Interview with bos — the yak

Al: I certainly understand the chance to interview you, Bos. We’re around the

last leg of the lengthy visit to Lhasa. Tomorrow, we’ll have showed up within the holy

city. Your readiness to talk to use is very thoughtful. I gave your owner

$20 for the some time and a few pictures. Hopefully you receive additional food

for that thanks to giving me your time and effort.

Bos: Well, that appears just like a

lot of cash in my conversation, but he did deck me in traditional Tibetan

garb for you personally. So what can I say to you about yaks and our homeland, Tibet?

Al: We are able to start with

you name, Bos. What’s its derivation?

Bos: Really, my complete name is

Bos Grunniens, that is Latin. Bos means "ox." Grunniens may be the Latin verb for

"I grunt." You can say my name means the ox that grunts.

Al: This is a strange name.

Bos: It truly is not. Most

individuals don’t know will be able to speak very good British. When I am by helping cover their other

yaks, I do not showcase my fluency inside your language. Yaks just grunt as if you

swine. No one moos whatsoever we simply grunt.

Al: You learn something everyday.

Bos: Should you inquire and

keep a balanced view. What else do you want to know?

Al: How have you become the Tibetan national animal.

Bos: Incidentally, you should get of picture of Tinzen, my owner. He has existed

a lengthy time. Taking his picture will make him feel important. Now,

for the question about to be the national animal: we love to to consider that Lord

Buddha had something related to it, however that people got that honorable

title automatically.

Al: Default?

Bos: Yeah, there have been no

others within the competition. You should know that we’re around the rooftop of

the planet. At this time we’re at approximately 14,000 ft. Are you able to name another animal

which takes this altitude?

Al: No, it’s all that

this animal and the wife can perform to consider it, and we’ve been taking medication

for more than per week.

Bos: Tibet is perfect for Tibetans and

their yaks. The Chinese who found Tibet in 1951 to liberate Tibetans, as

they known as it, can’t breathe easily here either.

Al: Tell, me about why

they’re here.

Bos: Come just a little closer, this can be a closed society because the Chinese required over.

That they like to state they liberated the Tibet-from Tibetans. Go figure. We,

yaks, have viewed in shock exactly what the Chinese military has been doing towards the land and

the folks. Almost all the monasteries were destroyed and also over millions of people

died. And never to become critical individuals in the western world, nobody helped them. The planet

did not worry about the sufferings of a lot of Tibetans. I bet, when there was oil

within the Himalayas that the country yet others might have responded.

Al: I recall listening to it in the news, however it appeared to date away.

Bos: A long way away, maybe, but

there was much suffering and destruction of the innocent individuals who just

wanted to reside in peace and isolation.

Al: This is when the Dalai Lama needed to leave Lhasa.

Bos: Yep, he’s been gone

nearly one half century. Just the Lord Buddha knows as he will return. I hear reports away from vacationers that His Holiness,

the Dalai Lama, has labored for peace during exile. I believe that he’ll be

able to go back to Lhasa within the forseeable future-a minimum of that’s my hope.

Irrrve never saw him, but Tibetans still admire and don’t forget him by lighting butter

candle lights and offering hopes.

Al: True, in the western world, he’s respected like a leader for peace. At some point, I must

interview him, until then, you’re my target to have an interview.

Bos: Fire away then.

Al: Please tell my readers about yaks.

Bos: That will have a very

lengthy time. However, I’ll make an effort to outline should you please the highpoints. We

were domesticated 3-5000 years back. That wasn’t difficult. We, such as the

Tibetan people, aren’t recognized for hostility or aggressiveness. Yaks are among

probably the most docile creatures you could meet. Our relationship using the Tibetan

people is extremely close. We offer transportation, food, and clothing. The

Tibetan people use us to move their and themselves possession on the

backs. We’re sure-footed, which will come in very handy within this place in the world

and also at this elevation. We provide food: milk, butter, cheese, and meat.

