TALES OF UNCLE TOMPA

The Western world has become familiar with Tibet through the Buddhist teachings of émigré Lamas. With these tales of an outrageous popular rogue, Uncle Tompa (who manages to embody a spirit of popular wisdom despite his roguishness), we are introduced to another side of Tibet: a bawdy world of humor, and the rough and tumble, everyday, secular life of the Tibetan people. Each story is charmingly illustrated with line drawings in a style derived from traditional Tibetan drawing.

Rinjing Dorje Rinjing Dorje is the son of Sherab Dorje from Kham, eastern Tibet, and Choe Gyalmo, a nomad lady from the foothills of the Himalayas. Sherab Dorje was recognized as the reincarnation of a Sherpa lama, Khamsum Wangdu, and in the 1930s he moved from his native land to northern Nepal.Sherab Dorje was a highly esteemed practitioner of Tibetan medicine in healing the mentally ill. His uniquely unconventional techniques made him prominent throughout the region. Although the practice itself was a traditional Tibetan one, he formulated his own method, which called for keeping the patient in total darkness providing only light from a flickering butter lamp. He would then walk on the patient while reciting incantations and burning an intoxicating incense of Gugul, a powerfully scented sap. Finally, he would glance commandingly into the eyes of his patient, while giving him counsel. After that, he would prescribe some mineral and herbal medications. As a reward for curing a prince of Nepal's

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