Challenges and Achievements in the Life of a Tibetan Lama who became an Electrician: the Fifth Dragkar Lama

Nicola Schneider

Introduction

In the Tibetan world, the term lama or religious teacher (from Sanskrit guru) is complex, referring both to a way of designating a person who has the authority to confer initiation and to a hereditary title. * In this latter case, two possibilities exist: either the inheritance is rooted in family legacy, generally from father to son, 1 or it is identified within a spiritual lineage which is perpetuated by finding and recognizing the reincarnation, or tülku (སྤྲུ ལ་སྐུ་), of an eminent lama recently deceased. 2 The institution of tülku is one of the main characteristics of Tibetan Buddhism in which reincarnated lamas are considered to be emanations of transcendent deities who are devoted, life after life, to the service of others. More specifically, they are reincarnations of buddhas or bodhisattvas whose main role is to ensure the continuity of religious institutions and the spiritual life within them.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the tülku receive specific treatment: often recognized at a young age by other religious adepts of high status, they inherit not only the name of their predecessor but also his personal property and in particular his monastic residence (བླ་བྲང་), including the responsibility of its affiliated monasteries. These tülku generally receive a special education, supposed to enable them to fulfill as best as possible their role as teachers, to perform initiations, and to bestow blessings. For this education, in relation to their rank, they are entrusted to the best teachers available. But what happens when the transmission of religious knowledge and, no less significant, the sacred spaces and material legacies they contain, has not been possible as tradition has provided? The purpose of this article is to present the case of a contemporary lama-the fifth Dragkar Lama-who encountered such obstacles.

The Dragkar Lama lineage

A long winding path leads to the hill on which the monastic seat of the Dragkar Lama, Dragkar Phelgyé Ling (བྲག་དཀར་འཕེ ལ་རྒྱས་གླི ང་), was built. 3 Upon arrival, a panoramic view opens on the river, and then on the other side lies the city of Kandzé (དཀར་མཛེ ས་), capital of the prefecture of the same name and located in Kham, now incorporated in the Chinese province of Sichuan. One hundred and thirty Tibetan nuns currently live there in small individual houses arranged around a main temple. It is one of the two large convents of the city belonging to the reformed school of Gélukpa (དགེ ་ལུགས་པ་) whose monks and nuns theoretically all practice a strict celibacy, unlike other Tibetan Buddhist schools. When I visited this place for the first time on August 2013, the lama was absent. "He is at home in Lhasa," the nuns replied. However, they also hastened to add that he would come to visit them soon. So I decided to come back a little later in the month to meet the one who is the present incarnation of a lineage that had aroused my interest a few years earlier when I studied the autobiographies of his predecessors, in particular those of the first and third Dragkar Lama, included in the compilation of the latter's writings (གསུང་འབུམ་) in twenty volumes. 4 The Dragkar Lama lineage, which remains little known in the wider Tibetan world, plays a very important role in the existence of female monasticism in eastern Tibet. The first master of this lineage, Jampa Rapten (བྱམ་པ་རབ་བརྟན་ 1735 1819), most likely established female monasticism through the foundation of the original convent in the Kandzé region. After studying in Lhasa for several years, where he had met nuns, he returned to his regional birthplace and noted a total lack of nuns. He decided to remedy this situation. Not without difficulty, he first had to persuade the local population who saw little interest in having their wives and daughters leave the house to join a convent. He next had to face his fellow monks who threatened to destroy the creation of such an institution, fearing the loss of income if nuns also began to offer ritual services. The lama did not allow himself to be intimidated, however, and proceeded to found the first women's convent, although he forbade the nuns for the moment from participating in household rituals to avoid further unrest.

Little is known to us of the second Dragkar Lama, but the third left a relatively detailed autobiography, completed by his disciples. Lozang Palden (བླློ ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་ 1866 1929) was first of all a great scholar who received his education at the monastery of Drépung (འབྲས་སྤུངས་) and who acquired a reputation for having challenged and refuted one of the greatest intellectuals of his time, Ju Mipham (འཇུ་མླི ་ཕམ་ 1846 1912) of the Nyingmapa (རླི ང་མ་པ་) school 5 , in the knowledge that a lama's worth and knowledge is also measured by how well he manages to challenge the ideas of others and succeeds in convincing them to accept his alternatives. But above all, what interests us within the framework of this article is that he perpetuated the support of female monasticism in his region by giving nuns regular teachings and by founding several convents which still exist. He introduced Buddhist study programs such as there were none elsewhere, it seems, and he also taught methods of making "precious pills" (རླི ན་ཆེ ན་རླི ལ་བུ་), highly valued in Tibetan medicine for their efficacy in the event of illness. He thus left strong imprints that local contemporary masters have not failed to emphasize. 6 Upon his death, his incarnation was found in the person of Lozang Tupten Palden Özer (བླློ ་བཟང་ཐུབ་བསྟན་དཔལ་ལྡན་འློ ད་ཟེ ར་ 1929? 1950?) within a family of pastoral nomads near the Dzokchen monastery (རློ གས་ཆེ ན་དགློ ན་པ་) in eastern Tibet. Like his predecessors, the fourth Dragkar Lama was sent to Lhasa to follow higher Buddhist studies at the Drépung monastery. However, due to fragile health, he died there ten years later at a young age.

As is customary in Tibet, the entourage of the deceased then began to seek his successor and ended up finding him in the noble family (སེ ར་པ་) of the Chapa (ཆ་པ་), residing in Lhasa. This choice was later confirmed by the fourteenth Dalai Lama in person.

An eventful life

The son of a lay civil servant of intermediate rank 7 and of a mother descended from the famous Prime Minister Shatra Lönchen (བཤད་སྒྲ་བླློ ན་ཆེ ན་), 8 the one we call the Dragkar Lama in the remainder of this article-who is in fact the fifth in his lineage-was born in 1950. His parents were from Shigatse (གཞླི ས་ཀ་རེ ་), the second largest city in Tibet located in the Tsang region (གཙང་); but at the time of this "son-in-law" marriage, 9 they were given a new name, Chapa, and they settled in the capital of Lhasa. They had a total of six children: three girls and three boys. The two older brothers were recognized one after the other as incarnations: one of a lama from a small monastery located in Kongpo (south of Tibet) and the other as that of the chief abbot of Ganden monastery (ཁླི ་སྤྲུལ་), who furthermore ran the Gélukpa school. 10 It was not uncommon at the time for one or more sons of an aristocratic family to be recognized as tülku, thus ensuring a lasting link between the monasteries in question and the political elite of Lhasa who considered themselves for the most part as Gélukpa. 11 It was around the year 1954 that the Dragkar Lama or Tenzin Lozang Nyendrak (བསྟན་འཛི ན་བླློ ་བཟང་སེ ན་གྲགས་), the third son, was recognized as the embodiment of his predecessor, when he was only four years old. The same year, his enthronement began to be organized in Kham, in which the monastery thenceforward became considered his primary residence, Dragkar Phelgyé Ling. 12 All his family and their servants traveled to, and attended the ceremony, with great pomp. He and his mother were transported in a horse-drawn carriage, while his father was mounted on horse. According to the Dragkar Lama, between seventy and eighty people accompanied them from Lhasa, and an even larger reception committee, made up of Khampas and Tibetans of the east, awaited them in Chamdo (ཆབ་མདློ ་), the border town between central Tibet and Kham. Upon arrival in Kandzé at the end of 1955, they were taken in charge by the monks and nuns of Dragkar Phelgyé Ling and then welcomed with all the honors due to their rank by the local population.

Figure 2.1: The young, fifth Dragkar Lama (center of photo). Tashi Tsering collection.

The Dragkar Lama recalls little of the proceedings of his intronization ceremony. He just remembers that his nurse, the nun Künzang, had to stand behind his throne and hold him steady to thus prevent him from moving or falling from above. Likewise, he knew that their stay in Kandzé was shortened considerably due to the political tensions (with the People's Republic of China) which began to be felt in this part of eastern Tibet. Indeed, in the spring of 1956, the first reforms were introduced in Kandzé, and the local population began to revolt. 13 Many Khampa men consequently congregated in the mountains where they initiated a guerrilla movement. [START_REF] Thondup | Incarnation. The History and Mysticism of the Tulku Tradition of Tibet[END_REF] The Dragkar Lama and his entourage alternatively decided to return to Lhasa, where the policies pursued by the Chinese authorities were much less tense at the time.

Having returned to his hometown, the Dragkar Lama was sent, as anticipated by custom, to undergo his apprenticeship at the Drépung monastery, accompanied by his nun nursemaid, his steward (གསློ ལ་དཔློ ན་; responsible for the preparation of his meals), and the nun Ösel Lhamo of the Samtenling convent (also called Watak) of Dawu, one of the counties of the prefecture of Kandzé in eastern Tibet. Just as his predecessor, he joined the "residential unit" (ཁང་མཚན་ or ཁམས་ཚན་) of Téhor where all the monks of the Kandzé region were grouped; this regionalist tradition was intended to facilitate exchanges and hence, the transmission of teachings, the mutual understanding among the various Tibetan dialects being sometimes difficult. As he was too young, the Dragkar Lama did not yet have a regular teacher, who would eventually be chosen among one of his predecessor's disciples.

