Perpetuating Tibetan Spiritscapes as unique refugia and exemplars of spiritual

governance

Summary

Since Neolithic times spiritscapes, i.e. Sacred Natural Sites inhabited by numina spirits
(known in Tibetan as gzhi bdag) have been a defining cultural feature of Tibetan lay society
and their terrestrial abodes (gnas), in the upper slopes of most mountains have been
exemplars of ritual behaviour that mimics explicit nature conservation. The animistic beliefs
that support Tibetan spiritscapes have had to be discursively recreated in response to Bon,
Tibetan Buddhism, and they almost became extinct during The Cultural Revolution. Since
Chinas religious revival (from 1978) and the felling ban (1998) conservationists (Shen et al
2015) have established that biodiversity in Tibetan SNS/spiritscapes have recovered using the
metrics of biodiversity. It would appear on the basis of the authors research (Studley 2005,
Rowcroft Studley and Ward 2006, Studley 2007, Studley 2010, Studley and Awang 2016
Forthcoming) and predicated on a suite of participatory field methods that the spiritual and
cultural beliefs that support spiritscapes have also spontaneous recovered (Schwartz 1994)
but urgently require international protection.

Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Tibetan Spiritscapes

Spiritscapes are a defining feature characteristic of Tibetan lay society under the aegis of
mountain cults (Blondeau and Steinkellner 1998) or the cult of height (Stein 1972)
because they are situated in the upper slopes of most mountains. Historically the cultural
identity of Tibetan nomads and farmers was predicated on honouring the numina (gzhi bdag)
that inhabit the spiritscapes and protecting their abodes and flora and fauna. The mountain
cults are part of an animistic and shamanistic tradition concerned with the immediate world,
involving ceremonies and rituals which take place in the home and mountain locales (Huber
2004). The gzhi bdag, theoretically tamed by Bon and Buddhism are closer to lay Tibetans
in geography, identity and in sensed presence. Tibetans are not only conscious of the constant
scrutiny of the gzhi bdag in their daily lives but engage in rituals and place demands on them
for protection and health, and success, in hunting, trading, travel, farming etc. Participation in
gzhi bdag cults (Makley 2014) is still an essential element of rural Tibetan life and identity
and is expressed in cultural, economic, eco-spiritual and political behaviour.

The psycho-spiritual behaviour (Studley and Awang 2016 Forthcoming) lay Tibetans exhibit
within the domain of a gzhi bdag might be described by conservationists as 'explicit nature
conservation'. In reality, however, the behaviour is much more complex and sophisticated
with humankind comprising only one element of the topocosm (Gaster 1961 17).

To maintain snod bcud do mnyam or topocosmic equilibrium (Studley and Awang 2016
Forthcoming) and enjoined by the gzhi bdag local people are obliged to treat animals and
plants as members of the topocosm. Tibetans are not attached to and do not identify
physically with spiritscapes (Studley 2012) because they are socially and culturally
constructed as places and categories (Verschuuren 2007). It is not the physical elements of
spiritscapes (flora and fauna) that are important but the topocosmic inter-relationship renders
the resources apparent and concrete (Lye 2005; Nightingale 2006).

Ecology and Biodiversity

It is important to recognise that many of the terms used in the conservation literature
(conservation, ecology, biodiversity, nature, management, governance) are the products of
western reductionism and are meaningless to indigenous people who are part of the topocosm
(Gaster 1961)

Until very recently there was no term in Tibetan for conservation or biodiversity and the
nearest equivalent term is srung skyob or protection which is ritual behaviour. For most lay
Tibetans the animistic spiritual significance of protection is more significant than the
ecological importance of conservation or biodiversity (Callicott 1989 Yeh 2015)

Conservation is often regarded by lay Tibetans as a foreign bio-centric intervention which

at best has a very limited interpretation of culture and worse is guilty of cultural chauvinism.

