in my travels to get the dogs, I was very lucky to make myself a very good and most knowledgeable Tibetan friend by the name of Jamyang Norbu. Perhaps, some of you have also heard of him?
Jamyang was, at the time, the Director of TIPA, the Tibetan Institute of Tibetan Arts, which had a troop which was travelling around the world. Later on, Jamyang became a most important Tibetan figure both in the Tibetan Government and as a world famous author.
Jamyang is the one who informed me about the existence of a Tibetan Dog Specialist, in the person of Prince Jigme Taring... and about the Tibetan belief in the Winged-Horse after I had told him about my dream!
According to my field notes, this is basically what he said...
"Oh! Lung-Ta! We know him well. He is the spiritual black horse. He carries people at night and in the morning you can see him on top of mountains. The flames on his back are a wish-granting jewel known as Norbu. You should check the Library at the Tibetan Secretariat. I believe they have some documentation about him?"
So, you can imagine my surprise when he told me that because I had no idea until then that the Tibetans knew about this Heavenly Horse!!! That was quite amazing... and about the meaning of his own Norbu, family name!!
Anyways, you can read more about Jamyang Norbu in the following site where you will see his a picture of him...
... which you can compare with the two pictures of the two of us with which were taken at different places and occasions in Dharamsala. The first one was in 1983, in the yard at TIPA, on the day when he surprisingly told me about Lung-Ta, and the second in 1985, if I recall well?
If anyone wishes to know anything about Tibet, culture, people, animals and etc., Jamyang Norbu is someone who knows just about everything tibetan.