At the beginning of 1959, the political situation in Lhasa became equally tense, pushing the Tibetan population to rise in revolt. On March 10, 1959, when the Dalai Lama was expected to meet with Chinese officials without his personal guards, the Tibetan population, suspicious and fearful for their spiritual leader, blocked the exit of his palace to prevent him from leaving. 15 It not only began several days of rebellion which allowed the Dalai Lama to flee Tibet into exile but also resulted in a bloody repression launched by the Chinese authorities that lasted decades. On the front line of attack were the large monasteries whose monks were suspected of having participated in the uprising. Several of them were bombed, among which Drépung monastery, where the Dragkar Lama studied, was one of the most affected. 16 Mass arrests followed, in particular of monks, but also of nobles and all people of other various socio-economic backgrounds who participated directly or indirectly in the revolts against the Chinese authorities. As far as the young monks were concerned, the Chinese authorities allowed them to rejoin their families, although there are testimonies of minors who were imprisoned and treated as adults responsible for their acts. 17 Initially, the Chinese authorities were sensitive to the case of the young tülkus and in November of 1963 founded for this purpose a "class for young tülkus" (གཞློ ན་ནུ་ལློ ་ཆུང་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་འཛི ན་གྲྭ་; also called བླ་མ་པན་) near the Néchung monastery (གནས་ཆུང་; located not far from the Drépung monastery in the suburbs of Lhasa). They specifically enrolled adolescents recognized as reincarnations such as those of the two exregents of Tibet, the sixth Reting Rinpoche (རྭ་སྒྲེ ང་རླི ན་པློ ་ཆེ ་ 1948-1997) and the fourth Taktra Rinpoche (སྟག་བྲག་རླི ན་པློ ་ཆེ ་, born in 1954/1955), Drigung Könchok Tenzin (དླི ་གུང་དཀློ ན་མཆློ ག་བསྟན་འཛི ན་, born 1942), and Minyak Chökyi Gyeltsen (མླི ་ཉག་ཆློ ས་ཀླི ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་, born 1947); eleven children in total spent some time in this class. 18 However, the school was closed shortly thereafter and did not reopen until 1985 due to the tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). [START_REF] Dhondup | The Thirteenth Dalai Lama's Experiment in Modern Education[END_REF] Figure 2.2: Students of the "class for young tülku", Lhasa, 1964. Minyak Chökyi Gyeltsen collection. As for the fifth Dragkar Lama, he was relegated to the group of young monks who returned to the family home during the first reprisals in March of 1959, without passing through any institution.

The years that followed were the darkest for the Tibetans and in particular for the religious. The monasteries gradually lost their inhabitants, as the authorities confiscated sacred ritual objects, all religious materials and personal possessions considered to be either financially or spiritually valuable, and much-needed furniture as well as destroyed premises. The Dragkar Lama still speaks with difficulty about what happened to his family, with the exception of sharing that his parents had to participate in many "self-criticism sessions". As for himself, he mostly stayed at the house where he looked after the children of his older sisters, among other things. And when he reached working age, he replaced his parents when he could, who were sentenced to hard labor, to spare them from the worst of assignments. He then left Lhasa for Chamdo where he was employed to repair roads. Thereafter, he was sent to the Kongpo region, south-east of the capital, where he had to join the "lama labor camp", infamous for the large number of deaths during the years of the "Great Leap Forward" which in Tibet took place shortly after the uprising and the mass arrests of former Tibetan and religious officials. There he met Keutsang Lama (ཀེ འུ་ཚང་བླ་མ་, born in 1944) who testified to the horrors of that time, published later in his memoirs after he escaped into exile. [START_REF] Sun | Engineering Communist China: One Man's Story[END_REF] In 1973, the Dragkar Lama was permitted to travel to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, in order to undergo training as an electrician. The prospect of becoming a skilled worker was probably a very good solution to his status as a "class enemy", based on his aristocratic past and religious status. In addition, this professional choice fell into the category of "fat" jobs when one had the chance to work for a government authority, not to mention the benefits in kind that it could generate. [START_REF] Lha | Ngos kyi bu gsum sprul skur ngos' dzin byas pa'i gnas tshul skor" (How my three sons were recognized as tülku)[END_REF] Indeed, among the various projects of technological development envisaged, the electrification of the country had a very important political significance at that time, in connection with the ambition of modernization, despite its very relative success. 22 It should not be forgotten, however, that the introduction of electricity to Lhasa largely predates China's annexation of the country. More precisely it dates back to the 1920s, when there was still no electricity in the Chinese countryside, 23 and it was one of the desired modernization projects introduced by the thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876-1933). He sent four young Tibetan men of noble descent to England to receive a modern education. 24 One of these nobles, a man named Rindzin Dorjé Ringang (རླི ག་འཛི ན་རློ ་རེ ་རླི ན་སང་), received training in electrical engineering. [START_REF]Women and Politics in Contemporary Tibet[END_REF] Upon his return to the country, he built the first power plant in Lhasa and remained in charge of its smooth operation. However, it seems that it only illuminated the streets of the capital, as well as the summer palace of the Dalai Lama. As for the electrification of the country, and in particular of the countryside, it is still not a hundred percent complete as of the time of the publication of this article. 26 During his formative years in Sichuan, the Dragkar Lama met his future wife, originally from Xi'an. She herself was also born into a noble family on the side of her Han father, who married a Tibetan woman. After raising her in Xi'an, the parents moved to Lhasa, where her father worked for a time in a troupe of actors and dancers producing cultural performances for the Chinese army.

In 1977, the young couple formed by the Dragkar Lama and his fiancée decided to return to Lhasa to find work and settle down. They married in 1982. The Dragkar Lama says that his studies in Chengdu convinced him that becoming a monk and practicing celibacy was ultimately not his wish. "I changed my mind," according to his own words. It must be noted, however, that at the time, it was probably not even possible to consider a religious career.

Soon after their marriage, their first son was born in 1983, and two years later the second followed. Both sons continue to be close to their parents, the youngest having even decided to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming an electrician himself.

The reconnection with his role as the Dragkar Lama

The religious renewal in Kham began at the same time when the Dragkar Lama became a father. At Dragkar Phelgyé Ling, the now elderly nuns who had survived the dark years of the reforms and the Cultural Revolution were the first to rejoin the monastery and employed their combined energies to rebuild it. 27 There were also many local devotees who contributed to the reopening of the convent by helping in the reconstruction, some of whom were able to hide statues and texts which they then brought back to donate to the nuns and the lama. However, the Dragkar Lama was absent, which prompted his many disciples to send letters asking him to return; according to the Dragkar Lama, he received "Lots of letters." Then some nuns left for Lhasa on a pilgrimage, taking the opportunity to meet him and to plead his return to the monastery. However, the letters and visit of the nuns proved to be in vain, as the Dragkar Lama did not allow himself to be convinced, seeing his future close to his family. Figure 3.1: The pioneer nuns who participated in the reconstruction of Dragkar Phelgyé Ling in the 1980s. Photo exhibited in the temple of Dragkar Phelgyé Ling (2013). In 1985, when the Dragkar Lama became a father for the second time, the nuns quartered at his monastic seat sent monks as emissaries on their behalf to ask him again to return to Kham. He had no choice but to explain to them with an open heart that he wanted to give up his role as a lama, and furthermore, he was in a complicated situation because he willingly renounced his monastic vows in order to marry. According to his own words, he consequently felt no desire to return to the monastery and participate in the religious renewal. However, the emissary monks remained in Lhasa to continue to press him, saying that they would not leave Lhasa until they had persuaded him to return. They used one of the primary arguments, "You are our Rinpoché [another term of address term for tülku, more common in central Tibet]; it does not matter to us whether you are married. These days, even the Panchen Lama has." They thus alluded to the second great spiritual leader of Tibet (in the ecclesial hierarchy, he is second after the Dalai Lama), who is also from the school of Gélukpa and necessarily a celibate religious figure. Remaining in the country and having benefited for a time from the trust that the Chinese authorities placed in him, the Panchen Lama was eventually condemned in turn, in 1964, for having drafted a petition in 70,000 Chinese characters denouncing the results of Chinese policy in Tibet. 28 After being detained for nearly ten years and then living under house arrest in Beijing for a few more years, the tenth Panchen Lama (1938-1989) decided to marry a woman of Han origin, Li Jie (or Dechen Wangmo བདེ ་ཆེ ན་དབང་མློ ་, her Tibetan name), the granddaughter of a general of the former nationalist government, despite the fact that his religious role theoretically requires celibacy. This decision of course caused great surprise among the Tibetan population and primarily, among his own parents. However, it also seems that this act of marriage could have been calculated in advance, with the decision having been taken by necessity in order to regain the trust of the Chinese authorities and thus to be able to continue work on behalf of the Tibetans, according to Arjia Rinpoche (ཨ་རྒྱ་རླི ན་པློ ་ཆེ ་, born 1950), who worked closely with him in the years to follow. 29 The couple had a daughter, Yéshé Rinzin Wangmo (ཡེ ་ཤེ ས་རླི ག་འཛི ན་དབང་མློ ་), affectionately called "princess" (སྲས་མློ ་) by the Tibetans. 30 This argument helped to change the Dragkar Lama's mind to a certain extent, but not because he considered himself as important as the Panchen Lama, he emphasized several times in our conversation, but because he began to perceive differently the stakes of his function as lama in this religious revitalization. Nevertheless, he still did not allow himself to be convinced. Some time later, during the Panchen Lama's second visit to Kham in 1986, 31 the nuns confided in him their wish to bring back the Dragkar Lama; they literally complained that rinpoches completely foreign to their lineage had come to visit their monastery, but still not their own master. These same rinpoches also visited him in Lhasa. In response to the nuns' wishes, the Panchen Lama contacted the local government of Kandzé, asking for their support to convince the Dragkar Lama to return.

