Talk:Tashi delek

Problems in this article[edit]

Baidu Baike and random webpages do not comply with Wikipedia:Verifiability, specifically WP:SPS, which reads:

Anyone can create a website or pay to have a book published, then claim to be an expert in a certain field. For that reason self-published media, whether books, newsletters, personal websites, open wikis, blogs, Internet forum postings, etc., are largely not acceptable

Please find proper reliable sources for all statements. Thanks cab (talk) 07:57, 27 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Tashi delek is a Tibetan greeting. Does this really require a Wikipedia entry? I'm pretty inclusionist but this entry, with its folk etymology and Chinese cant, doesn't seem worth keeping. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.15.174.126 (talk) 05:37, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure. We should go through the GBooks hits to find reliable sources. I think there may be some; I just added one. I have also cleaned up the article drastically. Some points that should be noted:

Citing numbers of Google hits to prove something is widely used is a form of original research
Citing self-published sources like Baidu Baike or a blog on sina.com.cn is not acceptable
There is no need to make a separate section header for every little piece of information
Per WP:MOSLINK, don't make links from section headers; they interfere with screen readers used by visually impaired users

Thanks, cab (talk) 06:05, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Tibetan greeting Tashi Dalelek is used by ex-patriot, native-born Tibetans for greeting any time. It is now accepted as a general greeting, and also carries more specific emphasis at the New Year. It is comparable to the congratulations, which we use for may and any occasion here. But for some life events - weddings, births, graduations - congratulations carried more emotive and emphatic sentiments. Perhaps it is time to revisit the reference for the statement that the usage context is contentious. It has been nine years, and language is as fluid as borders and travel.

I have no archival documents, but do have specific contact with this population. 1) Tibetan-born natives as refugees to the Untied States are explaining to their English-speaking friends that you can say this to anyone any time. 2) In a recent class in Tibetan language I attended, where the more formal Uchen was being taught (as opposed to the daily Umay usage) at a Buddhist College, the instructor explained Tashi Deleck as acceptable as a standard greeting. He also indicated there was at least one variation in the spelling of Deleck that is acceptable.

As to whether a separate entry is allowable for the greeting - as stated concern by previous discussion - I see that there are many such turns of phrases in many languages listed as other stand-alone entries through out Wikipedia. 67.166.82.207 (talk) 01:18, 8 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Would be interesting as deep background provided you can clarify: what context were they talking about when they said that it was "acceptable as a standard greeting" and that "you can say this anytime". I mean, were they saying that this is true with native speakers in Tibet or just with regard to the exile population (I don't think it's controversial to say that exiles use trashì delek as "hello")? It's also worth noting that what's controversial is whether Tibetans in Tibet use trashì delek in normal conversations. You certainly can say it to them; I've done so myself, and they knew what I meant, but I've been told that they think of this as something that tourists say, not the normal term for "hello" in their own vocabulary.—Greg Pandatshang (talk) 03:24, 8 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

In the Usage section one of the sentences, "Tour operators have promoted the phrase, along with khata scarves and prayer flags, as essentialized and commodifiable aspects of Tibetan culture, a fact that has caused resentment among some religious Tibetans," makes a statement that, as a student of Tibetan Buddhism, I find has no merit in fact and all the religious Tibetans I have met in my studies have been contra-indicative of the judgement made in the sentence. The religious Tibetans are a majority of non-Chinese people in Tibet. By Tibetan Buddhist beliefs "resentment" is a non-virtue, of which there are ten, though which non-virtue it is could be a theological debate in and of itself. Resentment expressed would be the only way one could establish its existence as factual which could be one or more of the following non-virtues:

Divisive Speech
Harsh Words
Harmful Thought
Wrong Views

Quibbling over a word may seem inconsequential but this is about a phrase in what is an unknown foreign language to most of the English speaking world and in that words and the choices of words are particularly important and a misplaced word can completely change world perceptions, also, it struck me as inappropriate because religion in Tibet (Tibetan Buddhism) has influence on Tibetan society much greater than religion has on any nation with divisions in the national/regional religions with the exception of perhaps Islam in a few Islamic nations, and it is used in one of the books on Tibetan Buddhism written by one of my teachers, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche. Khenchen, who I cite as Khenpo (I am oversimplifying this but just because it is not relevant to the article why I refer to Khenchen by what may look like a different name than the library of congress citation information, Khenpo and Khenchen are titles of completion of a degree, much like many people with doctorates are referred to with the honorific of doctor but Khenchen is a post Khenpo degree, and at the time of the translation I am citing he hadn't completed his degree to have the title Khenchen) wrote in The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, p. 116,

″Harmful Thought

a) Classification of Harmful Thought. There are three types of harmful thought:harmful thought that comes from hatred, from jealousy, and from resentment. The first one means the desire to kill others with hatred, like in a battle. The second one means the desire to kill, and so forth, a competitor out of fear that he will best you. The third one means the desire to kill and so forth while holding past harm in the mind.″

Library of Congress Cataloging−in−Publication Data

Sgam−po−pa, 1079−1153

[Dam chos yid bzin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che′i rgyan. English] The

jewel ornament of liberation: the wish−fulfilling gem of the noble teachings /

by Gampopa; translated by Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen

Rinpoche; edited by Ani K. Trinlay Chödron.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1−55939−092−1 (alk. paper}

1. Bodhisattva stages {Mahayana Buddhism)−−Early works to 1800.

2. Religious life−−Mahayana Buddhism−−Early Works to 1800. 3. Mahayana

Buddhism−−Doctrines−−Early works to 1800. I. Gyaltsen, Khenpo Rinpochay

Könchok, 1946− . II Emmerich, Delia. III. Title.

BQ4330.S513 1998

294.3′42−−dc21

JulianDaedalus (talk) 02:41, 18 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Merits of including this article[edit]

I agree that this subject merits its own short article, if for no other reason than to mention the politically-tinged dispute over its usage.—Greg Pandatshang (talk) 03:24, 8 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

dubious etymology[edit]

I just did some editing on this article but had not yet read this talk page; wish I had! In any case, I edited one sentence in the lead paragraph:

Bhutanese also uses it in the same way ~~since Bhutanese is derived from Tibetan, which it self was created in 7th century, during king Songtsen Gampo, 33rd Tibetan King~~.

I'm a research linguist (PhD from UC Berkeley, retired from UPenn) and this "derivation" and "language creation" struck me as highly dubious folk etymology even before I checked Bhutanese language, which redirects to Languages of Bhutan— note the plural— and Tibetan language. So another edit, to

It is also used in Bhutan in the same way.

Please {{Ping}} me to discuss. --19:38, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

"that Chinese Tibetans' exclusive usage of "tashi delek" for New Year's is corrupt"[edit]

The claim that Chinese Tibetans use it only for Losar is wrong. During the recent visit to Tibet, Xi Jinping used it to greet the Tibetans. This is backed up by Xinwen Lianbo from July 23. --2001:16B8:312B:2000:A939:8A37:246B:272C (talk) 06:35, 24 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]