Bodmi Lasog
བོད་མིའི་བླ་སྲོག
The Life Essence of the TIbetans
Tsewang Lhamo
ཚེ་དབང་ལྷ་མོ།
Autoplay
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu about the song
The title means ‘Life of Tibet’. Like all the singers in this collection, this singer is from east Tibet, not central Tibet. She is very dedicated to singing about Tibetan culture. In 2011, when we had the Third Congress of Tibetan Language in New York City, at Columbia Uni- versity, she came and sang some songs including this one. It is a very beautiful song. The meaning: My life is the white, snowy mountains. My life’s blood is the pure water of the snow. My name is Tibet, the Land of Snowy Mountains. I, child of Tibet, speak Tibetan. She repeats this two times. Why does she say this? Because the official language is Chinese. I love the spiritual teaching of Tibet. I love Tibetan culture. My name is Tibet, which has a spiritual path. I am a Tibetan child and I want to study Tibetan. My name is the highlands of Tibet. I am a Tibetan girl and I love Tibet. My ancestors come from Avalokiteshvara. Historically, Tibetans say that they originated from a monkey manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, and for this reason, she mentions this history. The lineage of my family is bur, that is, it descends from the lineage of the Tibetan kings. I like the way I am and I want to remain as I am. More or less this is the meaning. ངའི་~ ཚེ་~སོག་ གངས་ ~ རི་ དཀར་ ~པོ་ ཡིན ། ŋai~ ce~sòg gǎŋ~ ri gar~ bo~ yin ŋai: means my, you can learn a bit of Tibetan like this! ce-sòg: life gǎn-ri: snowy mountain gar-bo: white yin: it is My life is the snowy white mountains. ངའི་~ ཟུངས་~ཁག་ གངས་ ~ ཆུ་ དྭངས་ ~མོ་ ཡིན། ŋai~ sǔŋ~trag gǎŋ~ qu dǎŋ ~mo yin trag: blood sǔŋ-trag: blood that maintains the body, that is life blood, that circulates gǎŋ-qu: water from snow If there is a mountain, there’s also water. All the rivers originate in Tibet, because that is where there are mountains, and their source is there. dǎŋ-mo: pure, limpid So: my body is like a mountain, my blood like pure water. ངའི་~མིང་~ལ་ གངས་ ~ཅན་ བོད་ ~པ་ ཟེར། ŋai~ miŋ~la gǎŋ~ jan bǒd~ ba~ zěr ŋai miŋ: my name gǎŋ-jan: that posseses snow bǒd-ba: Tibetan zěr: says I am called Tibetan, one who possesses snowy mountains. ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ཡིས་ བོད་ ~སྐད་ བཤད། ŋa~ bǒd~bai bǔ~ yis bǒd~ gad~ xàd bǔ: this usually means son, but it isn’t indicated whether it is male or female. When one says ‘bǔ-bo’ then this means ‘male’. But when people hear ‘bǔ’, it is usually thought of as a male child. yis: from bǒd-gad: language xàd: to talk I, a Tibetan child, speak Tibetan. Why does she say this? Because nowadays at school and for any official thing that needs to be done, it’s necessary to know Chinese. This is repeated again. ང་~ དགའ་~ས་ བོད་ ~ བརྒྱུད་ ནང་ ~བསྟན་ ཡིན། ŋa~ gá~sa bǒd~ gyúd naŋ~ dan~ yin gá: like sa: the things I like this. gyúd: something that is transmitted, that has a lineage naŋ: internal dan: teaching Internal teaching means like the Buddhist tradition, Sutra, Tantra, all are ‘naŋ-dan’. ང་~ དགའ་~ས་ བོད་ ~ ཀི་ རིག་ ~གནས་ ཡིན། ŋa~ gá~sa bǒd~ gyi rig~ nás~ yin rig-nás: culture I like Tibetan culture. ངའི་~ མིང་~ལ་ ཆོས་ ~ ལྡན་ བོད་ ~ པ་ ཟེར། ŋai~ miŋ~la qos~ dán bǒd~ ba~ zěr I am called Tibetan who possesses the Dharma ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ ཡིས་ བོད་ ~ཡིག་ སྦོང། ŋa~ bǒd~bai bǔ~ yis bǒd~ yig~ jyóŋ I, child of Tibet, study Tibetan script ངའི་~ མིང་~ལ་ མཐོ་ ~ སྒང་ བོད་ ~ པ་ ཟེར། ŋai~ miŋ~la tò~ gáŋ bǒd~ ba~ zěr I am called Tibetan of the highlands ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ མོ་ བོད་ ~ལ་ དགའ། ŋa~ bǒd~bai bǔ~ mo bǒd~ la~ gá I, a Tibetan girl, like Tibet ངའི་~ ཕ་~བརྒྱུད་ བྱང་ ~ སེམས་ སྤེ ~ འུ་ ཡིན། ŋai~ pa~gyúd jyǎŋ~ ~sem dre~ hǔ~ yin ŋai pa-gyúd: my paternal lineage, my origin jyǎŋ-sem: bodhisattva, ‘jyǎŋ-jub sem-pa’ dre-hǔ: monkey My paternal lineage comes from the bodhisattva-monkey Avalokiteshvara. ངའི་~ མ་~བརྒྱུད་ ཤེས་ ~ རབ་ སིན་ ~མོ་ ཡིན། ŋai~ ma~gyúd xes~ rab sin~ mo~ yin ŋai ma-gyúd: my maternal lineage xes-rab: prajña sin-mo: this means the sin-mo that coupled with the monkey and then from this came a generation of sons. In reality, the monkey was Avalokiteshvara and the sin-mo was his consort, and the Tibetans originated from here. ངའི་~ མིང་~ལ་ པུར་ ~ བརྒྱུད་ བོད་ ~པ་ ཟེར། ŋai~ miŋ~la bur~ gyúd bǒd~ ba~ zěr I am called Tibetan of ‘bur-gyúd’. I am a Tibetan descendant of bur. So you must understand this a bit historically, otherwise it isn’t easy. This is an ancient story. The bur is the lineage that comes from the area of Kongpo, it was there that the generation called bur originated. Humans (it is said) coupled with the class of the masang and then a son was born that also became the Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsempo. This lineage is characteristically called bur , a mix of the masang and humans.