In 1987, he finally heard reason. He then returned to Kandzé for the first time since his enthronement, accompanied by a steward (གསློ ལ་དཔློ ན་). In response to the question asked of his wife, if she had not been worried to see her husband leave for his original monastery and plunge back into his past, she replied with a smile on her lips that no, that she was far too busy to be concerned, as she had two young children to raise and her own work.

Upon arrival at Dragkar Phelgyé Ling, the lama discovered the monastery was in a seriously dilapidated condition. Not only did it lack water and electricity, but several nuns had to share one cell. Likewise, they did not have enough to eat, not to mention the lack of funds required for the significant reconstruction work of the monastery. This was the case with many other monasteries and temples in Tibet, but the fact that they still lacked a lama at the head of their community reduced their situation to a worst-case scenario. To attract donations from the faithful, it is essential to have a tülku who is a leader (very rarely a nun), someone in whom the population can have faith, as only the Dragkar Lama could guarantee. In other words, without a lama at its head, a monastery runs the risk of spiraling towards its own ruin. 32 Twenty-five years after his forced return to the family house, the Dragkar Lama at last agreed to return to Dragkar Phelgyé Ling and demonstrated a complete commitment to the resumption of his role as lama; donations flowed in from all over, thus allowing the nuns to finalize the reconstruction of the temple and to have their own private cells with electricity and access to water. 33 Since his first visit to Kandzé, the Dragkar Lama has returned every two or three years, depending on his availability. Little by little, he also took over responsibility for the other monasteries attached to Dragkar Phelgyé Ling and, thereby, for his entire lineage: eight convents of women and a monastery of men, all located in Kham between Kandzé and the region of Gyarong (རྒྱལ་རློ ང་), southeast of the city. Two to three weeks are needed to tour these places, even though the roads have improved significantly in the past ten years. He has made several family trips, accompanied by his wife and children and sometimes also his parents. [START_REF] Macdonald | Twenty Years in Tibet[END_REF] At first it was somewhat uncomfortable because they all had to sleep in one room, as the monasteries were not equipped to accommodate entire families. However, the lama's apartment located above the assembly hall (འདུ་ཁང་) refurbished over the years to suit the new situation. Thus, at Dragkar Phelgyé Ling, several rooms with many beds and a private kitchen have been made available to him, which to my knowledge is rare in the Tibetan world.

The reconciliation of professional careers

Behind the Potala, the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas which has become the most popular museum of tourists in Tibet, extends a residential area where mainly middle-class Tibetan families live. The small pavilions built in this location during the early 2000s are equipped with modern conveniences and studier than the traditional residences located around the Barkhor district, the former city center of Lhasa. These antiquated homes are often shared by several families and lack sanitary facilities. The Dragkar Lama family has settled in one of the pavilions on the outskirts of the city center.

When I come in through the big portal that hides the façade of their pavilion, a courtyard opens first to my view, and then I see a nun sweeping the floor. Originally from the Samtenling convent (བསམ་གཏན་གླི ང་ཨ་ནླི ་དགློ ན་པ་ ) near Dawu (རྟའུ་), she came on her own to help her spiritual master, an act considered to be highly meritorious in Tibetan Buddhism. 35 Her duties also probably give her the rare chance to be in close proximity to the Dragkar Lama, not to mention the fact that they allow her to reside and take advantage of the greater opportunities to continue her training as a nun in Lhasa, considered the holiest city by all Tibetans.

It is now the year 2015, and I am welcomed in the living room, modern in style except for an arrangement of benches and a typical Tibetan coffee table. What is especially lacking are the thangka (ཐང་ཀ་), painted scrolls representing deities and Buddhist symbols (these paintings are often rolled up), and the embroidered silk fabrics that decorate his private apartment at the Dragkar Phelgyé Ling monastery. After a rather general discussion, the Dragkar Lama takes me to see his private chapel, installed in an upstairs bedroom. Here we find his altar and several glass display cabinets in which he carefully preserves the few statues that the population of Kandzé was able to save from destruction during the Cultural Revolution, as well as a copy of the collected writings in twenty volumes written by the third Dragkar Lama. The Dragkar Lama explains to me that he has given himself the mission of republishing them in order to make known the history of his lineage, several of the volumes having already been released. The re-edition or even the digitization of ancient Buddhist or historical texts is an endeavor to which many intellectuals, religious, and lay alike have applied themselves since the 1980s. The goal, of course, is the preservation of heritage but also its dissemination to a wider audience. Thus, the collected writings of the third Dragkar Lama have been available for some time now on an American database at the Tibetan Buddhist Research Center, today called the Buddhist Digital Resource Center, which is freely accessible. 36 Figure 4.1: The glass display cabinet in which the Dragkar Lama preserves his heritage: the collected writings of his predecessor and a statue of Śākyamuni Buddha. Photo: Nicola Schneider (2015).

The residence of the Dragkar Lama somewhat reflects his character: an urban household head in discreet and modest conjunction with being an important religious figure as are so many men recognized as incarnations in the lineages of the Gélukpa school, in theory particularly focused on the study of texts and their vow of celibacy. His wife contributes greatly in playing her part well, busy around the guest that I am to pour welcome tea and to offer the typically served savory Tibetan khabtse-cookies. Nothing distinguishes their family from another, except that the servant is a nun. One of the sons is present; he continues to live with his parents, together with his wife and son, who is taken care of by the grandparents, having both retired at a young age. 37 Until recently, the Dragkar Lama still had to juggle two primary professional careers: on the one hand, his work as an electrician, and on the one hand, his work as a lama. Since the early 1990s, he has also been elected as one of the representatives of the municipal branch of the Lhasa Buddhist Association (ཀྲུང་གློ ་ནང་བསྟན་མཐུན་ཚོ གས་བློ ད་ཡན་ལག་མཐུན་ཚོ གས་), founded in 1956 and managed under the aegis of the state. 38 In Lhasa, there are currently a total of twenty representatives, including one nun from the Tsamkhung convent (མཚམས་ཁུང་ཨ་ནླི ་དགློ ན་པ་). Although this function is entirely voluntary and more "decorative" (རྒྱན་ཆ་) than active, 39 he noted that he devotes a considerable amount of time to his responsibilities.

