Commercialization and Tourism of Tibet’s Sacred Mountains
Tourism is emerging as a major industry, and in recent decades, it has developed rapidly in mountainous regions throughout the world, especially in the Himalayas. Presently it is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The contemporary global middle-class spends a large amount of their disposable income on recreation and leisure. That money is increasingly being spent on activities such as mountaineering and trekking in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau. This growth in the tourism sector has increased the influx of capital into the Tibetan economy while at the same time negatively changing the socio-cultural aspects of Tibetan life and the environment in which Tibetan communities make their home. The increase in tourism in Tibet and the consequent commercialization of Tibet’s sacred mountains may lead to a loss of traditional forms of cultural expression among the diverse indigenous people of Tibet.
Sacred Worldview
The Tibetan people behold a sacred worldview that embodies adoration and worship for their mountains. “As though realizing that their very existence depended on the water, which flowed down from the mountains, they worshipped them” (Cameron 1984: 31). To show respect for the mountains, the Tibetans lined mountain tracks with shrines, adorned prayer-flags on mountain slopes, and they thought of mountain peaks as gods. Even the names the Tibetans give their mountains show respect. They call Mount Everest the “Goddess mother of the world” and Annapurna the “Bringer of Life” (Cameron 1984: 21).
The Tibetan civilization and religion in fact has deep roots in an appreciation of the environment (Wardle et al. 1996: vi). In the Buddhist tradition, spaces become sacred by their association with the Buddha or with other sacred persons (Eckel 2002: 65). Buddhism encourages this placement of value on land and nature. Buddhists believe that they live in harmony with nature, are interdependent with it, and continuity exists. Therefore, any destruction of nature that may be caused by tourism is viewed as sacrilegious.
Types of Tourists
Humans in the Himalayas over time traveled for the purposes of trade, resources, work, pilgrimage, or socializing. Some confirmations that travel has been an ongoing feature of the mountainous regions are the intricate systems of walking trails, resting places, and mountain passes, and presence of cultural traditions such as inn keeping and porters. Trade, livestock movements, journeys to work and ceremony are all traditional events that link the Himalayan places to one another over time (Karan and Zurick 1999: 16).
In the Constitution, the Fourth Amendment has proven to be the most productive source in Constitutional proceedings in American history. It has been at the core of many Supreme Court cases formed and made famous through the Amendment (Meese 3). The founding fathers based the Fourth Amendment a...
Walsh, Daniel C. "An Air War With Cuba; The United States Radio Campaign Against Castro." Reference & Research Book News, October 7, 2012. Accessed March 15, 2014. Academic OneFile /Gale (A304010214).
Heller, A. (2007). Discoveries in western Tibet and the western Himalayas essays on history, literature, archaeology and art : PIATS 2003, Tibetan studies, proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Leiden: Brill.
Petroleum is made from crude oil. Crude oil is a combination of many different hydrocarbons. Crude oil is considered a ‘fossil fuel’ because it is formed from deceased plants and animals.
Nature is a resource that has been here for as long as people have. We use trees for paper, the rivers and lakes for drinking water and power, and oil for factories and everyday things we come in contact with. It is impossible to go about normal life and NOT encounter something made of oil and nature.
Petroleum seepages, in some form or another have been around since ancient times for boat caulking, road mending, and as medicine, however, the modern petroleum industry was truly born with the first drilled oil well in August 1859 by Edwin L. Drake at Titusville, PA. (Laudon, 347) At first, in the United States, oil production was controlled by small operators but by the late 1870's John D. Rockfeller had purchased most of the nation's refineries-controlling the United States industry. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1911 split Rockfeller's Standard Oil Trust into three smaller companies; today they are known as Mobil, Chevron, and Exxon. (Lynch, 214) Since that time, oil has become a major part of everyone's way of life. Oil is used to provide fuel for automobiles, tractors, trucks, aircraft and ships. Petroleum products are the basic materials used for the manufacture of synthetic fibers for clothing and in plastics, paints, fertilizers, insecticides, soaps, and synthetic rubber etc... (Lynch, 207) Due to this demand, companies are constantly searching for more oil deposits.