They eat yak meat as if you in the usa eat beef. I realize our meat is

really low in cholesterol. Our locks are employed for clothing and it is even woven into

ropes, blankets, camping tents, and the like things. Our dung can be used for fuel in lots of

homes to this day. You can observe why we are seen as the national animal. Whether it

were not for all of us, the Tibetans could not have survived and progressed into a

strong and devoted people. Because of us, they’re who they really are today.

Al: I can tell

your reason for happy with your contribution to Tibet and it is people. However, don’t

you receive inflammed once they kill you for food? Actually, I’d a yak omelet for

breakfast.

Bos: Well, I can tell

that I have to provide you with a quick primer on Tibetan Buddhism. God Buddha

trained the 4 noble facts: existence is suffering, suffering is because desires,

curbing desire cures suffering, and when you’re employed in the above facts, you’ll be

prepared to begin the Eightfold Path. Should you take this road, you’ll achieve

enlightenment or Nirvana. Would you observe that desires tie you to definitely a cycle of endless

yearning. While you say in the western world, "You ought to get from the treadmill of wants

or cravings. Only if you extinguish that burning desire are you going to achieve

enlightenment. Only if one reaches enlightenment is the fact that person released from

the endless cycle of birth, dying, and rebirth. Dying includes a less ominous ring

to all of us of computer gives many in the western world. Therefore, you can observe how carefully we

are based on all existence. It’s generally been a lucrative relationship for

both people and also the yak both sides have benefited.

Al: I want to understand more about Buddhism during this

trip, but back and also the yaks. I observed while driving eastward from Nepal

that the yaks I saw were black or very brownish and just from time to time were

there any patches of white-colored. You’re the only white-colored or linen color which i have

seen. Exist many white-colored yaks?

Bos: No, I am unique. Well, there are several around but many of them are just like those

for you in the road. You will simply find

lighter yaks one of the domesticated herds. Crossbreeding with cows could possibly get made of woll

that’s linen color. I love the linen look. Have a critical look inside my

hair-various linen colors. The issue with crossbreeding would be that the offspring

men’re frequently sterile. The crossbreeds are known as "dzo." Now, actually, I am

not sterile, quite a few the lighter yaks are. I have my Buddha-given

maleness. I believe yaks look mystical whatever the color, however i really

think there’s something mysterious in regards to a white-colored yak much like me. No?

Al: For individuals

from America, all things in Tibet is mystical and mysterious. I really like things i

have experienced to date of Tibet. I can not wait to reach our final destination,

Lhasa. I have wanted maintain the main city city every since i have would be a very youthful boy.

I believe that many Westerners view Tibet because the farthest away place they

could visit-not only mileage, but it’s just like a country relatively untouched by

today’s technology and Western ways.

Bos: Well, that’s true. But

a lot of Lhasa continues to be altered-not through the West but by China. China has

altered a lot of that old ways, culture, religion, and also the Tibetan method of existence

intentionally.

Al: Exactly what do you mean?

Bos: They’ve resettled

a large number of Chinese in Tibet and compelled their ways upon the Tibetans. Many

Tibetans are fearful that very quickly little will stay that’s pure.

Al: I’ve

seen a few of the modernization of a few of the small metropolitan areas that people travel

right through to arrive here. China architecture is quite plain and sterile in

comparison using the Tibetan method of building.

Bos: Absolutely. It’s too

harmful to them. We are able to escape towards the mountain tops to steer clear of the influence of

china, however the Tibetans can’t.

Al: Bos, what is the huge difference between how big

nature yak and also the domesticated ones?

Bos: Greatly so. Whenever we

become domesticated, it appears that people lose a lot of weight and overall

size. An outrageous yak could stand six ft in the shoulder hump and nearly twelve

ft long. Wild male yaks have a tendency to go beyond 1200 pounds. If you feel

is amazing, the horns of the wild male could grow to forty inches.

Al: Well, you appear

large and foreboding I could not imagine encountering men yak within the wild.