In our conversations, the Dragkar Lama expresses the desire that his future successor be more qualified than him. Indeed, due to the combination of not having been able to receive the religious training which was due to him as the incarnate custodian of a spiritually sacred lineage and having to work at the same time in order to provide for the needs of the family he founded, he feels that he is not entirely able to live up to his role as spiritual master. Admittedly, he tried to make up for some of the loss of spiritual training during the dark years of political reform and then of the Cultural Revolution. In 1988, he joined the Chinese Academy for Higher Tibetan Buddhist studies (ཀྲུང་གློ ་བློ ད་བརྒྱུད་མཐློ ་རླི མ་ནང་བསྟན་སློ བ་གླི ང་), an institution in Beijing founded in 1987 by the tenth Panchen Lama with the support of the Buddhist Association at the national level. Located in the Yellow Temple (Tib. སེ ར་པློ ་འདུ་ཁང་ or པེ ་ཅླི ང་ནུབ་ཕློ གས་དགློ ན་པ་སེ ར་པློ འླི ་ལྷ་ཁང་; Chin. Xihuang Si 西黃寺) and originally built by the Qing emperor in the 17th century, it was opened with the aim of providing a classical and modern education specially intended for "young" incarnations who had not been able to follow their religious formation during the previous three decades. 40 From all over Tibet, the tenth Panchen Lama then invited masters from the five Tibetan Buddhist schools-Nyingmapa, Kagyupa (བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་པ་), Sakyapa (ས་སྐྱ་པ་), Gélukpa, and Jonangpa (ཇློ ་ནང་པ་)-as well as Bönpo (བློ ན་པློ ་) masters to become teachers in his new institution. 41 It was not easy given that a whole generation of masters had not been able to be trained (due to the previously mentioned decades of religious repression), and many had died in prison or fled the country to go into exile in India, Nepal, or Bhutan. 42 The curriculum of the academy was structured around two poles; on the one hand, they provided training on monastic formation, and on the other hand, they provided "conventional" university courses. Thus, the tülkus also learnt the "five traditional Buddhist sciences" (རླི ག་གནས་ཆེ ་བ་ལྔ་)-art and techniques (བཟློ ་རླི ག་པ་), medicine (གསློ ་བ་རླི ག་པ་), grammar (སྒྲ་རླི ག་པ་), epistemology (ཚད་མ་རླི ག་པ་), esoteric or philosophical sciences (ནང་དློ ན་རླི ག་པ་)-as modern sciences, such as history, Chinese, and English. 43 A certain political ideology was also taught, as the agenda of the Chinese government was above all a question of producing patriotic lamas who cherish the unity of the country. 44 The Dragkar Lama was among the first graduates of some 40 students to join the academy in 1987. Their levels of Buddhist education differed widely, as did their family situations. While certain incarnated lamas such as Arjia Rinpoche (also born in 1950) 45 had remained celibate monks throughout the previous thirty years, even if nothing on the outside distinguished them from the laity until the early 1980s, other monks such as the Panchen Lama and the Dragkar Lama were married and had families. Regarding their respective religious knowledge, some tülkus had continued to follow the teachings in secret, while others like the Dragkar Lama had remained completely cut off from their monastery and especially from teachers capable of transmitting initiations and trainings in monastic formation and other religious practices.

The Dragkar Lama remained at the Chinese Academy for Higher Tibetan Buddhist studies for an entire year, from September 1987 until the summer of 1988. 46 It goes without saying that such a program of study spread over a single year, while elsewhere in exile nearly twenty years are necessary to assimilate a curriculum which appears the same at first glance, could not compensate for his lack of knowledge due to the period of religious repression. Figure 4.2: The first class of tülku students at the Chinese Academy for Higher Tibetan Buddhist studies in Beijing. Tsangtruk Topla collection.

Life in the monasteries of the Dragkar Lama

While the Dragkar Lama goes about his business in Lhasa, his monasteries in Kham are run by the nuns themselves. Thus, it is the master of discipline (དགེ ་སློ ས་) and the master of teachings (slob dpon) at Dragkar Phelgyé Ling, both aged around forty, who have taken responsibility for the ritual calendar and training of young nuns. They are proud of what they have managed to restore, even if they regret the absence of their lama; however, he occasionally comes to honor them with his presence. 47 Figure 5.1: Photo taken during an audience with the Dragkar Lama in his apartment at Dragkar Phelgyé Ling; from left to right: his wife, his youngest son, a nun, and a disciple. Photo: Nicola Schneider (2013). Elsewhere at the Ngangang Convent (ངང་སང་ཨ་ནླི ་དགློ ན་པ་) near the city of Drango (བྲག་འགློ ་), it is again the nuns who take care of daily affairs and rituals, while the teaching of the basics such as reading and Buddhist philosophy has been outsourced to a scholar monk (མཁན་པློ ་). Furthermore, the community has succeeded in maintaining not only the religious services rendered to the local population but also the manufacture and marketing of "precious pills" (རླི ན་ཆེ ན་རླི ལ་བུ་) according to the traditional recipe invented by the third Dragkar Lama, Losang Palden. As during this past period when they were initially introduced, these pills are very sought after by the faithful to treat diseases related to the stomach (ཕློ ་བ་), bile (མཁླི ་པ་), and other parts of the body, but they are also particularly valued for the treatment of "men's diseases" (ཕློ ་ནད་).

However, not everything looks as perfect as appearances lead one to believe. In March and the months to follow in the year of 2008, during the third great Tibetan uprising which stretched across the whole country, many nuns from the monasteries of the Dragkar Lama took part in the demonstrations in not only Kandzé but also in Drango. 48 Like other religious and lay people, they demanded the return of the Dalai Lama and the end of a religious reeducation campaign, which had been in full swing since 2007. 49 One of the nuns explained in a letter left to a parent, "I cannot bear any longer the constant denunciation campaign against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I cannot even concentrate on my prayers." 50 As a result, many nuns were imprisoned, often aware of the fate that would befall them. 51 Nonetheless, the remaining nuns yet again returned to demonstrate, specifically to demand the release of their incarcerated sisters.

These tensions between the monasteries and the local government continue to exist; some people, including nuns, were still detained during my fieldwork research, but they have little or no impact on the Dragkar Lama himself. The latter, on the contrary, has secured a network of support in particular with the local authorities of Lhasa and of Kandzé but also with the central government leaders, with whom he enjoys a good reputation, according to his own statements. This does not mean that he is one of those religious masters who tries to win their favors at all costs. He has never held a position of high responsibility in the Buddhist Association nor in any other administration, positions which could provoke controversy or attract mistrust from his fellow Tibetans. He also does not advertise himself or his monasteries on one of the many websites that some lamas in Tibet now use to promote themselves, in particular to attract Han disciples. 52 He therefore lives very discreetly with his family and acts in parallel for the well-being of his religious community.

Conclusion

The life and activities of the fifth Dragkar Lama, born in the year directly following China's invasion of Tibet, obviously constitute a special case, in that he had to make his own personal choices in the face of a new political situation which did not allow Tibetans to envisage the continuity of a centuries-old, cherished monastic tradition. Recognized as the incarnation of a deceased master shortly before the time when religion was in the crosshairs of the new authorities, he was forced to abandon his apprenticeship prematurely to look for another future. It could be said that in this misfortune, he was lucky, since it was precisely his young age that allowed him to escape the worst of the abuses committed against many of the other monks and tülkus, who were imprisoned and forced to work in extreme conditions during the following twenty years, as reported by other witnesses. However, the little he tells of this period also suggests that he did not live well during this period or at least, that he is trying to forget it or feels compelled to do so. At the end of the Cultural Revolution and the time of the premise of religious liberalization in China, he had already made and followed his choice: to marry and found a family.

The Dragkar Lama is far from being the only one to have opted for this solution, as we have seen through the example of the tenth Panchen Lama, who is a fellow incarnation of the Gélukpa lineage. Many more lamas can be added to the list, to the point that criticism of their married status has arisen in Tibetan society. Although the exact extent to which the monks married remains unknown to this day, the attitude of another great lama of eastern Tibet strongly engaged in religious renewal, Khenpo Jikmé Phüntsok of the Nyingmapa school, theoretically more open to the status of monks as married religious specialists, is well known. According to Khenpo Jikmé Phüntsok, it was essential to purify and reform the ethics of Tibetan Buddhism to correct the many corruptions that had occurred in the previous thirty years. 53 Furthermore, the maintenance of monastic discipline-and therefore of celibacy-as well as the serious study of classical Buddhist texts were the sine qua non condition for reestablishing these traditional ethics. 54 However, judging from the popularity of many other married religious masters among Tibetans, there also seems to be some tolerance due to the fact, among others, that several Tibetan Buddhist schools accept the married religious in their midst.

The life and religious status of the Dragkar Lama raises the two primary questions of religious transmission and the continuity of the tradition today in Tibet after a long rupture due to restrictive measures of sometimes violent nature by an authoritarian regime. Although some masters like him no longer have all the intellectual knowledge related to their position, they have something inherent in their incarnated status that allows them to perpetuate the role of spiritual guide. The Dragkar Lama himself considers himself a ritual master (he refers here to the Chinese term fashi 法師) or "modern lama" (he refers here to the Tibetan term བླ་མ་དེ ང་དུས་), which seems to indicate that he is aware of the fact that he does not quite fulfill the functions required by his role according to tradition. Perhaps more important is the fact that by agreeing to resume his status as the fifth incarnation, he allows the lineage of the Dragkar Lama of Kandzé to continue. The concept of uninterrupted transmission, ideally going back to the historical Buddha, is indeed very important in Tibetan Buddhism; and this applies to both the teachings and the lineages of teachers, whether based on the principle of transmission from master to disciple or from incarnation to incarnation. It is in this sense that we must understand the Dragkar Lama when he expresses the desire that the tülku who will succeed him will have the possibility of better training: what is essential is that the lineage is perpetuated and that it will always be able to develop and improve thereafter.

Finally, this somewhat paradoxical situation did not prevent the monasteries under his tutelage from blossoming. About a thousand nuns and a number of monks unknown to me continue to perpetuate the religious teachings and practices introduced by the third Dragkar Lama in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the meantime during the month of August 2015 in Lhasa, the Dragkar Lama is preoccupied with the departure celebrations organized by the middle and well-to-do families of Lhasa for their children and grandchildren who will travel from Lhasa to China, where they will continue their studies in one of the boarding schools reserved in particular for minorities. As any other Tibetan father and grandfather, he is furthermore concerned about the preservation of their cultural heritage and traditions, especially as the children will spend years far away from their homes and communities in Tibet, but in the interviews, he has also revealed the singular concern of the duty that his lineage bears in fulfilling this responsibility.