The ritual protection of spiritscapes, however, emulates 'explicit nature conservation' so

serendipitously they serve as refugia of biodiversity. Research (Studley and Awang 2016
Forthcoming) suggests that in spite of the Cultural Revolution and Logging between 1950
and 1998 of those interviewed 83.33 per cent believed that there was more biodiversity inside
the local spiritscapes than outside, although most of them recognised that there had been
much greater biodiversity prior to 1950. In addition 66.66 per cent of those interviewed were
able to name unique flora and fauna. Biodiversity studies of Tibetan Sacred Sites suggest
some significant differences based on 'sanctity'. These included differences in useful species,
endemic species, tree size (DBH) and basal area (m2/ha) (Anderson et al. 2005, Salick et al.
2007) and the recovery of forest cover on sacred mountains since the cultural revival (Shen et
al 2015)

It has been estimated that 25% of The Tibetan plateau is comprised of spiritscapes (Buckley
2007) which are unrecognised and currently lack international protection. Currently
spiritscapes are threatened by formal ex situ primary education, mass tourism and ecological
migration and there is an urgent need to prevent further loss. Although the protection of
spiritscapes is not predicated on conservation or biodiversity enhancement it is a recognised
human right (Article 26 UNDRIP 2007) the animistic belief system that supports protection
needs to be encouraged and protected internationally (in toto).

Fig 1 Upper Yubungs defunct primary school

Governance

Spiritscapes are predicated on non-human or spiritual governance (Nicholas 2006) because

they are owned by a gzhi bdag who are de jure and de facto custodians of the flora and fauna
within their domain (Maffi 2014 pers. comm.). The gzhi bdag not only require honouring and
thanking but they place behavioural expectations on the local people (who enter their
domain) as a contractual condition for providing protection and health, and success in
hunting, trading, travel, farming etc.

Fig 2 An altar on the roof of a house in Upper Yubeng for honouring the gzhi bdag of min sto
mu (snow mountain) and ben de ru (forested mountain)

The onus is on the local people to conduct regular eco-spiritual audits to maintain topocosmic
equilibrium. This has become more of a challenge since the extinction of trance mediums
during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

Behavioural expectations are updated in response to new interventions (mountaineering by

foreigners, cable cars, commercial gathering of medicinal herbs etc) and the modalities of
communication include dreams, omens, visions, theophanies, divination and untimely deaths.
In 2014 some villagers in the Sanjiangyuan Nature reserve stopped collecting medicinal herbs
following the untimely death of a local woman, and in response to divination (Awang 2015)

There is no reason why the sui generis basis for spiritual governance should not gain
recognition given that legal pluralism that underpins the ECtHR and ECHR and the existence
of many trajectories of jurisprudence that have a similar basis of non-human governance
(Blackstonian, Christian, Halakhah, and Sharia).
Spiritual governance is augmented by limited voluntary patrols (known as bsher ri) around
the liminal periphery of the spiritscape to ensure hunters from outside the area do not
trespass.

Fig 3 Crack-shot hunter turned SNS/spiritscape protector

Lessons Learned/best practices

Most of the most widely quoted papers on Tibetan SNS concentrate on the metrics of
biodiversity but fail to include a detailed cultural analysis. They tend to assume that nature
conservation occurs mostly under the aegis and regulation of Bon or Tibetan Buddhist
institutions and some authors suggest that their strengthening is key to conservation. They fail
to recognise that Tibetan Buddhism is preoccupied with emptiness (stong pa nyid) and non-
attachment (ma-chags-pa) and not with this world and it might even be questioned whether it
is appropriate to attempt to harness Tibetan Buddhism for the purposes of conservation goals
(Swanson 1993, Tsering Gyatso 1990). As a result the recommendations of some
conservationists appear to ignore the key role of lay people in environmental protection and
most of Tibets SNS/spiritscapes.

