for sale throughout Lhasa in every size and form. However, most of these are manufactured by Han Chinese in cities of Beijing and Shanghai. The fabric is often synthetic, chemically dyed and removed from environmental roots which characterize a traditional rug. Moreover, these rugs are sold by Chinese through a commercial network with no proceeds going to Tibetans whatsoever. Most tourists shopping for Tibetan rugs in Lhasa are pressed into purchasing a Chinese mass manufactured one.

Traditionally tiger skins, symbolizing protector spirits, were used to wrap sutra boxes, as meditation mats or hung on temple doors as a wrathful warning to demons or to exorcise impurities. Tibetans prized such skins, respected and cared for them. Using the tiger skins sparingly, a cycle of balance and respect was retained with their environment. Such skins were passed down through generations and carefully guarded.

The Himalaya range has always been a natural habitat of Tigers which once wandered freely from foothills in present Myanmar along snowlines in Nepal and Tibet to the once serene lake shores of Kashmir. Tragically, the Himalaya Tiger was decimated by hunters of the British Raj during the 19th Century, who prized their heads as symbolic trophies. As a species, today the Himalaya Tiger are nearly extinct.

Ian Baker, Himalaya explorer and author of countless books on Buddhism, Himalaya culture and the region based in Kathmandu, and a director of Shambhala recalls historically how, “The British Raj used to organize massive hunting expeditions for tiger trophies and even pay bounties for their skins. This led to wholesale decimation of the Himalaya Tiger, in turn disrupting entire cycles of environmental balance between species and life within a very short time.”

Responsive to changing conditions, at the outset of the 20th century, Tibetans began weaving tiger rugs instead, displacing past hunting practices. This was a natural evolution driven by need and changing environmental conditions. The Tiger rug pattern emerged from this lifestyle evolution, and became increasingly popular as Tibetans displaced real tiger skins with woven ones as a natural and sensitive approach in coping with radically altered environment. By doing so, they sought to adjust lifestyles to re-balance an unnaturally distorted environmental condition.

The tiger rug reminds us of the need to adjust our own lifestyles to changing environmental paradigms, and the necessity of doing so to survive. Product displacement for resources in short supply due to indiscriminate overuse or decimation can destroy our environment and in turn ourselves. Such patterns can only be changed through intention to displace environmental shortfalls with other substances and products requiring inventive and creative commercial solutions. The environment and our own continued survival, all begins with such intention.

The Himalaya Tiger is a key animal in the Tibetan pantheon alongside mythical Snow Lions, Dragons, Elephants, Garudas and Nagas, among others. This pantheon carries symbolism reflecting the uniqueness of Tibetan culture, a vortex of synthesis between India and China, a Himalaya kingdom where ideas and philosophies could merge and in turn evolve to new epoch before spreading once again in all directions. The Tiger without question carried symbolism of India and still evokes such thoughts of this powerful culture from which Buddhism spread when seen by Tibetans today.

Shambhala has through its micro-enterprise program launched “Save the Tibetan Tiger Rug” an action initiative intended to achieve the following goals:

• Revive traditional rug weaving and dying techniques to keep them alive in the old heritage section of Lhasa
• Empower disenfranchised women with skills, employment, sense of self-respect and cultural identity within a community
• Send a strong environmental message through the example of Tiger rug revival
• Serve as an example of evolving traditional crafts as part of cultural sustainable development

Baker observes, “Such micro-enterprises go beyond vision to the pragmatic reality of our world through projects which can be implemented. Do it not just with daily business in mind but an artistic vision which resonates with mythic poetry and aesthetic appeal which nurtures human spirit not just dry think tank solutions to economic problems.”

Weavings follow the most traditional the historic Tiger rug patterns. All wool is naturally dyed. The program supports marginalized women in the heritage section of Lhasa. Earnings go to the women who see income rise over normal weaving conditions which are sometimes so low that they choose other sources of income with less healthy benefit leaving their traditional community and lifestyle. Revitalizing their traditional skills helps keep “old Lhasa” alive by keeping Tibetans in it doing what they have always done. Shambhala seeks to not only save Himalaya Tiger through rug weaving replacement, but to preserve the weaving tradition and spirit of ecology behind it.

At House of Shambhala in Lhasa, the heritage restoration boutique hotel which serves as Shambhala’s headquarters, girls can often be seen pounding natural dyes, mixing them in big copper vats and drying the freshly dyed wool in the vibrantly strong Lhasa sun. Women weave some of the Tiger rugs on premises. Others work from the convenience of their homes where they can continue to care for children, interact with family and community throughout the day as was always their tradition and culture, without the traditional pattern of household lifestyle being disrupted by working hours and external employment conditions as may be the case in modern rug factories.

Baker reflects how at “The heart of this is the Shambhala vision which represents the most powerful potential of human kind if we embrace it.” As for such micro-enterprises, he observes, “They represent a practical step on how to do it!”

Save the Himalaya Tiger Rug Action Initiative reminds us of the importance in caring for environment by adjusting our own lifestyle needs to changing world conditions. Ultimately we are responsible for protecting the delicate environmental balance which is a part of ourselves. We can reverse negative processes, through clarity of intention and positive action.

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