* I would like to thank in particular: the National Agency for Research for financing two fieldwork research trips that allowed me to write this article; Adeline Herrou who coordinates the "Shifu" program; Tashi Tsering Josayma of the Amnye Machen Institute for his extensive, wise advice and bibliographic information; Topla for having provided the photos; Keyla; and never to be forgotten, the Dragkar Lama, his family, and the nuns of Dragkar Phelgyé Ling monastery. 1 The heritage of the name "lama" does not necessarily imply that one holds the office of a religious specialist. Thus, there are many families, especially in Nepal, who bear just the name "Lama". 2 I use the term tülku here as the translation of "reincarnation". There are three kinds of tülku (see Tulku Thondup, 2011: 19-23): the emanations of the buddhas, the manifestations of highly accomplished adepts (bodhisattvas or siddhas), and the rebirths of deserving or virtuous masters (lamas). The last are those who will be discussed here; they are also referred to as yangsi (ཡང་སྲླི ད་), literally "rebirth" or "re-existence", synonymous with tülku. On the tradition of tülku, see also Ray (1987) and Schwieger (2015: 1 50). 3 Dragkar (བྲག་དཀར་) literally means "white rock", and it is the short name used to refer to the lama after the name of the monastery Dragkar Phelgyé Ling (བྲག་དཀར་འཕེ ལ་རྒྱས་གླི ང་) to which his lineage is attached, as is the case with many other lamas. 4 The collected writings of the third Dragkar Lama contain not only his own autobiography (see bLo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin snyan grags, 2001, vol. 17 and 18) but also a short biography of the first Dragkar Lama (see bLo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin snyan grags 2001, vol. 14: 746-780). For a study of these biographies, see my article, Schneider (2011). [START_REF]bLo bzang chos rgyal[END_REF] Ju Mipham's writings were the source of many controversies, but only a few seemed to him to have been worthy of response, including the questions posed by the third Dragkar Lama. See Smith (2001: 231) and Phuntsho (2005, chap. 5). 6 Khenpo Jikmé Phüntsok (མཁན་པློ ་འཇླི གས་མེ ད་ཕུན་ཚོ གས་ 1933 2004) of Serthar, one of the greatest masters of Kham who initiated religious renewal after the Cultural Revolution, mentioned his contributions in particular (Khenpo Sodarjey, 2001: 110), and his disciples continue this emphasis. 7 The Dragkar Lama's father, Kelzang Wangdü (སལ་བཟང་འབང་འདུས་), worked in the Ministry of Finance and ranked fourth (རླི མ་བཞླི ་) out of a total of seven in the hierarchy of the Tibetan nobility. 8 She was the daughter of Shatra Lönchen Paljor Dorjé's daughter. 9 A "son-in-law" (མག་པ་) marriage, that is to say when the husband joins the family of his wife, is very frequent in Tibet; moreover, in the context of a patrilineal society, it takes place in particular among the nobility, which thus ensures the continuity of its heritage. See Alice Travers (2007) on this subject.

10 Jampa Gyeltsen (བྱམས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་)by name, he is the only one in the family to have gone into exile and emigrated to the United States with his wife. During his return to Tibet many years later to see family, he passed away. 11 This was also the case in other aristocratic families such as the family of Lhalu Tséwang Dorjé (ལྷ་ཀླུ་ཚེ ་དབང་རློ ་རེ ་), minister and former governor of Kham; see the article by Lha klu Tshe dbang rdo rje (1995) on the recognition of his three sons as tülku. I warmly thank Tashi Tsering Josayma for this information. 12 This monastery was founded by Dragkar Lozang Palden, the third in the lineage. 13 Unlike the territory of central Tibet, which was later named the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Tibetan regions of Kham and Amdo were incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai, and Gansu. In these regions, the "democratic reforms" preparing for collectivization were implemented earlier, at the same time as in all the other Chinese provinces; see Sperling (2002). [START_REF] Thondup | Incarnation. The History and Mysticism of the Tulku Tradition of Tibet[END_REF] Initially composed of small groups of villagers from Kham and Amdo opposed to the policies carried out by the Chinese authorities in their territory within eastern Tibet, they later united in 1958 under the direction of Gönpo Tashi Andruktshang (མགློ ན་པློ ་བཀྲ་ཤླི ས་ཨ་འབྲུག་ཚང་, 1905 1964), a trader from Lithang, to form a larger guerrilla movement called Chushi Gangdrug (ཆུ་བཞླི ་སང་དྲུག་), literally "Four rivers and six mountains". It was this guerrilla movement that helped the Dalai Lama to flee in 1959. For more information on Chushi Gangdrug, see McGranahan (2010) and Norbu (1994). A detailed description of the political tensions in Kandzé is found in Adhe Tapongtsang's autobiography with Blakeslee (1997) and in Norbu (1986). 15 At the time, many lamas were reported missing after accepting similar invitations, particularly in the east of the country. 16 See Gyatso (1997) on the bombing of the Drépung monastery. 17 For example, this was the case of Keutsang Trulku Jampel Yeshe (2001), born in 1944 and therefore only 15 years old at the time (16 years old, according to Tibetan calculation). 18 Personal communication from Minyak Chökyi Gyeltsen. See also "Krung go nang bstan mthun tshogs bod yan lag mthun tshogs kyi tshogs gtso rim byon gyi ngo sprod mdor bsdus" (2011: 10, 14). [START_REF] Dhondup | The Thirteenth Dalai Lama's Experiment in Modern Education[END_REF] gSang rgya bkrol ba (2016: 24). Known as the Néchung School (གནས་ཆུང་སློ བ་གྲྭ་) or the Dharma School (ཆློ ས་ཚོ གས་སློ བ་གྲྭ་) when re-founded in 1985 by the authorities, it is one of the first of its kind since the invasion of Tibet by China to offer preparation for the diploma of géshé (དགེ ་བཤེ ས་) in 10 years to monks (instead of the 25 to 30 years traditionally required for this curriculum). [START_REF] Sun | Engineering Communist China: One Man's Story[END_REF] See Keutsang Trulku Jampel Yeshe (2001). Tubten Khétsun, also a former prisoner because of his aristocratic origins, describes in detail the functioning of this labor camp at Kongpo in his autobiography (2008). [START_REF] Lha | Ngos kyi bu gsum sprul skur ngos' dzin byas pa'i gnas tshul skor" (How my three sons were recognized as tülku)[END_REF] Sun and Ling (2003: 171). 22 Wu (2009: 143). In China, as in Tibet, the electrification of the countryside did not begin until the 1980s and still continues in the 21st century. It would indeed be interesting to make a comparative anthropological study on electrification in China as proposed by Akhil Gupta in his article (2015). 23 See Wu (2008) 24 These four young men are also known by the name of the "Rugby boys", coined from the name of the English university city where they were sent. For more information, see Macdonald (2005: 218 21); Shakabpa (1988: 249); Dhondup (1984); and Shakya (1986). [START_REF]Women and Politics in Contemporary Tibet[END_REF] Byang ngos par rdo rje dngos grub (1986: 95 114). 26 For example, see the online Xinhua article, "More people will have electricity in Tibet" (Ke and Liu, 2019). 27 Originally founded for nuns, Dragkar Phelgyé Ling was subsequently converted into a monastery for men; after the Cultural Revolution, it became a convent for women again. 28 After the departure of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama not only became the highest religious authority in Tibet but also was promoted to vice-president of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a position equivalent to the rank of a national leader. For more information on the content of this petition, see A Poisoned Arrow: The Secret Report of the 10th Panchen Lama (1997). 29 In his autobiography published in exile in the United States, Arjia Rinpoche (2010: 113 15) describes in detail the reasons that prompted the Panchen Lama to make this decision and the resulting arrangement. 30 Yéshé Rinzin Wangmo later completed part of her studies in the United States and has continued to work for the benefit of Tibetan Buddhism to this day. 31 During these two visits (the first had taken place in 1982), the Panchen Lama not only inspected the monasteries and gave Buddhist teachings but also ascertained in general the state of working conditions in schools, factories, and farms as well as the well-being of Tibetan nomads. See Central Association for the H.H. The Panchen Lama (2009) and Bainquen, the Great Master in the Tibetan Areas of Sichuan Province (1989). 32 My field data from another monastery in eastern Tibet, Tashi Gönsar of the Minyak region, confirm this thesis: between the time when the founding lama died and the monastery's recovery due to the efforts of the succeeding lama, the nuns were reduced to begging; see Schneider (2013, 131 38). 33 Since then, several waves of restoration have taken place. [START_REF] Macdonald | Twenty Years in Tibet[END_REF] His father, ex-minister Kelsang Wangdü, died in 2015. 35 Remember that the first steward (གསློ ལ་དཔློ ན་) of Dragkar Lama, at the time when he joined the Drépung monastery, was also from this convent. 36 This database can be found at the following internet address: https://www.tbrc.org (access date February (2020). 37 When I first met the Dragkar Lama in 2013, he was still working part-time as an electrician; he subsequently retired. 38 See dGe legs chos grags (1991) and "Krung go nang bstan mthun tshogs bod yan lag mthun tshogs kyi tshogs gtso rim byon gyi ngo sprod mdor bsdus" (2011: 7 21) for the history of the presidents of this association in Lhasa. 39 The cadres of the Tibetan minority-nationality are nicknamed "ornaments" (རྒྱན་ཆ་) by the Tibetans themselves because of their lack of real political power, even when they occupy high positions; see Barnett (2005: 296 97). As for the Lhasa Buddhist Association, the choice of important and locally venerated personalities for honorary posts serves to legitimize its existence. 40 See for example Mi nyag chos kyi rgyal mtshan (1987); gTsang phrug stobs lags (2012: 219 27); Blondeau (2008: 173), and bSod nams rgya mtsho (1992). There are equivalent academies in Beijing for Han Buddhism and for Daoism. 41 The following lamas, among others, taught at the Chinese Academy for Higher Tibetan Buddhist Studies: Dungkar Lozang Trinlé (དུང་དཀར་བླློ ་བཟང་འཕླི ན་ལས་, 1927 1997)

