The Voice of Silence | Tibetan Forest (Part 1)
Selected from the *Lalitavistara Sūtra* (རྒྱ་ཆེར་རོལ་པ།): *1. "Knowing the art of hiding in the forest, understanding the joy of the deep woods" (ནགས་ལ་སྦས་ཚུལ་ཤེས། ནགས་ཀྱི་སྐྱིད་སྣང་ཤེས།). It is traditionally sung by Congmei Sonam Lodro (མཚུངས་མེད་བསོད་ནམས་བློ་གྲོས་; circa 13th century), *Holder of the twelfth generation of the Bonpo A-tri Dzogchen lineage. The passage continues: "Though I have taught, others do not understand; it seems better to remain silent and dwell in the forest" (བདག་གིས་བསྟན་ཀྱང་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཤེས་ཏེ། མི་སྨྲ་ནགས་འདབས་གནས་པར་བྱ་བ་སྙམ།).
The painting, titled "Biographical Paintings of Buddha," dates to the mid-19th century and is held in the Rubin family collection. The detail depicted shows the Buddha being requested to teach, marking his first turning of the Dharma wheel. The phrase "remaining silent" points to the forest where the Bodhi tree stands. While the translation itself originates from Dharmarakṣa's version during the Western Jin dynasty, the forest has likely witnessed countless stories—perhaps it embodies the "unknown nature" most intimate to humanity.
Although I have discussed trees in Tibetan culture separately in two earlier articles, the "forest" (ནགས་ཚལ་) remains a landscape that deserves its own essay. As trees gather into woods, and woods rise high enough, they become forests—yet even today, human knowledge about forests is still very limited, let alone their ways of thinking and distinctive spirit. In slightly romantic terms, only by wandering through them can one unknowingly receive their messages, and such encounters usually blend fear, joy, and sorrow together.
The photograph "Setting Up a Tent Camp at the Edge of the Forest" was taken by Ronald Kaulback in August 1933 and belongs to the Collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. This article, which introduces the series on Tibetan "earth divination" (ས་དཔྱད་; or geomancy), uses the forest as a lens through which to view the landscape culture of the high plateau: it begins by defining "forest" and ultimately addresses the philosophy of "entering the forest." As the saying goes, "Tigers and leopards gather in the forest; the wise abide in the forest.
Detail: Tiger in the forest *The forest, in Tibetan culture, is not always defined by the dense tree cover typical of an ecosystem. Even a few trees, or a single large one, may be considered a forest in certain contexts. The tiger, which symbolizes the wood element, resides there. The work, 'Lungta / Wind Horse Prayer Flags', is Buddhist, dates to the 20th century, and is held in a private collection.
In general, forests function first and foremost as transitional spaces (བར་ཀྱི་གནས་), whether defined by topography or by human living conditions. Within Tibetan culture, they are not simply landscapes but entities possessing agency. Moreover, if each tree is a vertical microcosm of the universe, then forests serve as collections of that universe. Consequently, the distinct traits of trees produce various forms of forestness—cypress, willow, sandalwood, or mixed woodlands—and give rise to widely differing imaginative responses among people.
In most geomantic texts, forests are positioned between mountains/lakes and plains, serving as landmark groups for judging good or bad fortune. A transitional space is a passage that inevitably involves both conflict and fusion, acting as a neutral realm mediating the world of opposites. The piece "Lungta / Wind Horse Prayer Flags" (19th century, Bon, private collection) features a detail of a tiger in the forest, alongside the saying "Give to the forest, and you will have plenty." It is selected from *Geomantic Illustrations: The Clear Mirror*, in the Bavarian State Library collection.
Whether in creation myths recounting battles between gods and demons, in folk tales marked by tensions between farming and herding regions, or in the life stories of the Bon founders, the forest's power as an in-between zone has never faded. Heading from the forest toward mountains and lakes ventures into the wholly unknown, while heading toward the plains draws one nearer to inhabited areas.
Human language cannot grasp the forest, which is for this reason termed a place full of sounds (སྒྲ་ཡི་གནས་). The beings living there serve as interpreters. A selection titled 'If You Seek Wealth, Give to the Forest' is drawn from *Geomantic Illustrations: The Clear Mirror*, held in the Bavarian State Library.
