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Heart and Soul: Consulting the Oracle

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The medium Kuten la in trance

28/02/2020 GMT

Consulting the Oracle

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Consulting the Oracle

David Sneath reports from North India on the State Oracle of Tibet.

Not many countries can boast of having a state Oracle. Tibet can, although the medium for their principal oracle – the Nechung – lives exiled from his native land in North India. 
 
Cambridge anthropologist and broadcaster David Sneath travels to Dharamsala to meet the medium of the present State Oracle of Tibet and explore the history and meaning of this remarkable institution. He examines the function and practice of an oracle in the 21st Century and considers how important his presence is for Tibetans in exile. Who is this powerful spirit, also known as Dorje Drakden, who takes over the body of the medium during trance?
The function of the Nechung is to help protect the Buddha’s teachings and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Nechung also helps advise the exiled Tibetan administration. 
 
The present medium for the oracle goes by the name of Ven Thupten Ngodrup – known to all Tibetans as Kuten-la.  He was born in Tibet in 1958 and became a monk at the age of 12. He fled Tibet into exile following the Chinese invasion of Tibet. David meets the medium in his beautiful monastery and describes the ritual of trance.
 
‘Consulting the Oracle’ looks at the history of the Nechung State Oracle and considers its uncertain future. It examines the ancient relationship between the oracle and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

(Photo:The medium of the present State Oracle of Tibet Ven Thupten Ngodrup, or Kuten-la to Tibetans (Centre)

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