  , Sakya Khenchen Ludrup Gyatso (ས་སྐྱ་མཁན་ཆེ ན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ ་, 20th century), Khenpo Troru Tsénam (མཁན་པློ ་ཁློ ་རུ་ཚེ ་རྣམ་, 1926/8 2005) and Bomi Jampa Lodrö (འབྲློ ག་མླི ་བྱམས་པ་བླློ ་གྲློ ས་, 1918 2002) of central Tibet; Khenpo Chödrak (མཁན་པློ ་ཆློ ས་གྲགས་, 1916 2005), Khenpo Jikmé Phüntsok, Khenpo Pétsé (མཁན་པློ ་པད་ཚེ ་, 1931 2001) and Tülku Karma Senggé (སྤྲུ ལ་སྐུ་ཀརྨ་སེ ང་གེ ་, dates unknown); Shardong Lozang Shédrup Gyatso


Nicola Schneider

Like in many other professions, women only form a tiny minority among contemporary artists in Tibet. Monsal Pekar is one of a handful of them. She has not only reached fame in her own society, but also in Mainland China and international circles thanks to her travels and contacts. This article will deal with her life and training as presented by herself. It will then proceed by analyzing part of her artwork and especially those works,which, in her own words, can be considered as "feminist" or representing "feminist ideas"-"Fighting for women's rights".

I will trace the development and inspiration underlying these pieces by drawing on a small critical book she wrote on women in Tibet and her more recent thoughts expressed in conversations. I will thus examine social commentary, critique and reflections in the artist's work with a particular regard to women's issues. It will be also shown that the latter are closely connected to ideas stemming from Buddhism, which the artist knows well as a diligent follower and practitioner. Last but not least, I will explore how the female artist feels responsibility in her society when criticizing the gender-gap.

Introduction

Contemporary art is a recent phenomenon in Tibetan society, which has literally exploded since it has started to go global at the beginning of the 21st century[ ]. The Gedun Choephel Artists' Guild in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, founded in 2003 by local artists, Tibetans and Hans alike, is the best known center of its kind and has been studied by several researchers for instance[ ]. It is striking that, like in many other professions, women only form a tiny minority of these new Tibetan artists[ ]. Monsal Pekar is one among a handful of them[ ]. Being a painter as well as a sculptor, she has been trained in traditional as well as in modern arts, being thus unique among her peers.

Unlike other contemporary Tibetan artists, Pekar does not work for any public institution or private enterprise to earn her life. She can be considered as a independent artist, who has to sell her artwork to customers or otherwise accepts orders from them. Also, she is not affiliated with any association or center. Nonetheless, she has reached fame in her own society as well as in Mainland China and international circles thanks to her travels and contacts. Being a friend of mine with whom I have discussed over the last decade many issues related to my own anthropological researches on Tibetan women, it seems important to me to listen to her reflections as presented clearly in some of her art pieces and written works-most of them not being published but only circulating on WeChat social network groups. I will restrain myself here to what I call "female" or "feminist" art, leaving for later the rest of her work, which is, of course, from an art connoisseur point of view equally important.

The following article will start with a short biographical sketch as presented in her book Fading Dreams[ ] and supplemented by conversations, before presenting and analyzing some of the pieces, which seem to me the most telling as concerns female or feminist art.

A short biographical sketch:

Pekar or Monsal Pekar Desal by her full name was born in 1964 in Kham Gawa (sGa pa), close to the town of Jyekundo (sKye dgu mdo). Her father, Losang Thugyal (1937Thugyal ( -2013)), was a well-known traditional sculptor and thangka painter who had learnt his craft from a young age in a Kagyu monastery. However during the Cultural Revolution, he had to stop exercising due to inherent risks. He was only able to resume his profession in the early 1980s when politics were slowly becoming more relaxed. At this time, it turned out that he was the only surviving artist of his group. Thus during her childhood, Pekar was ignorant about her father's skills and more generally about Tibetan traditional art and handicrafts.

Although times were not appropriate, Pekar was lucky to accomplish her high school in a Chinese medium curriculum in Jyekundo. When finishing her school, in the early 1980s, the political atmosphere in her home area was getting more relaxed and her father started to work again as traditional thangka-painter and Buddhist statue sculptor. Meanwhile a group of some famous Chinese artists came to visit Jyekundo and taught art to some local students: Pekar was the only woman among them. She was convinced by one of the art teachers, M. Lu, to go to an art school and with his assistance, she joined the Fine Arts Department of the North West Minorities Institute in Lanzhou. There she studied not only oil painting, but also art history, Western and Eastern philosophy, sculpture, design, poetry, music, dance and gymnastics. She became particularly interested in Western classical painting, which she applied later to her own art, like we will see. After graduating in 1990, she found a job at the Department of People's Art in Jyekundo where she designed book covers and translated folk literature.

The year 1993 was a turning point in Pekar's life: she decided to run away to India in order to get further education, especially in Buddhist teachings, and meet her spiritual master, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. During her first years in exile, she worked as an art teacher and book illustrator at the TCV-school of Upper Dharamsala and then in Byalakuppe, South India. She recalls that at that time she became very interested in Tibetan culture and traditions, something she was not so aware of before reaching India due to the political situation. She started to practice Buddhism very diligently, similar to an ascetic following strict diet and schedules. During one year and a half, she even became a nun. However, she also became aware of the fact that as a nun, one needs a teacher, otherwise it would be difficult to deepen religious practice. Realizing that all masters, even those teaching in nunneries, were men, she started to look for female role models and found one in the figure of the 11th-12th century female saint Machig Labdrön, the only Tibetan having invented a religious tradition, Chö or "Severance"[ ]. After having read Machig's secret biography[ ]-which contains a scene where Machig in despair about not being able to follow dharma cuts both of her thumbs with a knife in order to be unable to work as a herder for her family in law-, she decides to follow the same path. She chose however a different technique, tightening a metal wire around her index finger in order to cut all the blood circulation, a way of "offering"-the word she uses-parts of the body she had observed previously while on pilgrimage in Bodhgaya. This act was a shock to most of the Tibetans around her and she was forcefully sent to a mental hospital. Even today, she does not really understand why. Her finger having been left tightened up for several days, she says that she never lost consciousness. Instead, she says, she felt that something happened, something forced her, like in a dream-like state. During this time she neither slept nor ate food.

In 1997, Pekar came back again to Dharamsala. After having faced hard times, she was received as an artist in residence at Amnye Machen Institute, a research center specialized on Tibetan history and culture. There she produced various sculptures and paintings, as well as an exhibition organized by the same institute. She also got commissions from the Tibet Museum, the modern art section of the Norbulingka Institute and from the Songtsen Library in Dehra Dun[ ]. For Sakya Gongma Rinpoche, she realized several masks. Moreover, she got the chance to travel to the West: first for an exhibition at the Smithsonian Folklife festival in Washington (2000) and then to France, where she was invited to the trade fair of Nior and the international fair of Nancy ( 2004). During these years, she started to study American female artists, female art critics, and more generally became interested in feminist issues. Besides, she discovered Indian Gandhāra art style and the Kāmasūtra-like book written by the great Tibetan intellectual Gedün Chöphel[ ]. All together, they inspired her to write a small book Don't Laugh at Women's Hardships[ ] in which she fiercely criticizes gender inequality and gender roles in Tibetan society. Thus her main question and quest became: Where is happiness for women?