བོད་མིའི་བླ་སྲོག
bŏd-mi’i lá-sòg
The life essence of the Tibetans
ཚེ་དབང་ལྷ་མོ།
ce-wáŋ lha-mo
ངའི་~ ཚེ་~སྲོག་ གངས་ ~ རི་ དཀར་ ~པོ་ ཡིན །
ŋai~ ce~sòg găŋ~ ~ri gar~ bo~ yin ,
My life force is the white snowy mountains,
ངའི་~ ཟུངས་~ཁྲག་ གངས་ ~ ཆུ་ དྭངས་ ~མོ་ ཡིན །
ŋai~ sŭŋ~trag găŋ~ ~qu dăŋ ~mo yin ,
My life’s blood is the pure melted snow water,
ངའི་~ མིང་~ལ་ གངས་ ~ཅན་ བོད་ ~པ་ ཟེར །
ŋai~ miŋ~la găŋ~ ~jan bŏd~ ba~ zěr .
My name is “Tibetan of the Snow Land.”
ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ཡིས་ བོད་ ~སྐད་ བཤད །
ŋa~ bŏd~bai bŭ~ ~yis bŏd~ gad~ xàd .
I, a Tibetan child, speak Tibetan,
ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ཡིས་ བོད་ ~སྐད་ བཤད །
ŋa~ bŏd bai bŭ ~ ~yis bŏd ~ gad xàd .
I, a Tibetan child, speak Tibetan.
ང་~ དགའ་~ས་ བོད་ ~ བརྒྱུད་ ནང་ ~བསྟན་ ཡིན །
ŋa~ gá~sa bŏd~ ~gyúd naŋ~ dan~ yin .
What I love is the Buddhist teachings of the Tibetan tradition.
ང་~ དགའ་~ས་ བོད་ ~ ཀྱི་ རིག་ ~གནས་ ཡིན །
ŋa~ gá~sa bŏd~ ~gyi rig~ nás~ yin .
What I love is Tibetan culture.
ངའི་~ མིང་~ལ་ ཆོས་ ~ ལྡན་ བོད་ ~ པ་ ཟེར །
ŋai~ miŋ~la qos~ ~dán bŏd~ ba~ zěr .
My name is “Tibetan Endowed with Dharma.”
ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ ཡིས་ བོད་ ~ཡིག་ སྦྱོང །
ŋa~ bŏd~bai bŭ~ ~yis bŏd~ yig~ jyóŋ .
I, a Tibetan child, study the Tibetan script.
ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ ཡིས་ བོད་ ~ཡིག་ སྦྱོང །
ŋa~ bŏd~bai bŭ~ ~yis bŏd~ yig~ jyóŋ .
I, a Tibetan child, study the Tibetan script.
ངའི་~ མིང་~ལ་ མཐོ་ ~ སྒང་ བོད་ ~ པ་ ཟེར །
ŋai~ miŋ~la tò~ ~gáŋ bŏd~ ba~ zěr .
My name is “Tibetan of the Highlands.”
ང་~ བོད་~པའི་ བུ་ ~ མོ་ བོད་ ~ལ་ དགའ །
ŋa~ bŏd~bai bŭ~ ~mo bŏd~ la~ gá .
I, a Tibetan girl, love Tibet.
ངའི་~ ཕ་~བརྒྱུད་ བྱང་ ~ སེམས་ སྤྲེ ~ འུ་ ཡིན །
ŋai~ pa~gyúd jyăŋ~ ~sem dre~ hŭ~ yin .
My paternal lineage is the Bodhisattva Monkey.
ངའི་~ མ་~བརྒྱུད་ ཤེས་ ~ རབ་ སྲིན་ ~མོ་ ཡིན །
ŋai~ ma~gyúd xes~ ~rab sìn~ mo~ yin .
My maternal lineage is the Wisdom Demoness.
ངའི་~ མ་~བརྒྱུད་ ཤེས་ ~ རབ་ སྲིན་ ~མོ་ ཡིན །
ŋai~ ma gyúd xes ~ rab sìn ~ mo yin
My maternal lineage is the Wisdom Demoness.
ངའི་~ མིང་~ལ་ པུར་ ~ བརྒྱུད་ བོད་ ~པ་ ཟེར །
ŋai~ miŋ~la bur~ ~gyúd bŏd~ ba~ zěr .
My name is “Tibetan of the Royal Lineage of Pur". *
* An ancient lineage of Tibetan kings.