Customs and Superstitions of Tibetans

The materials of this volume have been gathered from the Tibetan province of Kham and the present Chinese province of Chinghai comprise Eastern Tibet. The inhabitants are Tibetans with a sprinkling of a few other nationalities. Ninety-nine per cent of this book’s contents were gleand by conversation, observation and original research from the Tibetans while living with all classes from prince to pauper. Political views expressed are not the personal thoughts of the author but are the consensus of opinion founded by numerous conversations between the years from 1921 to 1936 with many people of both high and low degree throughout the Tibetan Frontier. Other men with a different background might secure contradictory opinions from the same area. Communist control since 1951 and 1952 has created its own reactions. In striving for absolute accuracy of statement and in attempting to state all facts concisely, we have had constantly in mind the Tibetan Standard of good writing, "To be free from the faults of More, Less and Mistake". Finally, this book is the product of my too numerous to mention Tibetan friends who through the years told me freely and frankly all things which I wanted to know. Among the most prominent of these were my Tibetan teachers- Alay, Tseden, Atring, Lhashi, Gezongondu, Liu Chia Chu, and Peh Shang Wen. From their retentive memories came the proverbs heading each chapter and scattered throughout the text, the songs and superstitions, as well as the explanations of events and ceremonies as they occurred.