TEA WITH BUTTER AND SALT
This Tibetan national beverage is a highly fortifying drink. It is closer to a bouillon than an ordinary tea. It is composed of dried black tea leaves, boiling water, butter, milk, and salt.
TSAMPA
Barley flour that is finely ground and grilled. Tsampa is a traditional Tibetan dish that may be eaten without anything added to it; it may also be mixed with tea made with butter and salt or else with yogurt.
YAK
A bovine beast of Tibet that provides food to the Tibetan people and is of use to them in many other important ways.
Acknowledgments
I had the good fortune of having a father who still knew the tales of my country. At my request, he recorded a number of them for me and told me some others live in person. He is an embodiment of the living memory of ancient Tibet and a great source of inspiration for me in my life. I have a great deal of love and respect for him.
Without my husband, Claudio, I would have had difficulty putting down roots in Switzerland, which was a major precondition for me in writing down these tales. I thank him for all his love.
A big thank-you goes to my friends Jean-Claude and Marie-Paul Perréard, who for many years have been supporters of the Tibetan cause through the French organization Objectif Tibet, as well as in other ways. Their loyal friendship and their encouragement of my writing from the beginning were a big help to me in completing this book.
I am very grateful to Hélène Aubry-Denton, who in a brief but effective coaching session helped me to recognize a major blockage of mine during the writing of the tales. The problem was that I was troubled by the unpleasant thought that I was betraying the oral quality of my country’s tradition.
My thanks as well to Christian Pennel, a member of Objectif Tibet, who also encouraged me and helped me technically in transforming the beginning of the tales to a form suitable to a written text.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Sylvette Divizia-Bayol and Fabienne Vaslet, who had the kindness and patience to reread and correct my pages. Their enthusiasm and their comments inspired me greatly.
I am infinitely thankful to my friend Michel Tardy, who believed in me and gave me enormous support in the publication of this book.
And finally, I would like to thank my audiences for their enthusiasm on occasions when I had the opportunity to recount a part of the tales. This encouraged me a great deal and helped me to move forward in completing this book.
About the Author
TENZIN WANGMO was born in India in 1962 and was educated by her parents in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. She grew up in Germany and has lived in Switzerland since 1974. Having taken a higher degree in education, she taught in a secondary school in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Today Tenzin Wangmo, who is multilingual, is an advanced-level coach specializing in social integration, adult tutoring, and consulting to organizations in the process of undergoing major changes. As a lecturer and Tibetan storyteller, her appearances are appreciated and acclaimed by a wide general and professional audience.
From the age of eighteen, Tenzin Wangmo has been actively engaged on behalf of her country and her people. In particular she has worked in support of two villages in Tibet dedicated to orphaned children. At the same time, she continues to follow the teachings of great Tibetan masters both in Europe and in India.
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The Prince and the Zombie Page 10