What are the meanings of specialized words used on TPT (glossary)?

The following is a glossary of words related to Tibet. When the pronunciation of a word differs from what one might expect from the standard spelling, a phonetic spellingis given between slash marks (//). Words in all CAPITAL letters have glossary entries of their own. The tonal indicators for Tibetan are as follows: 1--high; 2--low; 3--falling; and 4--middle. For Chinese (Mandarin), the tonal indicators are: 1-- level; 2-high rising; 3--low rising; and 4--falling.

• A

  • AMBAN
  • AMDO

• B

  • BOD
  • BODPA
  • BON

• C

  • CCP
  • COMMISSION OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES

• D

  • DALAI LAMA
  • DL

• G

  • GELUGPA

• H

  • HAN

• K

  • KAGYUPA
  • KARMAPA
  • KASHAG
  • KHAM
  • KMT

• L

  • LAMA
  • LHASA
  • LOSAR

• M

  • MCMAHON LINE
  • MANCHU
  • MONLAM CHENMO

• N

  • NYINGMAPA

• P

  • PANCHENLAMA
  • PAP
  • PLA
  • PRC
  • PSB

• Q

  • QING.
  • QINGHAI

• R

  • RANGBTSAN
  • REDHAT
  • ORC

• S

  • SELFDETERMINATION
  • SERF

• T

  • TAR
  • TASHI DELEK
  • TGIE
  • TI
  • TIBET
  • TPT
  • TSAMPA
  • TSHONGDU
  • TUFAN
  • TULKU

• U

  • U-TSANG

• X

  • XIZANG

• Y

  • YOGIN

A

AMBAN
A representative of the QING emperor who resided in the territory of a tributary state or dependency. The Qing mission in Lhasa was usually headed by two Ambans of equal status.

AMDO /ahm'doh'/
The Tibetan name for a region located northeast of Lhasa. It includes the bulk of QINGHAI province, as well as the Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province. Along with KHAM and U-TSANG, it is one of Tibet's three historic regions. Each of these regions speaks its own distinctive dialect of Tibetan.

B

BOD [Tibetan /puh3/]
The Tibetan word for TIBET. The word Bod may be derived from BON.

BODPA [Tibetan /puh4ba4/]
The Tibetan word for "Tibetan," both as a noun and as an adjective.

BON [Tibetan /puhm2/]
Tibet's pre-Buddhist, animist religion. Cf. NYINGMAPA

C

CCP
Chinese Communist Party. The ruling party of China since 1949. (The Chinese government prefers "CPC"--Communist Party of China.)

COMMISSION OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES
TGIE's legislative branch. The Tibetan exile community has held CPD elections every three years since 1960.

D

DALAI LAMA [Tibetan /ta1le4 la1ma4/]
Tibet's most renown line of incarnate LAMAs. The Dalai Lamas reigned as kings of Tibet from 1642 until 1959. The current Dalai Lama has lived in exile since 1959. See question B2.

DL
DALAI LAMA

G

GELUGPA /ge'luk'pa'/
The dominate Buddhist sect in Tibet and Mongolia. The literal translation of Gelugpa is "model of virtue." The sect was founded by the Tibetan monk Tsongkhapa in the 15th century and is also known as the Yellow Hat sect. Cf. RED HAT.

H

HAN /han4/
The Chinese word for an ethnic Chinese. More precisely, a Han is someone whose primary or ancestral language is Chinese (_Han4yu3_) and who does not belong to any of China's various other officially recognized ethnic groups.

K

KAGYUPA
Tibet's third largest monastic order. The name means "transmitted word." The Kagyupa order consists of several sub-orders, including Karma Kagyupa, widely practiced in both Tibet and Sikkim, and Dukpa Kagyupa, the dominate faith of Bhutan. Cf. KARMAPA.

KARMAPA
A line of incarnate LAMAs whose traditional residence is at Tsurphu Monastery near Lhasa. The Karmapa heads the Karma KAGYUPA order and is also known as the Black Hat Lama. The 16th Karmapa died in Chicago in 1981. A successor was enthroned at Tsurphu in 1993, although some Karma Kagyupa members still support a rival candidate.

KASHAG [Tibetan /ka1shaa3/]
A group of four men appointed by the Dalai Lama to supervise day to day government administration. The group is often referred to as Tibet's cabinet. In 1992, TGIE's constitution was amended to make the Kashag responsible to the COMMISSION OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES.

KHAM
A region of eastern Tibet. Western Kham is now in TAR (q.v.) while eastern Kham is in China's Sichuan (Szechwan) province.

KMT
Kuomintang [Chinese /gwo2min2dang3/] The ruling party of China from 1928 to 1949. The ruling party of Taiwan since 1949. It is also known as the Nationalist Party.

L

LAMA [Tibetan /la1ma4/]
The literal translation of this Tibetan word is "superior one." The word has several meanings, but is most commonly used to refer to incarnate lamas or TULKU. Other Buddhist spiritual teachers may be referred to as root lamas. Cf. YOGIN.

LHASA [Tibetan/lhe1sa4/]
The capital and largest city in Tibet with a population of 170,000. Lhasa is a shortened form of _lha sacha_, which means "god's place."

LOSAR
Tibetan new year. The next Losar will be on February 8, 1997. Cf. MONLAM CHENMO.

M

MCMAHON LINE
The boundary for the eastern section of the frontier between Tibet and India. It runs from the eastern end of Bhutan to the great bend in the Brahmaputra River. British and Tibetan negotiators agreed to this boundary in a conference held in Simla, India in 1914. The line is named for Sir Henry McMahon, the head of the British negotiating team. Although China claims territory south the McMahon Line, it has generally respected the line in practice.