Art was largely used to express traditions in the Himalayan region. The use of paintings was vital in reflecting a great deal of narratives as indicated by exhibit ‘Once Upon Many Times’ literary works. Works of art, especially paintings, can also be used to analyze and comprehensively describe a picture of the lifestyle of a people from different times in history from their social organizations, economic life and religious views and practices. Thus, this analytical research paper attempts to compare two works of art of Shantarakshita and scenes of his life in Tibet on cloth from Rubin Museum and Drowa Sangmo picture of the elephant on the facets of color, shape, form, cultural, and historical dimensions as an exemplification of different time and space elements . These two works of art have been derived from the Himalayan region.
Chapple, C. K., & Tucker, M. E. (2000). Hinduism and ecology: the intersection of earth, sky, and water. Cambridge, MA: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School.
Crude oil is one of the most important natural resource of the industrialized countries as well as one of the most versatile natural resources too. Crude oil can take thousands of years to form naturally and cannot be replaced as fast as they are being consumed. Because of this many scientist argue that because the time and process of producing crude oil it should be considered rather a non-renewable resource. Crude oil can be found in many of our everyday products such as plastics, detergents, paints, and even medicines in addition to fueling our multifaceted transportation system including airplanes, trains, vehicles, and big rig trucks. With the amount of industries that depend on crude oil, Earths ever increasing population, and the demand for crude oil we must develop alternatives to using crude oil. At our current rate of consumption, we could possibly deplete our current supply, then man us beneficiaries, would suffer. Think of all the things you could not do without crude oil? For instance, what if your home or business heating system was built using gas? How would your children get to school or you get to work
“The issue of growth in the travel industry - how much, how fast, what kind - is crucial to the future of communities, local lifestyles and cultures, and the natural environment. There are a variety of instabilities and inequities associated with the expansion of tourism. If the social costs of infinite growth (human consequences of ecological pollution, centralized concentration of power, inequitable income distribution) are as high as they appear to be, our current social systems cannot support such growth indefinitely. Tourism remains a passive luxury for thousands of travelers. This must change” (Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel by Deborah McLaren, 1998, p. 6).
Silvaraksa, Sulak. “Development as if People Mattered”. Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism. Edited by Kaza, Stephanie and Kenneth Kraft. Boston and London: Shambhala, 2000. page 183-190.
Tibetan thanka[1] paintings are a wonderful example of the interconnectedness of religion and art. These images are “not meant to be the object of simple idolatry” (Jackson 11), but rather take on a more interactive role, which can be applied to nearly every facet of traditional Tibetan life. Tibetan Buddhism pervades all aspects of the creation and use of thanka paintings—in the training and requirements of the artists who create the paintings, in the physical creative process itself, in the iconography used, and in all the painting’s multiple functions. Tibetan thanka paintings, throughout their entire lifespan—from concept to consecrated image—help devotional religious activity for Tibetan Buddhism[2].
One of the main sources of income for Bhutan is tourism. Tourism contributes 22% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).Tourism industries have provided job opportunities for many people which has helped increase the living standard of people. On the other hand, promoting tourism has affected our environment and our culture and tradition. Many people nowadays wear pants and shirt while they are at home. In the past they used to wear the country’s national dress, gho and kira. “Preservation of Bhutanese culture is very important in the country so it is believed that uncontrolled tourism will overburden Bhutan’s limited facilities and threaten the traditional culture, values and environment” (Rinzin & etal, 2007). “Conflict also arises in the commoditization of culture. Traditional arts and festivals are often commercialized to generate revenue. As a result, the authenticity of these crafts and customs are lost in the race for economic prosperity that both modernization and Western tourists promote. And the culture is preserved in the form of a festival or hand-woven rug.” (Reinfeld,
Tibetans believe that walking for a long distance to holy places purifies the bad deeds they have committed; and that the more difficult the journey, the greater the depth of the purification.
Tourism has been growing rapidly and extensively across the developed world. Destination Management Organisations and the government perceived that it is essential to apply tourism management to flourish underdeveloped mountain areas. Tourism has been gained financial profits for farmers in mountain areas (Marenya and Barre 2007; Yang, Hens, Ou, De Wulf 2009). Daconto and Sherpa believed that there is a positive economic influence through tourism and mountaineering activities (Daconto and Sherpa 2010). The purpose of this article is to clarify the economic impact of applying tourism management in certain areas. The rest of the article is organised in the following manner: the second section will introduce the tourism management plans; tourism incentive in Northwest Yunnan, China and scenario planning in Nepal will be involved. The third section will discuss the financial results of tourism incentives in Yunnan. The penultimate section will consult the economic