༄༅། ། སགས་ས་ས་བའ་ལབ་ཙ་དཔང་བསད་ཀ་རམ་པ། LAB TSE RITUAL IN SNGAGS SA (EHESA) VILLAGE

༄༅། ། སྔགས་ས་སྡེ་བའི་ལབ་ཙེ་དཔང་བསྟོད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པ། LAB TSE RITUAL IN SNGAGS SA (EHESA) VILLAGE by སྔགས་ས་ཁོན་ཐར་རྒྱལ། Khon thar rgyal (Kantaijia侃太加) PART I སྟོད་ཆ། ༄༅། ། ལྷ་རི་ཞལ་དཀར་གྱི་ལབ་ཙེ། LHA RI ZHAL DKAR LAB TSE Sngags sa (Ehesa) Village[1] (cun)[2] is located in ‘Brong thu (Zhongtie) Town, Brag dkar (Xinghai) County, Mtsho lho (Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon (Qinghai) Province, PR China. Lha ri zhal dkar is a mountain deity residing on Chos lung ri rgan Mountain, which explains why Chos lung ri rgan Mountain is also known as Lha ri zhal dkar Mountain. The mountain lies north of Bkra shis chos rdzong dge ‘phel byang chub gling Monastery.[3] The tribes in Sngags sa Village include Mgo skyong, Mkhar skor, Bal bza’, Dpon skor, among others. My family belongs to the Mkha skor Tribe. In my community (shequ),[4] Nying ldang, several tribes coexist, including Mgo skyong, Bal bza’, and Thung ba. There are approximately 80-90 households in Nying ldang Community. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, men and boys (women and girls are absent) from different tribes in Sngags sa Village gather with monks from Mtshams thog gong ma Monastery to renew the Lha ri zhal dkar lab tse. Usually, the renewal began at 8:00 a.m., but in 2025 the start time was changed to 9:00 a.m. because Lha ri zhal dkar Lab tse is located on a high, challenging mountain peak. Consequently, many participants arrived late. On this day, monks and villagers renew four lab tse on Chos lung ri rgan Mountain surrounding Lha ri zhal dkar Lab tse, including Lha ri zhal dkar Lab tse, lab tse of two of Lha ri zhal dkar deity’s three sons, Drag rtsal bdud po thog rgod Lab tse in the west, and Nor bdag klu chen ‘od dkar Lab tse in the south. The lab tse of Lha ri zhal dkar’s consort, Yum dga’ byed klu mo, is located to the southeast of Lha ri zhal dkar Lab tse. Some attendees climb the mountain from the west; others ascend from the back of the mountain on foot or horseback; and a few young men ride motorcycles to the summit along a narrow footpath. Monks first offer incense behind the monastery and then climb uphill, continuing on foot to the peak of Lha ri zhal dkar Mountain. SUBTITLES Shall we go?Go, let’s go.Don’t go behind the horses. Hello, you’re here. How are you?Yes, I’m here, and I’m fine. Will you climb?Yes, I will. I will climb. OK, then take them.I think it would be good if two people climb. Hey, Tshe brtan, put your dmu thag[5] over there. Put your dmu thag over there.Please place it there. We need to connect these dmu thag together. We should move down a little, because the monks will stand here.OK, that’s right. Hurry up, everybody. They are connecting the dmu thag now. Hello, give me yours. I’ll untangle your dmu thag. Dmu thag - give to them. Let’s go over there. OK. Let’s go over there, we are old men. These dmu thag need to be pulled down a little. A bit more. Hello, where should it be placed?Bro, the dmu thag is here. It’s right here. Put these arrows near the gter[6].Hi, Bsang bdag rgyal, bring your gter here. Renew the lab tse ritual by first offering incense, then blowing the conch shell. Lha rgyal lo, lha rgyal lo. Ki he he… As villagers offer incense, tantric