MANCHU
a people who lived in what is now northeastern China for many centuries. Until 1636, they were known as the Jurchen. From 1644 to 1912, China was ruled by emperors of Manchu ancestry. Cf. QING.

MONLAM CHENMO
The "great prayer festival," which begins three days after LOSAR and continues for ten days. China currently prohibits the public celebration of Monlam and other Buddhist holidays in Tibet.

N

NYINGMAPA
"The old order," Tibet's second largest monastic order. Nyingmapa priests are not usually required to be celibate. The sect's rituals include many elements that were derived from BON.

P

PANCHEN LAMA [Tibetan /pen1jeen4 la1ma4/]
A title used by the head LAMA of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse. His spiritual authority is second only to that of the DALAI LAMA within the GELUGPA sect. See question B2.

PAP
People's Armed Police. A paramilitary force created in 1983 to patrol border areas and to guard government buildings. It was used extensively to suppress demonstrations in Lhasa between 1987 and 1991. Cf. PSB.

PLA
People's Liberation Army. The official name of the Chinese armed forces since 1949. The PLA is a combined service and includes ground, air, and naval units.

PRC
People's Republic of China. The official name of China since 1949.

PSB
Public Security Bureau. China's principle agency for enforcing criminal law, i.e. the regular police. Cf. PAP.

Q

QING /ching1/
A dynasty of MANCHU origin which was founded in 1636 and ruled China from 1644 to 1912.

QINGHAI
A Chinese province created in 1928 to administer the bulk of Tibet's AMDO region. In 1992, the population of Qinghai was estimated to be 4.61 million, [Fiske94] of whom 58 percent were ethnic Chinese, 20 percent were ethnic Tibetan, and 14 percent were Hui (Chinese Muslim). The ethnic Chinese population is concentrated in the vicinity of Xining, the capital. All of the province's other prefectures are classified as "Tibetan autonomous." Qinghai can also be referred to as Kokonor, the region's Mongolian name.

R

RANG-BTSAN /rang2dsen4/
The Tibetan word for "independence" or "self- government."

RED HAT
Any of various Tibetan monastic orders established prior to the 15th century when the GELUGPA order was founded. The three largest Red Hat sects, in order of membership, are: NYINGMAPA, KAGYUPA, and Sakyapa. The Tibetan term corresponding to Red Hat (_Zhvamar_) refers only to the followers of the Sharmapa, a TULKU of the Karma Kagyupa sub-order.

ROC
Republic of China, the official name of China from 1911 to 1949. Although the ROC government has ruled only Taiwan since 1949, it still claims to be the legitimate government of all China, including Tibet.

S

SELF
DETERMINATION--The determining by a people of the form their government shall have, without reference to the wishes any other people. The Charter of the United Nations calls for, "respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples." A 1961 U.N. General Assembly resolution describes Tibetans as a people entitled to the right of self-determination.

SERF
A peasant bound to perform feudal obligations for a lord. In 1959, about 60 percent of Tibet's population were legally classified as serfs. (In Tibetan, serfs are known as _miser_ or "yellow people").[Grunfeld1]

T

TAR
Tibet Autonomous Region. China created TAR in 1965 to administer the Tibetan regions of U-TSANG and western KHAM. Despite its name, the TAR government does not in fact enjoy any significant degree of autonomy. The region's top policymaker is CCP Secretary Chen Kuiyuan, an ethnic Chinese appointed by Beijing.

TASHI DELEK
A common Tibetan greeting. Click here to see it in Tibetan.

TGIE
Tibetan government-in-exile. See question B2.

TI
Tibetan independence. TI can also stand for "Taiwan independence."

TIBET
The Tibetan government-in-exile refers to the entire Tibet-Qinghai Plateau as "Tibet." But the word can also be used to refer to TAR (q.v.) only. "Tibet" is a word used in various European languages and was derived from the Arabic _Tubbat_, which was in turn derived from the Chinese TUFAN. [Partridge66]

TPT
talk.politics.tibet. The Usenet newsgroup for which this document is the FAQ.

TSAMPA
roasted barley flour, a staple of the Tibetan diet. Various Tibetan celebrations, such as LOSAR, are marked by tossing tsampa into the air.

TSHONGDU
Tibet's national assembly, established in the 1860s. Included the heads of major government departments as well as representatives from the larger monasteries. Decisions were made by consensus. Cf. COMMISSION OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES

TUFAN /tu3fan1/
A Chinese name for Tibet used during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The second syllable of Tufan was traditionally pronounced /bo/ and is probably a corruption of BOD. [Giles1]

TULKU [Tibetan /drue1ue1ku4/]
A person who is considered to be the reincarnation of a great spiritual teacher. The preferred translation of tulku is "incarnate LAMA." An older, less accurate, translation is "living Buddha." The Dalai and Panchen Lamas are Tibet's best-known tulku.

U

U-TSANG /oh'tsong'/
The Tibetan name for central Tibet, now included in TAR (q.v.).

X

XIZANG /she1tsong4/
The modern Chinese name for Tibet. The word is derived from U-TSANG and has been in use since the 18th century. [Kolmas67] The literal translation of Xizang is "western storehouse" or "western storeroom," not "western treasure house" as is sometimes claimed. [Giles2]

Y

YOGIN
A spiritual teacher who is not bound by monastic vows.