The treetop, trunk, and roots together symbolize the universe—a detail found in "Calendrical Charts and Diagrams, and Images of Auspicious Concepts," a mid-to-late 19th-century work held in a private collection. This piece features "The Three Birds of Longevity": the thousand-year-old crow, the ten-thousand-year-old wild duck, and the hundred-million-year-old cuckoo. To avoid reducing the forest to a mere resource, one must learn to interpret its sounds.
The forest’s shadows—the special beings known as lu (ཀླུ་) and nyen (གཉན་; see related articles on tree spirits on this platform)—join the birds and beasts of the woods in helping us render these sounds into human language. In Tibetan areas, forest-related taboos, such as those forbidding logging and the sparing of trees, are exactly what this translation produces.
Within the *Sutra of the Hundred Thousand Lu* and similar classics, it is through their warnings, penalties, and aid that human beings come to know their proper place in the natural world. A transitional space filled with sonic revelations, the forest is endowed with a "primordial vitality"—described as the hair of the earth and mountains. Whether this vitality is seen as dangerously charged or "purely sacred," humanity has consistently believed that, inside it, they might discover themselves, cut off from the clamor of civilization.
Sky Garuda" Mid-20th century, private collection *The Garuda is a symbol of the fire element. The vibrant life force of fire is also manifested in dense forests. *"Lumberjack" August 1933, photographed by Ronald Kaulback Collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford *There are many taboos to which lumberjacks are subject.
In Tibetan culture, the forest is sometimes described as a place of victory (རྒྱལ་བའི་གནས་) because of its primordial vitality. Whether entered voluntarily or by force, it signifies a transformation—not simply a longing for a "pre-civilized state.
The contemplative one will attain final victory in seclusion, a victory intimately tied to spiritual liberation. In this context, "victory" signifies not suppression or possession but an ongoing dialogue with oneself within the "unfinished." The forest's victory finds expression in its layered concealment and thriving life. Hölderlin said, "If masters make you hesitate, consult nature"; in Tibet, too, masters recall the precepts, entering the forest to seek answers from it to their questions.
In the Rubin Museum collection, "Mahasiddha Gangbala" is dated to the mid-to-late 19th century. Drakpa Gyaltsen (གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་; 1352–1405), having previously served as abbot of Bodong E Monastery, resolved to surrender his actual authority. Although everyone expected him to hold onto power for life, this figure who shaped the Bodongpa tradition proclaimed: "One who has heard much dwells in the forest; the elder takes joy in the forest" (མང་དུ་ཐོས་པ་ནགས་ཀྱི་ནང་དག་ཏུ། ལང་ཚོ་ཡོལ་བ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ནགས་ས་བདེ།). This was not an isolated occurrence, for the saying is likewise cited from the *Vinaya Sūtra*.
Traces of Tibetan philosophical reflection on "entering the forest" can be found across a range of sources: from the Buddha's biography, to the "forest tradition" that shaped early Buddhist development, and further to the forest poems of the mahasiddhas and indigenous scholars, who are together referred to as "forest practitioners." In these poems, the masters built a poetic forest, treating "entering the forest" as a mode of philosophical practice.
This article begins with two poems closely connected to the theme: Longchenpa's (1308–1364) *The Discourse on the Forest of Universal Joy* (ནགས་ཚལ་ཀུན་ཏུ་དགའ་བའི་གཏམ།) and Jigme Lingpa's (1730–1798) *Discourse on the Forest* (ནགས་ཚལ་གྱི་གཏམ།; also translated as Forest Proverbs or Forest Chapter). Through these verses, we consider why the wise enter the forest and the philosophical reflections they undertake once there.
Furthermore, the silent forest serves as an inexhaustible source of wisdom in the writings of Sakya Pandita (1182–1251), Padampa Sangye (?–1117), and Pabongkhapa (1878–1941), and also in the biography of the Tenth Karmapa (1604–1674). A variety of related texts can therefore be compared.