practitioners chant scriptures during the bsang chog 'incense ritual'. One monk group chants the lab tse scriptures. As the chanting progresses, villagers carefully follow the monks’ instructions according to each part of the recitation. The villagers renew the lab tse while listening attentively to the monks’ guidance. While the monks continue chanting, villagers renew the lab tse. Everyone, pick up the arrows. Ki he he… Lha rgyal lo, lha rgyal lo…Ki he he… Isn't rtse rgyal[7] too high? Wasn’t there a bird on top of this lab tse?There was a bird, but the rtse rgya covered it. Where is the gter sgo [gter opening]?The gter opening is here. Wait a moment, let's make these dmu thag into two pieces together.Okay, then put them on it. This ball of dmu thag is too big. Ki he he… lha rgyal lo, lha rgyal lo[8] Another group of monks chant Yul khrus scriptures according to the Thugs rje chen po (Avalokiteśvara) yul khrus purification ritual. Yul khrus literally refers to the washing or cleansing of the earth and is performed as a ritual of purification and restoration. During this ritual, a clear glass sphere is used as a symbolic mirror. As the monks chant, they repeatedly rinse the glass sphere with clean, consecrated water. The glass sphere, functioning as a mirror, represents the clarity of awareness and symbolizes how all phenomena of the world are reflected and made visible, just as they are, without distortion. Through the coordinated chanting and ritual actions, and in accordance with the regulations set forth in the scriptures, the repeated washing signifies the removal of defilements, obscurations, and inauspicious elements. This practice symbolically cleanses impurities and restores balance, purity, and harmony to the environment. Lha rgyal lo… When wrapping the lab tse with dmu thag, sprinkle shel tshig dkar nag.[9] Is there any dmu thag? Yes, yes, there’s more. What the hell is wrong with these people? They won’t even throw the shel tshig. You are here, how are you? I offer shel tshig dkar nag to you. Please provide me with the resources and sustenance I need.I offer you shel tshig dkar nag. Please grant me sheep, yaks, and horses. Bring the dmu thag here, everyone. Hey, buddies, you can’t go yet - we still need to pull the dmu thag.The dmu thag isn’t finished yet. Everybody, pull the dmu thag. Pull together.Everyone, come here and pull the dmu thag.We should start pulling the dmu thag from the gter opening. Pass it down, pull one by one. Lha rgyal lo, lha rgyal lo. Pull it.OK, quickly, hurry. The dmu thag is caught on something. Please lift it up.The dmu thag needs to be lowered a bit. Lower it. Ki—Lha rgyal lo. Lha rgyal lo… Please put this ho thong[10] over there.Okay… right.Hold it. Hold it. སྨད་ཆ། (Part 2) ༄༅། ། ཡུམ་དགའ་བྱེད་དཀར་མོའི་ལབ་ཙེ། THE YUM DGA’ BYED DKAR MO LAB TSE After renewing Lha ri zhal dkar Lab tse, Mgo skyong Tribe men led the renewal of Drag rtsal bdud po thog rgod Lab tse, while the Dpon skor Tribe led the renewal of Klu chen ‘od dkar Lab tse. At the same time, the monks went to Gnas sgo in the upper part of the valley in front of Lha ri zhal dkar Lab tse, where they renewed the spring of Yum dga’ byed klu mo and chanted scriptures. Afterward, villagers gathered at the site and shared a communal lunch with the monks. On that day, designated sponsors voluntarily took responsibility