Dos and Don'ts
( 2005-10-27 )

  Dos

1. Always add a "La" after one's name to show your respect.

2. If you are presenting a hada to a statue or a high lama, raise the hada above your shoulders and bow. When you receive a hada, it is proper to accept it with both your hands.

3. When visiting a monastery, always walk clockwise around the religious shrines, stupas, Mani (prayer) stones, and prayer wheels. However, if you visit a Bon monastery, then walk counterclockwise! Although the monks remove their shoes upon entering a chamber, it is acceptable to enter a chamber without removing your shoes. Entering a monastery during a chanting session is permissible. Sit or stand in the rear, with no loud and irreverent conversation. Also, it is considered proper etiquette to offer some money or butter fuel while visiting a monastery

4. When Tibetans offer guests Qingke (highland barley wine), the guests should take it in both hands, then lift the wineglass with the right hand, and, using the third finger (specify which finger. Do you mean the middle finger? The ring finger?) of the left hand, dip lightly into the glass and flick some wine to the sky. That means heavenly-mindedness. Guests should then flick a second and third time, which means terra-respectfulness and Buddha-respectfulness respectively. Then, the guests should first drink a little and let the host immediately fill the glass back up; the guests drink a little again and the host fills in once more, and so on. When the glass is filled for the fourth time, the guests should drink up; only in this way will the host feel respected.

5. When receiving a present, always take it in both hands; when presenting a present, always bow with hands holding the present high above the head.

6. Smile and bow to guests when seeing them off.

7. When offering tea, wine, or tobacco to the guests, always hold the product level with both hands.

 Don'ts

Every ethnic minority has their special cultures and living habits as well as taboos; Tibetans, an old and passionate ethnic minority with a long history, are no exception.

1. When two friends meet after a long separation, one friend's hand should not be put on the other friend's shoulder.

2. Do not walk over or step on other people's clothes or put your clothes in other people's hands. Do not walk over other people.

3. Women's clothes, especially trousers and underwear, are kept away from the places where people often pass through.

4. Do not whistle or cry aloud in a room.

5. Do not sweep the floor or throw away trash while families are on a faraway trip, when guests are leaving, at noon or sunset, or on the first day of the Tibetan calendar.

6. Do not mention a dead person's name in front of his or her family.

7. The work that should be finished this year should not be left to the next year, such as twisting wool, weaving sweaters and carpets, and so on.

8. At dark, do not drop by the house of others, especially that of a family with have a pregnant woman or a seriously ill patient.

9. Do not take any belongings out after noon.

10. Do not make a racket when you arrive at a mountain or canyon that is entirely strange to you.

11. Do not walk over or step on dining appliances and utensils, such as boilers, bowls, and so on.