In order to enhance environmental protection of spiritscapes among animistic indigenous

peoples it is crucial to understand their culture, worldview, beliefs, history, values, perception
and the geospatial spread and distribution of their customary beliefs. A suite of participatory
tools (that can be used among non-literate and non-monetised people) was adopted to achieve
this goal predicated on cognitive/MDS mapping, kriging, wombling analysis, environmental
values ranking, cultural and historical context analysis, and PGIS. All these were used to
inform a bio-cultural audit of the status of spiritscapes in NW Yunnan

Cognitive Mapping (MDS)

Cognitive mapping is a type of mental representation to understand phenomena in a

metaphorical spatial environment (See Studley 2015)

Fig 4 Cognitive map of 15 environmental values in Ganzi Prefecture (n=86)

(predicated on multi dimensional scaling (MDS) computed from a pair-wide dissimilarity matrix)

Lessons learned there is a nexus of five concepts which coalesce around protection
(blessing, gzhi bdag, environmental and hydrological services and protection work by
monasteries). This suggests from a lay perspective that protection embraces the gzhi bdag
domain resulting in blessing and environmental/hydrological services but it does not include
the state (state forestry or socialism)

Kriging (Distribution of Environmental Values)

Kriging is a geospatial regression technique for interpolation between scatter points where the
Z value is known (See Studley 2005)
Fig 5 Comparison of environmental values across Ganzi Prefecture (using MDS data)

Lessons learned : Environmental values in this case are influences by ethnicity, topography
and outside intervention. The Qiangic speaking peoples (East) identify strongly with
environmental protection, the gzhi bdag cult and place. The Khamba Tibetans (West) are
close to the Yangtze and the area has been heavily felled, which has influenced their values.
The Khamba Tibetans (Middle) are further from the Yangtze and their values are
intermediate.
Wombling and Overlap Analysis

Fig 6 An overlap analysis of environmental values and dialects in Ganzi Prefecture

Lessons learned : In this case changes in environmental values coincide with changes in
ethnicity.

Environmental Value Ranking (Constant sum scaling)

With constant sum scaling respondents are asked to allocate a total of 100 points (pebbles,
coins, thumb tacks) between a fixed number of objects (values) on the basis of their relative
importance to them (or their community)
Fig 7 Ranking of environmental values using constant sum scaling among 7 focus groups in
Ninglang County, NW Yunnan (n= 54)

Lessons learned : From a lay perspective the commercial values of forest are only 6% of the
total value (of the forest) and conservation is only ranked 8th out of 13. Forests have high
intrinsic value because from a lay perspective they are presided over or inhabited by a
divinity.

Historical Analysis (See Appendix 1)

Lessons learned : Neither Bon or Tibetan Buddhism is indigenous and both tried to
assimilate the gzhi bdag cult to give them more legitimacy. In spite of attempts to co-opt the
gzhi bdag cult or destroy it during the Cultural Revolution it appears to be extant to this day.
In most villages in Tibet there two cultural poles (Karmay 1998) and villagers participate
firstly in devotions to the gzhi bdag and secondly to Buddha.

Cultural analysis

1. TIBETAN GODS AND SPIRITS (Samuel 1993)

Tutelery Deities Celestial Deities Mundane Deities Malevolent Spirits

2. THREE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS (Powers 2007)

lha-chos Tibetan Buddhism mi-chos mans religion- bon-chos- Bon (Yangdrung and
mundane deities Modern)

3. THREE CLASSES OF MUNDANE DEITY (Karmay 1998)

Yul-lha gods who preside over gzhi-bdag numina spirits who klu spirits who live in lakes,
settlements and human activity inhabit the upper slopes of most rivers, and ponds
typically in a watershed mountains

4. TWO CULTURAL POLES IN EACH VILLAGE/COMMUNITY (Karmay 1998)

Tibetan Buddhist or Bon cult Animistic mundane deity cult

5. TWO SACRED LANDSCAPE CATEGORIES (Huber 1999)

Epistemic virtual landscapes, Ontic animistic landscapes

presided over by celestial gods,
and imagined or contrived by
Tibetan Buddhism/Bonpo (Huber
1999 Evers 2003)
6. MOUNTAIN STRATIFICATION
Summit presided over by
celestial gods
inhabited by a gzhi bdagthat are
real and experienced by lay people
on the basis of cult participation,
autochthony and belonging
(Lightfoot 1983- Eliade 1957)- all
concepts which are alien to
Tibetan Buddhism.
Upper Slopes inhabited by gzhi Valleys human domain
bdag presided over by a yul lha