for all expenses and labor, serving lunch to all the monks and villagers and providing assistance throughout the event. In the eyes of the local community, offering lunch on this occasion was a valuable opportunity to accumulate virtue. Providing the meal was extremely challenging, as motorcycles and other vehicles could not reach the location. All food and supplies had to be carried by people or transported on yaks. After lunch, the monks and villagers renewed the lab tse of Yum dga’ byed klu mo together, using a juniper tree as the centerpiece. At the site, there is also a commemorative stupa of the Mtsham thog gong ma Monastery’s founder, Sngags sa dge bshes ‘jam dbyangs don yod. Villagers carved ma Ni inscriptions on stones and erected them there, forming a large ma Ni stone wall built up over generations. Monks and villagers gathered at Gnas sgo to drink tea and share lunch, and in the process engage in friendly banter and laughter. During these gatherings, witty, quick-tongued individuals engaged in humorous debates, a particularly enjoyable feature for the audience. Listeners pay close attention to who delivers the most amusing and logically sharp remarks. Frequent use of comparisons and metaphors further enhances the humor of these interactions. Some people engage in playful joking, while others, with the help of a monk, place the gter in Yum dga’ byed dkar mo Lab tse. SUBTITLES 1. Give it to me here, bro. 2. Can you put the gter in the gter hole? It should be fine. 3. It’s nice. It's better to tie some dmu thag together and fasten them. 4. Two dmu thag strings tied together will work well. 5. Please pass it on to them. TIBETAN TERMS ‘brong thu འབྲོང་ཐུ། ‘jam dbyangs mkhyen rab rab rgyas འཇམ་དབྱངས་མཁྱེན་རབ་རབ་རྒྱས། ‘je ‘jam dbyang bstan ba’i rgyal mtshan རྗེ་འཇམ་དབྱངས་བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན། ‘khan bya འཁན་བྱ། ‘om bu འོམ་བུ། ‘om dmar འོམ་དམར། ‘then འཐེན། bal bza’ བལ་བཟའ། bkra shis chos rdzong dge ‘phel byang chub gling བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཆོས་རྫོང་དགེ་འཕེལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་གླིང་། brag dkar བྲག་དཀར། bsang bdag rgyal བསང་བདག་རྒྱལ། bsang chog བསང་ཆོག chos lung ri rgan ཆོས་ལུང་རི་རྒན། dbyar gnas དབྱར་གནས། dgag dbye དགག་དབྱེ། dmu dag དམུ་དག dmu thag དམུ་ཐག dpon skor དཔོན་སྐོར། drag rtsal bdud po thog rgod དྲག་རྩལ་བདུད་པོ་ཐོག་རྒོད། dug gsum དུག་གསུམ། gnas sgo གནས་སྒོ། gso sbyong གསོ་སྦྱོང་། gter sgo གཏེར་སྒོ། gter གཏེར། gyi ling gong ma གྱི་ལིང་གོང་མ། gyi ling zhol ma གྱི་ལིང་ཞོལ་མ། gyi ling གྱི་ལིང་། gzhi gsum cho ga’i gso sbyong གཞི་གསུམ་ཆོ་གའི་གསོ་སྦྱོང་། ho thong ཧོ་ཐོང་། kha ri zhal dkar ལྷ་རི་ཞལ་དཀར། ki he he ཀི་ཧེ་ཧེ། klu chen ‘od dkar ཀླུ་ཆེན་འོད་དཀར། lab tse ལབ་ཙེ། lha rgyal ‘then ལྷ་རྒྱལ་འཐེན། lha rgyal lo ལྷ་རྒྱལ་ལོ།། lha ri zhal dkar lab tse ལྷ་རི་ཞལ་དཀར་ལབ་ཙེ། lha ri zhal dkar ལྷ་རི་ཞལ་དཀར། ma Ni མ་ཎི། mgo skyong མགོ་སྐྱོང་། mkhan bya མཁན་བྱ། mkhar skor མཁར་སྐོར། mtshams thog gong ma མཚམས་ཐོག་གོང་མ། mtsho lho མཚོ་ལྷོ། mtsho sngon མཚོ་སྔོན། nor bdag klu chen ‘od dkar lab tse ནོར་བདག་ཀླུ་ཆེན་འོད་དཀར། nying ldang ཉིག་ལྡང་། ra rgya ར་རྒྱ། ra rgya bkra shis ‘byung gnas ར་རྒྱ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འབྱུང་གནས། ri phyor རི་ཕྱོར། rmu thag རྨུ་ཐག rtse rgya རྩེ་རྒྱ། rtse rgyal རྩེ་རྒྱལ། shel tshig dkar nag ཤེལ་ཚིག་དཀར་ནག snags sa dge bshes ‘jam dbyang don yod སྔགས་ས་