In the summer of 2006, Pekar together with her husband from Kenya went back to Tibet, Jyekundo. One of the reasons was that her father had asked her for help to run the atelier and school he had founded after political relaxation, and which had turned by then to a well running place for art production, education and cultural preservation. Among his three children, Pekar was the only talented artist able to continue his heritage. Already at a very young age, she had shown her capacities while shaping little figures out of tsampa, Tibetan staple food, or helping her grand-mother to manufacture traditional boots. However, after her father's death, her brother-in-law appropriated the business and Pekar and her family decided to settle in the suburbs of Chengdu, where she was given a job as a trainer in a Tibetan factory specialized in statue-making. Not feeling at her right place, she nevertheless quit the work shortly after and decided to settle on her own, i.e. accepting commissions from various customers like Chinese businessmen and Tibetan monasteries for whom she realized sculptors as well as paintings. In 2013, she was chosen among several artists in a competition organized by the Department of Culture in her hometown, Jyekundo. After the earthquake in April 2010, the whole city and its environment had to be reconstructed; only a handful of buildings having resisted, among them one of Tibet's tallest and finest Gesar statues manufactured by no other than Pekar's father. In order to save it, the Department had elevated it on a pedestal, with the aim to ask an artist to decorate it with further artwork. Pekar's proposition to encircle the statue with Gesar's army, or 'heroes' (dpa' bo), riding proudly and fiercely on their horses as if showing their awakening after the earthquake chaos was accepted as being the most attractive and suitable -For more information on this artwork, see video . As for now, approximately half of the work has been done, but in order to finalize it Pekar is still awaiting some of the promised funding.

Thus in order to make a living, Pekar mostly works for commissions giving her little time to realize her own ideas or creations. Among the latter, most fall into what can be considered to be female art. They all follow her main quest: Where is the happiness for women?

Pekar's female art

Since her graduation from university, some thirty years have passed during which Pekar has experimented with different techniques and materials in order to fine-tune her artwork. She has moreover shown a predilection for some subjects like the mother-figure, figures of past and present female heroines, the place of women in Buddhism and, more recently, the importance for women to acquire knowledge. All these subjects have been treated in different ways and styles over the years, the reason why the following chapter is divided into two periods.

Early period of intensive painting: India, 1997India, -2006 During her first period in India, Pekar started to produce what can be considered female or feminist art. One of her first paintings depicts Buddha Śākyamuni's mother, Māyādevī. Painted in oil on canvas, the style is a mix between Indian traditional art and Western modern art. It portrays the celestial nymph Śālabhañjikā leaning against and holding the sacred sal-tree, a typical subject of Indian art. However, the arms and legs of Māyādevī are extremely simplified or figurative. Moreover, some of the typical features of Śālabhañjikā like the act of giving birth to Siddartha Gautama while assistants are holding her, etc. are not represented.

In the next picture (fig. 5), Pekar represents a young, innocent looking nun, a reminder of her own experiences as a jomo. In her book, she accuses very clearly the Tibetan custom according to which parents and their daughters assume that being a qualified nun needs no more than to wear the monastic dress and recite a few sutras, contrasting it with Taiwanese and Western traditions where, she says, nuns first find for themselves the true path of liberation through Buddhism and only then decide to take their monastic vows, thus becoming genuinely enlightened by religion as well as capable of serious practice and studies[ ].

The painting of the Young nun in a realist style is nevertheless a moderate criticism compared to the next work: a sculpture representing two Tibetan women (fig. 6). Dressed in traditional clothes, the one in the foreground is sitting cross-legged, while the second is braiding her hair. Yet sitting in this way is a challenge to tradition if we take into account what Pekar writes in her book: "Sitting with her legs crossed is considered to be a woman's curse to her brothers" (2004: 34-35). This opprobrium is something she herself experienced many times when she was young and living in the Jyekundo area, like she says. The next work is a sculpture of Machig Labdrön in yab-yum (father-mother) position (fig. 7). Throughout her life Machig Labdrön had several tantric partners, but the one depicted here is explicitly an unidentified one. Because none has special importance for Pekar, she preferred to leave him anonymous in this work. The sculpture dates from approximately 2003, a period when Pekar started herself to study the Chö-tradition with a small group of practitioners in Dharamsala under the guidance of the 9th Khalkha Rinpoche (Khal kha rJe btsun dam pa).

More generally, Pekar followed many teachings while in India, in particular those of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It is from him, she says, that she learnt that the Anuttarayoga tantra or "unsurpassed yoga tantra", the highest category in the fourfold division of tantric texts, is the only way of Buddhist practice where the female is emphasized equally to the male, where no gender discrimination exists anymore[ ]. In recent years, she has transmitted this message to many other women through social media like WeChat with great success.

The next three paintings, produced during her residence in Amnye Machen Institute in the late 1990s, can be considered as contemplation of female beauty (figs. 8, 9 and 10). They are all influenced by the return to a distinct Tibetan form of art which followed the period of Maoist Social Realism during the Cultural Revolution[ ], but also by Western art and her own personal search for Tibetan culture and traditions. It is interesting to note that in the meantime, Pekar has become very critical towards women looking for beauty instead of searching for knowledge-we will come back later to this point.

The next works all represent the subject of mother, starting with the original Tibetan mother: the srinmo or demoness, a drawing we can find in her book (fig. 11). Pekar has explored the subject of the mother in different stages but also with distinct techniques like drawings, paintings, as well as in sculpture (figs. 12a, 12b and 12c). The mother represents to her "kindness", "compassion" and "selfless love", comparable to the characteristics of the bodhisattvas, also considered like "mothers" in Tibetan Buddhism. It is thus not surprising that she also represented the holiest of all the mothers, His Holiness the Dalai Lama's mother known to Tibetans as Mayum Chenmo, in a sculpture (fig. 13).

Later period of creation: China 2006-today

The second phase of Pekar's creations started with her return to Tibet, more precisely to China. Since settling near Chengdu, Pekar has been able to establish herself thanks to several regular clients, among them Chinese businessmen working in real estate business, and Tibetan monasteries. And, since 2013, she works on a contract basis with the Department of People's Art of Jyekundo city (her home town), in order to realize a series of pedestal sculptors. It is in the context of a collection of paintings representing great historical Tibetan figures like the imperial kings Songtsen Gampo and Thisong Detsen, but also intellectuals like the translator and inventor of Tibetan script Thommi Sambhota and the doctor Yutog Yönten Gönpo ordered by a Tibetan monastery, that Pekar realized the painting of one of the holiest religious women in Tibet: the female incarnation of Samding Dorje Phagmo (fig. 14). As we can see from the photo, it is heavily inspired by the sculpture of Mayum Chenmo, designed after existing photographs. Pekar says that she had no idea of how the previous Samding Dorje Phagmos looked like, not even the actual one. But she knows that His Holiness admires her very much when he talks about her, the reason why she chose to represent her this way.

Since settling in the suburbs of Chengdu, Pekar has also returned to the representation of her favored Tibetan woman: Machig Labdrön (fig. 15). In this first painting, realized together with the collection of great historical Tibetan figures, she has chosen a style close to tradition, mixed with elements of realism. However, a few years later, she decided to paint Machig Labdrön in a much more modernized version where she is shown nude (fig. 16). It might be useful to underline that already in traditional Tibetan paintings, nudity is an acceptable feature, at least concerning Machig Labdrön (although not always well received by Tibetan audience). At approximately the same period, around 2011, Pekar chose a similar style to paint Tara, the most important Tibetan female deity. (figs. 17a and 17b) It was her purpose here to paint Tara in a modern way that is distinct to the style used in thangkas, in order to underline the fact that she is like a human being, a real woman. Her inspiration comes partially from Western modern art: "a simple way of representing Tara", like she says, "without any further decoration".

A majority of her creations during the first years near Chengdu are again inspired by feminist readings and symbolic such as this photograph of a feminist: (fig. 18) a woman who is not afraid to fight for her rights, especially when it concerns equal gender treatment.

The next series of works can be resumed under the title Female Space (figs. 19a, 19b, 19c and 19d). It dates from the winter 2008/2009 and reveals her experiences and reflections after resettling again in a Han-Chinese cultural environment. It is also the period just after Pekar has given birth to her son and second child; the first child, a girl, was born in 1998.

Pekar has adopted here a new style, more personal and "modern", according to her own words. It is influenced by Western modern art, like Picasso for example, as well as by the style of an Indian modern artist whose paintings she has seen and appreciated in a museum in Delhi while living there.

In the first painting (fig. 19a), a housewife is seen sitting on the floor of her kitchen. She is torn apart between her household work on the one side and the responsibility over her baby on the other. Pekar wants to show here how small a housewife's place is; that there is no freedom at all for her being constantly busy with housework. This kind of woman has no independence and no freedom, a situation, which represents the life of many married women who are too much devoted to their family.