7. FOUR TYPES OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE OF SNS

Monastic who regulate
behaviour in monastic
lands and mountains
they have co-opted and
tamed (and have become
pilgrimage sites)
Sui generis ad hoc Spiritual gzhi bdag are Sealed enclosures (ri-
patrols (known as ri owners and de jure/de rgya), are the result of a
bsher) by lay people facto custodians of the formal ritual presided
protect the SNS from SNS and their clients over by lamas and
trespassers and hunters comply with their headmen, and are often
from other behavioural expectations superimposed on gzhi
communities/kinship within the SNS bdag domains.
groups

8. APPROACHES TO SNS/SM VENERATION

TB/Bon visit SNS so they can
engage in spiritual exercises that
ground their faith and help them
concentrate on self purification on
a inner journey leading to inner
peace
Lay people visit SNS to honour Outsiders Perception Mountain
and appease their gzhi bdag and to Worship
experience the ontic realities of
participating and belonging to a
local autochthononous cult

9. DESIGNATED SNS/SM (Buckley 2007)

SNS/SM designated by SNS/SM designated by villages

monasteries under the aegis of under the aegis of the gzhi bdag
TB/Bon visionary landscaping. cults

A comparison between Tibetan Buddhism/Bon and animistic lay beliefs

Lessons learned : The importance of dis-aggregating cultural trajectories especially

mainstream religions and animism. The gzhi bdag cult is outlined in shaded boxes. Many
studies by conservationists assume that environmental protection is predicated on TB and
their recommendations ignore the role of lay people.
Participatory GIS

Participatory GIS (Geographic Information Systems), PGIS, is an umbrella term that

described the community application of a diverse range of geographic information
technologies and systems (GIT&S). PGIS practice is based on using geo-spatial information
management tools to represent peoples local spatial knowledge in the forms of virtual or
physical, 2 or 3 dimensional maps. Many tools and approaches can be used, eg: ephemeral
maps (drawn on the ground, in sand, etc.) and sketch maps (including drawing mental maps);
scale mapping (overlay drawing of spatial information onto existing topographic base maps),
and similarly adding spatial information via overlays onto aerial photographs; satellite
imagery; community surveying of new information using global positioning systems (GPS);
incorporating this spatial information into GIS format; dynamic and web-based mapping;
participatory 3-D models (P3DM); photography and video, etc.

Vegetation and topographic information on the Yubeng Valley was supplemented by

discussions with villagers, headmen, local experts and from the literature, trekkers GPS data,
sketch maps, and geotagged photos and data added by the author (See full GIS data set
http://arcg.is/1QmYnrr)

Fig 8 The protected and sealed spiritscapes of the Yubeng Valley, NW Yunnan
Lesson learned : 60% of the Yubeng valley is comprised of spiritscapes and the gzhi bdag
cult is being maintained. The protected forests closest to Upper and Lower Yubeng are under
most threat due to demand for timber for Yubengs expanding tourist trade. Developers are
beginning to ask villagers if the gzhi bdag will really resort to retribution if trees are felled.

Audit of gzhi bdag cult status in NW Yunnan

The aim of the audit was to examine the status and distribution of the gzhi bdag cult across
Deqin Prefecture and make comparisons with the Yubeng Valley

Fig 9 The study locations around Deqin Prefecture (Yunnan insert)

Fig 10 Familiarity % with the gzhi bdag across Deqin Prefecture (n=12)

Lessons Learned: There are 3.08 gzhi bdag sites per village, comprising 700ha and they are
very widely distributed, not only in Deqin, but across the Tibetan world and among the
diaspora (India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Switzerland). The cult has
revived and biodiversity within the spiritscapes. The only element of the cult that is being
undermined is retribution which was supported both during interviews (Tanga Lobsang 2013
pers. comm.) and in the literature (Coggins and Hutchinson 2006)