Bos: With this size and also the

thick coat of hair, we may look menacing. However, never fear we’re docile

even just in nature…unless of course triggered.

Al: Talking about your coat, I am certain it

keeps the cold out within the winters, try not to you receive cold? I am

putting on a sweatshirt while interviewing, and it is August. I can not imagine what

the winters are just like within the Himalayas.

Bos: Al, I have known it to get at -40 levels

F. We’re designed for these climes. Our coat does safeguard us, in

addition, once the food ferments within our stomachs, it makes a temperature of

104 levels F. Imagine your stomach processing that which you just ate and providing off

much heat. Although it is not a fireplace inside your belly, it’s a comforting heat.

Also, because the air is really thin, we breathe more gradually than our lowland

cousins. That together with getting more red bloodstream cells enables us to process

oxygen even up here on top of the planet.

Al: Nature has surely taken proper care of you has not she?

Bos: Really, we love to to

consider god Buddha taking proper care of us, however i understand what you meant. We’re

most fortunate, because we take proper care of our atmosphere. For instance, our

tongues are very rough and can chafe the tops from the grasses that

grow around the mountainsides without digging them up like sheep do. As we

scrape the plant life and obtain the nutrients, we leave all of those other plant in

tack. That enables for that plant to develop which enables for all of us to possess food

again later on. This place in the world is really a tough atmosphere for man or

animal. The yaks and also the people have to do all they are able to to save natural

sources from the region. Both Tibetan people and also the Tibetan yak have experienced

many millennia to regulate and adjust to existence around the rooftop around the globe-a really

cold rooftop I would add.

Al: Talking about the frequently-severe climate, in the western world, we’ve heard a good deal concerning the

Abominable Snowman that allegedly stalks the Himalayas. Whether it exists, yaks

would most likely be those that would view it because you share exactly the same habitat.

Bos: After I was youthful but still with my parents, I saw

an Abominable Snowman on the couple different occasions. However with the rise of tourism in Tibet, I

haven’t seen one for a long time. However, I’ll always remember the very first time which i

saw one. It had been huge, much taller than the usual wild yak, even though it involved as

hairy. If you wish to attempt to place one, you’ll have to go deep in to the

mountain tops.

Al: I haven’t got time about this trip. The

Chinese only permit you to go in and out Tibet on certain days, so we still

need to see Lhasa. What else could you let me know concerning the capital of Lhasa? What

must i not miss while there?

Bos: Well, Lhasa is possibly

probably the most mystical and remote city on the planet. Not until a hundred years ago were

there greater than a number of Westerners that visited the holy city. You’ll

be one of the elite of world travelers to create feet in Lhasa. Both you and your

wife are most fortunate a trip to Lhasa is most auspicious. While you drive into

Lhasa, you cannot miss the Potalla. It sits atop a sizable hill. It’s colored in

either red or white-colored. The red section housed previously the religious

headquarters from the Dalai Lama and also the white-colored portion once housed the

governmental offices. However, once the Chinese occupied Tibet, the Dalai Lama

entered exile and today the Potalla is essentially a tourist site with little

active work happening inside. The religious center for those Tibetan Buddhists is

the Jokhang Temple. There’s not one other place enjoy it throughout Tibet. I’ve

only seen it once in the outdoors. You will notice incense burners in-front and

hundred of Buddhists circling your building using their prayer wheels.

Al: What exactly are prayer wheels anyway? I have see

people transporting them around because they walk. However I

can’t work out how they work or what they’re made to do.

Bos: Within the top section

that spins around is really a prayer written on certificates that’s placed

inside. While you spin the wheel around, the prayer so to speak spins out.

Al: Well, I have to return into our Sports utility vehicle and

continue the drive to Lhasa. If only you well and appreciate all of your

assistance. You’ve been most useful.

Bos: Not a problem, it’s been

my pleasure. Enjoy all of your trip…the very best is yet in the future. Appreciate it it

is a great adventure. Tashe Delek!

Al: Tashe Delek!