The second painting (fig. 19b) shows the contrary: a woman in the world, or a free woman. Compared to the first painting, the woman is outside and not confined inside; she fights for women's rights and also for peace-symbolized by the white pigeon. With this painting, Pekar wants to transmit the message that in order to become knowledgeable, women have to study and go out to discover the world, not only for their own good, but also in order to better serve their society and more generally the world and all human beings.

The next two paintings are less of a feminist statement in her own words. However, they are also related to the first ones and the general theme of female space. The third painting (fig. 19c) represents a woman sitting and watching outside. At the first look, she is torn between material world inside her apartment (the jewelry in her hand, nice food and a confortable living space) and the spiritual world situated outside. The big window represents here wisdom and knowledge. However, for instance the woman only contemplates the idea of searching for wisdom and has not taken any decision to follow this way. This painting can be connected to a statement, Pekar has given in her book: "Woman is not only the incarnation of beauty, but also that of wisdom and compassion. She needs to go beyond her ego and march towards the larger world. Don't let the world shape you; you should go ahead and shape the world. This is all what it is to be a woman!"[ ] In the next and last painting (fig. 19d), we can see a rich lady sitting comfortably on her sofa. She has no eyes to see, only a mouth for speech. Pekar says that this is how she perceived Chinese people, and especially women, when she settled first in the suburbs of Chengdu: a world of narrow thinking where beauty, small talk, big houses and big cars have more importance for women (as well as for men) than deep knowledge and reflection. This painting can also be related to a critical poem Pekar has written and circulated on WeChat:[ ]

女人无学便是徳

Women who lack talent are virtuous

女人痴情便是爱.

Women who are infatuated by men represent love.

就这样女人没有了眼睛,没有了脚,没有了手,没有了脑子,半死不活的只有让男人给脖子套上绳索拖着走完一生。

In this way women lose eyes, feet, hands, and brain, so they are barely surviving and finish their lives like neck-roped slaves who are dragged by men.

In a recent series of small paintings in watercolor, finished in November 2018, Pekar has gone back to a couple of her preferred themes. However, in contrast to her previous works where women were depicted with beautiful outside appearance, she now has chosen to underline instead their interior beauty. Thus we discover proud Tibetan women being pregnant, Tibetan nuns studying subjects previously reserved for men and (future) mothers who are busy with self-cultivation. In parallel to these painted art works, Pekar has composed a manifesto in prose inviting all women to live up to their potential. Here is the excerpt and its English translation[ ]: 起来吧!妻子们 Wake up! Wives! 当丈夫们把青春和激情消耗在别的女人之上时 你要学会趁机把控自己的情绪和精力,让自己陶醉在更高的修养和事业中! When husbands spend their youth and passion on other women, You must learn to take the opportunity to control your emotions and energy, and let yourself be immersed in higher cultivation and career! 起来吧!妈妈们 Wake up! Mothers! 当父亲们把家庭和孩子们超负荷的重量压在你一人身上喘不过气来,父亲们却逍遥自在在单身男女的行列里,尽情 享受要有尽有的幸福时,请把"为人之母"当成一件最荣幸的事!用爱心培育、浇灌子女的成长过程,这种义务是人 类赋予我们女人的神圣使命,也是女人命运中不可或缺的重要环节,以此培养博大无私的母爱和修炼人格中如大地 般安祥忍耐的好机会! When your husband and father of your children is enjoying the happiness of being a single man, and leaving you alone overwhelmed by the weight of taking care of family and children, you, please take "being a mother" as the most honorable thing! Cultivate and accompany the growth of your children with love, because this is a sacred mission that our women are endowed with, and this is also an indispensable part of women's destiny. Seize this good opportunity to develop unselfish motherly love and improve your personalities, which will be like the peaceful and patient earth.

起来吧!女人们

起来吧!姐妹们

Wake up! Sisters! 当男人们把理想和愿望高谈阔论重奏在酒桌上、啤酒的泡沫里时,我们不能忘记去学习看书、积累经验,为了实现 自己的人生目标和理想去奋斗 When men want to fulfill their ideals and wishes while sitting in the bar or while drinking beer, we must not forget to learn to read books, to accumulate experiences, and strive to achieve our goals and ideals.

起来吧!弱女子们

Wake up! Weak women! 当男人们用体魄威力殴打恐吓我们时,记住女人的肌肉是在骨头里,女人可以一次次地经历医学上的疼痛之最 ---十二级分娩之痛,由此可以培养和竖立不可摧毁的倔强意志及心力,慢慢转变发展到利益社会乃至全人类的 力量! When men intimidate us with their physical power, remember that women's muscles are attached to the bones, and so women can experience the highest level of pain again and again-the pain of giving birth to a baby. Through this pain, our unshakable faith and mental strength will be well developed, and can be slowly transformed into the power benefiting the interests of society even all mankind! 起来吧!女儿们 Wake up! Daughters! 虽然,传统不曾用鲜花迎接你的降临,虽然,历史总是习惯于把头衔佩戴给男人,虽然,女人总是去充当默默无闻 的坚强后盾--贤妻良母,可是我们自己一定要付出双倍的努力和代价去开阔自己的视野、丰富自己的知识,培养 坚定的信念,肩负并圆满两大责任:对社会做为人类一员的责任,在家中做为母亲、妻子、女儿、媳妇的责任!培 养对社会对家人的关爱和奉献精神! Your birth is not welcomed by a custom of receiving flowers, the honor is usually attributed to men in the history, and a woman acts always as a nameless backing-as a virtuous wife and a good mother. Thus we must pay double efforts and costs to broaden our horizon, to enrich our knowledge, to develop a firm faith, through which we can take upon our shoulders and fulfill two responsibilities: one is to be a member of society as a human being, and the other is to be a mother, a wife, a daughter, and a daughter-in-law at home! Cultivate affection and dedication to the community and to the family! 起来吧!女士们 Wakeup! Ladies! 用我们自己的愽爱和智慧,去点燃女人们的黑暗,克服从生理到心理,从感性到理性的种种弱点和缺陷,争取以下 等之躯立下上等之功勋! Our endless love and wisdom can light up the darkness, and overcome weakness, no matter whether if physical or psychological, sensible or rational. They help us to strive for the merits of the upper class through our lower class's bodies! 起来吧! རི གས་ཀྱ ི ་བུ ་མོ ་རྣ མས། Wake up! Ladies who carry the bodhicitta in their heart! 让我们试着放弃对红尘的贪念,和对身体及现实的邪见执念,溶化女人的艰难和不幸在因果缘起 的虚幻游戏中,解 脱女人的轮回在菩提心的慈悲中!以无际的胸怀容纳天下沧桑云云众生! Let us try to give up the greed of living in the secular world, and the deviated view and grasping mind of the body and the reality, to dissolve the hardships and misfortunes of women in the illusory game of karma, to free women from samsara and let them enter into the mercy of bodhicitta! Let us have boundless mind to embrace the world's human being! 芒萨•贝尕 2018.11.17

Written by Monsal Pekar on 17th of November 2018 I will end this section by underlining that Pekar has plans to continue in this more critical and reflective direction. Her wish is to present meaningful artwork, representing deep wisdom as well as human intelligence. In order to do so, she draws on notions of Buddhist philosophy and meditation like emptiness or the innate mind. Thus in a first attempt, she has chosen to represent Machig Labdrön, one of her favorite, not as a young innocent (and somehow "cheap") woman, but as middle-aged mature woman exposing openly her vagina in the foreground of the painting (maybe an allusion to the American feminist painting of the "Last Dinner Party"[ ] or the famous feminist play "Vagina Monologues", which has gained momentum in China during the last decade?[ ]).

Meanwhile, Pekar is struggling to find the necessary funds, which would allow her to finish the frescoes of Gesar's army. Confronted with lack of support, she has started to identify herself with the French sculptoress Camille Claudel (1864-1943), who after having been the muse of the famous artist Auguste Rodin, has been rejected not only by her own family but by the society as a whole, only to end up in a sanatorium where she died without having ever practiced her art anymore.

Conclusion

Unlike many modern Tibetan artists from the TAR and elsewhere, Pekar has been educated in modern Chinese art, being at the same time introduced to Western classical painting. She then later elaborated her own techniques and style in India, inspired by the work of modern Western and Indian painters including post-impressionists, expressionists and abstract artists as well as by traditional Indian style.

Living in an art world characterized by "the fluidity of the migratory model"[ ], Pekar's art can be considered as experimental, many of her works synthesizing traditional motifs and contemporary art stemming from different cultures. She moreover has a strong message to transmit, which can be qualified as feminist-and even an outspoken feminism, which I would say is always rare in Tibetan society. Through her art, she tries to convene this message not only to other Tibetan women, but also to Tibetan men. In her view, women and men have to go hand in hand to reach gender equality. In her own words: "Sisters need to guide their brothers while holding each other's hands!" The same is true, she says, for wives and their husbands. In this sense she looks up to examples of men having spoken out to support gender equality like the famous Tibetan artist Gedün Chöphel.

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