Translating spiritual governance and customary practice and behaviour into

international protection

Although the protection of spiritscapes is a human right (Article 26 (3) UNDRIP 2007) and
bodies such as a ECHR accept legal pluralism and sui generis frameworks most efforts to
secure international protection for spiritscapes have failed. Attempts have fallen on deaf ears,
met with indifference, ridicule, incredulity and crude efforts to stifle debate. The concept of
spiritual governance, however, has raised more interest with a number of researchers offering
to write book chapters.

To reiterate and conclude if we are concerned, in general, about the lay protection of SNS
and, in particular, a 4000 year old tradition that embraces 25% of the Tibetan Plateau the two
largest challenges are:-

securing international protection for spiritscapes

the acceptance of a new IUCN category addressing spiritual governance.

I look to you to join me in rising up to the challenge

Thank you
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Appendix 1 Historical Analysis

Date
10,200-3000 BC Neolithic Era The Genesis of the mundane divinity cults (yul-lha and gzhi bdag) with origins
in the animistic High Asian steppe culture and the domestication of yak.
ca 5c BC Bon culture Torpa Shenrab introduces Bon into Zhang Zhung (W Tibet) and mythically
introduced tames the local mountain divinities
221-206 BC Qin Dynasty (China) The Qin persecute the Qiangic speaking peoples who migrate to the Eastern
Edge of the Tibetan Plateau
127-104 BC King Nyatri Tsenpo The Zhang Zhung alphabet was created and Bon teachings were written in
(1) Zhang Zhung script (there were 3 scripts)
11 32 AS King Drigum Tsenpo First persecution of Bonpo Bon banished to periphery of Tibet
(8)
525 - 550 AD King Thothori First Dissemination of Buddhism - A basket of Buddhist scriptures arrived in
Nyantsen (28) Tibet from India
618-649 AD King Songtsan Buddhist scriptures translated into Tibetan the King overran the Zhang
Gampo (33) Zhung kingdom which was integrated into Tibet (645 AD)
King sent Sambhota to Kashmir in 632AD to bring back a written language
which was an adaption of Khotanese based on Brahmi and Gupta scripts.
740-797 AD King Trisong Detsen The King invited Shantarakshita to establish Buddhism in his country and
(38) Guru Rinpoche visited Tibet and brought all the local gods under his
command

Second persecution of Bonpo Bon banished to periphery of Tibet

King Mutri Tsendo The King imported Bon teachings from the Zhang Zhung region and had them
(39?) translated into Tibetan
1042 AD King Tsenpo Ex King Tsenpo Khoray (who abdicated) invited Dipamkara Shrijnana Atisha
Khorey/King Song to came to Tibet (Ngari). Atisha wrote a book called "Lamp to the Path of
Ngey of the Ngari Enlightenment. Although Tibet was still politically fragmented, Atisha's
region of Tibet arrival in Tibet in 1042 marked the beginning of what is called the "Second
Dissemination" of Buddhism in Tibet. Through Atisha's teachings and
writings, Buddhism once again became the main religion of the people of
Tibet.
1360 AD New or Modern Second Diffusion of Bon begins (aka Modern Bon)
Bon
1391 AD Dalai Lama dynasty 1st Dalai Lama born
begins
1966-1976 Cultural Revolution The mundane divinity cults almost became extinct, and their trance mediums
(lha-pa) were persecuted and ritual cairns (la btsas) were destroyed.
1978 Hu Yaobang (China) Hu Yaobang visits Tibet and is shocked by conditions
11th Peoples Plenum measures introduced for the revival of religious
expression
1980s Gradual spontaneous recovery of folk practices, including the gzhi bdag cult
this was accompanied by biodiversity recovery in SNS
1998 Felling Ban A felling ban was introduced in SW China as a result of annual serious
flooding of the main rivers in the region.

Appendix 2 Tibetan Words

Tibetan Wylie English
gzhi bdag Local Spirit
snod bcud do mnyam Eqilibrium between in/animate worlds
bsher ri Mountain examiners
srung skyob Protection (guard and protect)
stong pa nyid Emptiness (Skt. sunyata)
ma chags pa Non-attachment
ri rgya Mountain sealing
lha chos Sacred (TB) dharma
bon chos Bon beliefs
mi chos Customary ways of man
klu Snake (naga) spirits that live in water
yul lha Settlement divinities
gnas Abode
Appendix 3 Epistemic and Ontic sacred Landscapes

According to Huber 99 p 31 One can distinguish two broadly different traditions of sacred
geography in many societies, two ways to attach meaning to the natural environment. One
tradition is that of preliterate and stateless populations who assume (rather than impose) chthonic
or telluric sacredness within the features of the natural landscape, such as mountains and lakes.
The other is that of the imposition of meaning on the environmentthe embodiment of historical
discoursemainly through building activity within the context of the centralized order of the state
and organized salvational religions. These two different approaches to sacred place and space are
often closed-combined in pilgrimage cults that have been historically constituted through the
introduction of universal religions into local contexts, as found, for example, in the cults and shrines
of Andean pilgrimage.25 Tibetan societies also have aspects of both approaches, sometimes referred
to as shamanic versus clerical or ontic versus epistemic modes (Daniel 1984)
(Huber, T. (1999) The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in
Southeast Tibet. vol. a. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Daniel, E.V. (1984) Fluid Signs: Being a Person the Tamil Way. University of California Press)

Ontic modes to landscape and sacredness provide a way of being in the world and epistemic
modes of seeing the world. The ontic mode is an embodied discursive practice and the epistemic is
predicated on theoretical discourse..(in Sri Lanka) ontic modalities provide a means for people and
landscapes to be psycho-spiritually attached and to enable them to find a whole way of being in the
world. In contrast to epistemic landscapes that are defined and demarcated to serve the interests of
outsiders.
(See Valentine, D.E. (2002) Afterward: Sacred Places, Violent Spaces. in Sri Lanka, History and the
Roots of Conflict. ed. by Spencer, J. Routledge, 227244)

Epistemic (or ad hoc) landscapes are artificial and contrived, imposed and invented by outside
observers according to whatever single-factor variables they choose, however irrelevant those
criteria are to local residents. Ontic landscapes are self-consciously known and defined by the people
within them, may or may not correspond with prominent and visible features or with political
divisions; what is important is that the people themselves know and can point out the boundaries..
which are accurately defined only from within.
(See Lightfoot, W.E. (1983) Regional Folkloristics. in Handbook of American Folklore. ed. by Dorson,
R. Bloomington, 183193)

Every world is the work of the gods/spirits, for it was either created directly by the gods or was
consecrated, hence cosmicized, by men ritually reactualizing (renuminising) the paradigmatic act of
creation. This is as much as to say that spiritual man can live only in a sacred (ontic) world, because it
is only in such a world that he participates in being, that he has a real existence, This spiritual need
expresses an unquenchable ontological thirst. Spiritual (animistic) man thirsts for being. His terror
of the chaos that surrounds his inhabited world corresponds to his terror of nothingness. The
unknown space that extends beyond his spiritual world an uncosmicized because unconsecrated
(un-numinised) space, a mere amorphous extent into which no orientation has yet been projected,
and hence in which no structure has yet arisen for spiritual man, this profane (or un-numinised)
space represents absolute nonbeing. If, by some evil chance, he strays into it, he feels emptied of his
ontic substance, as if he were dissolving in chaos, and he finally dies
(See Eliade, M. (1959) The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt)

Ontic animistic landscapes inhabited by a gzhi bdag that are real and experienced by lay people on
the basis of cult participation, autochthony (i.e. native or indigenous) and belonging (Lightfoot 1983-
Eliade 1957)- all concepts which are alien to Tibetan Buddhism.

Dr John Studley

Studley@thunderbolt.me.uk