The five permanent members of the Security Council (the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom) reign supreme, each wielding a veto over whatever the other 192 members might want. That is why Israel, owing to US support, can <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/israel-ignores-un-cease-fire-resolution-to-keep-pummeling-gaza">blithely ignore countless UN resolutions</a>, and why Syria, owing to Russian and Chinese support,<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/04/555292"> handily escaped sanctions</a> for its use of chemical weapons. Owing to the disproportionate power they wield, the Permanent Five share an old, decidedly British sense of empire. The authors of two recent books on empire, Lawrence James and Nandini Das, offer no thoughts on how the UN might, or indeed should, be reformed, would agree. In The Lion and the Dragon, James, a prolific historian of the UK’s role in world affairs, follows Britain’s relations with China from the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/20/hk.history.01/">nineteenth-century Opium War </a>until the return of Hong Kong and today’s tensions over Taiwan. And in Courting India, Das, a professor at the University of Oxford, concentrates on the very beginnings of the British Empire and its covetous reach into what was then the Mughal Empire in India. What this history shows is that empire is still very much with us. Though Americans, proud of throwing off the rule of King George III, tend to bristle at the idea, their own military, technological, and commercial power is as imperial and pervasive as Britain’s territorial dominance ever was. As James notes, we can thank the post-World War II Pax Americana for the mostly stable international relations that prevailed during the aptly named Cold War with the Soviets and their own empire. Read more: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/two-new-books-on-conflict-and-conservation">Two new books on conflict and conservation</a>, Kunda Dixit A perennial question, especially during periods of geopolitical upheaval, is not just how empires emerge, but how they fade. Though Britain and France still indulge their memories of empire, they have long since accepted being ‘middle powers’ at best. Ever since the Suez crisis of 1956, when the threat of US sanctions forced Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw from Egypt’s Suez Canal, Britain has supinely followed America’s lead in international relations. (UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s refusal to send troops to Vietnam in the 1960s is the exception that proves the rule.) At the same time, France has sought comfort in the collective embrace of what became the European Union. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is on a hopeless <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-does-defending-europe-mean">quest to reverse the collapse of the Soviet Union</a> and recreate the empire of Peter the Great. And China already sees itself, with some justification, as wielding global influence to rival that of the American empire. China’s pursuit of superpower status is born of not just current economic and political realities, but also its deep-seated resentment over the ‘century of humiliation’ (1839-1949) that it suffered at the hands of European (and Japanese) imperial powers. Of course, similar sentiments also animate Putin’s revanchism, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dismissiveness of diplomatic overtures from post-Brexit Britain. In William Faulkner’s oft-quoted words, ‘The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.’ <h2>Passage To India</h2> The trite answer to the question of why empires fall is that they become victims of their own success, growing too large, too corrupt, too exhausted to fend off energetic newcomers. As the Arab philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldun argued in the 14th century, empires are like living organisms: they grow, mature, and die. As Das’s wonderfully researched book shows, the Mughal Empire was almost mature when the British arrived in the 1600s. Its Muslim rulers, with their roots in Central Asia, are fascinating figures. Emperor Jahangir, a generous patron of the arts, was addicted to opium and wine, whereas his wife, Nur Jahan, wielded significant political influence. The emperor’s son, Shah Jahan, was a ‘king of the world’, whose love for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, is permanently commemorated in the Taj Mahal. Mughal India was both a place of immense wealth and a bastion of religious tolerance (unlike Europe, with its centuries-long Inquisition against Muslims, Jews, and heretics). Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-smallpox-virus-in-british-india">The smallpox virus in British India</a>, Tom Robertson By contrast, the British Empire was barely in its infancy when its clash with Mughal India began. In Courting India, Das paints a vivid picture of the experiences – mostly endured, rather than enjoyed – of King James’s ambassador, Thomas Roe, at the Mughal court. But more than that, she also offers a rich description of Jacobean England as it was emerging from the first Elizabethan age and jostling for power with Portugal, Spain, France, and Holland. Roe’s own journals are a major primary source, but so, too, are the cultural interpreters of the period, from William Shakespeare to the poet John Donne (a friend of Roe). Theirs was an England full of energy, seeking its fortune in the Americas and the Indies. However, it was nowhere close to as sophisticated as courtiers like Roe seemed to believe. Indeed, Roe was almost a caricature of the Englishman abroad. He refused to learn any language that might have helped his mission (be it Farsi or Turkish), and he insisted that he and his staff wear English wool and silk, even through the Indian summer. While he eventually came to admire the pragmatic tolerance of Mughal society, he remained convinced of England and Protestant Christianity’s superiority. Never would he have allowed himself to ‘go native’. Roe was answerable not only to King James but also to his financial backer, the East India Company, which had been granted its charter by Elizabeth I in 1600. This meant he was constantly tussling with the miserly company for money (its traders were always jealous), as well as struggling to quell, or at least make excuses for, the riotous behavior of English sailors. Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/buried-in-history"> Buried in history</a>, Lisa Choegyal <h2>Century of Humiliation </h2> Two centuries later, the East India Company, as it appears in James’s book, would still be clinging to the same assumptions that Roe had held. The superiority and integrity of Christian Britain went unquestioned, and still stood in stark contrast to “Asian greed and despotism.” The biggest change, in the meantime, had been the collapse of the Mughal Empire. Mughal India, the wealthiest place in the world at the end of the 17th century, was steadily enfeebled by internal dissent and Persian and Afghan invasions. In 1857, the East India Company formally dissolved the empire, setting the stage for <a href="https://www.royal.uk/encyclopedia/victoria-r-1837-1901">Queen Victoria</a> to establish the “British Raj” and direct rule over the Indian subcontinent the following year.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240815120836_d96f9f442c51b3abd7717e340c856b87423a5f6d5a9e97422ffa7deec482aac2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240815120836_d96f9f442c51b3abd7717e340c856b87423a5f6d5a9e97422ffa7deec482aac2" data-rendition-name="original" width="842" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="The Mughal Empire's Treaty of Allahabad by Benjamin West NT"><figcaption>A painting by Benjamin West of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II conveying the Treaty of Allahabad to Robert Clive in August 1765 after the Battle of Buxar that gave the Company the right to collect taxes -- marking the beginning of British India rule.</figcaption></figure>  To paraphrase Ibn Khaldun, 19th Britain was no longer an infant with imperial ambitions; it was now an adult with all the energy and ruthlessness needed to extend its reach around the world. As such, the British lion had no misgivings about disgracing the Chinese dragon. Looking back on this period, it is easy to see why Chinese President Xi Jinping is so determined to expunge the century of humiliation from the national memory. That century began in 1839 with the First Opium War. When China tried to block imports of East India Company opium from Bengal, Britain responded with all its (industrialised) military might. By 1842, British warships and soldiers had crushed all opposition and compelled China’s Qing emperor to sign the Nanjing Treaty. That opened China to international trade and ensured that British citizens in ‘treaty ports’ would be subject to British, not Chinese, law. Another consequence of the war was that Britain took possession of Hong Kong, which it would hold until 1997. Whereas Das describes India principally through Roe’s eyes, James is keen to present a balance between British actions and Chinese reactions. In doing so, he stresses that China was not reacting only to British imperialism. After all, this was a time when ‘a spirit of predatory imperialism … pervaded the foreign ministries of Russia, France, Germany and China’s near-neighbour, the newly industrialized Japan’. Seized by their own commercial ambitions, all four ‘regarded China as a land mass to be partitioned and shared out in the same way as contemporary Africa’. But these other imperial projects hardly give Britain a pass. In arguing that ‘Britain was reluctantly sucked into the complex geopolitics of great-power empire building in the Far East’, James simply is not convincing. Britain, the world’s leading naval power and the home of the Industrial Revolution, was already adept at the game of geopolitics and quite prepared to protect its interests in China, not least because that would also protect its interests in India. By the 18th century, the Qing Dynasty had expanded from its Manchu roots and established an empire extending from Mongolia and Tibet to the Pacific. But by the 19th century, it was too exhausted to withstand the pressure not only from the other imperial powers but also from its own people. The century of humiliation always refers to foreign interventions, but equally important were domestic embarrassments such as the 1850-64 Taiping Rebellion – in which some 30 million people died – and the 1899-1901 Boxer Rebellion. The dynasty’s ‘Mandate of Heaven’ was clearly slipping from its grasp. It finally came to an end in 1912, when the Western-educated Sun Yat-sen, following a brief revolution, established the ‘Republic of China’. <h2>Remember Thucydides</h2> Today, that title applies only to the island of Taiwan, whereas Xi presides over the ‘People’s Republic of China’, which was established in 1949 with the victory of Mao Zedong’s Communist Party over Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces. Since the 1970s, most countries – including both rival Chinas – have embraced the fiction that the ROC and the PRC refer to a single country. But there is a constant fear that Taiwan could formally declare its independence and destroy the fiction, thus provoking an invasion from the mainland. If President Joe Biden is to be believed, the US would then come to Taiwan’s rescue and the South China Sea would witness a Sino-American war with far-reaching regional and global consequences. Given his focus on Britain and China, James understandably devotes only a handful of his final paragraphs to US analysts’ ‘bleak’ prognosis of a future war over Taiwan. Moreover, throughout the preceding chapters, he deals deftly with other instances when conflict erupted between rival regional powers. These include the Sino-Japanese war of 1894, which led to Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the Russo-Japanese war of 1904, Japan’s bloody expansionism in the 1930s, and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought America into World War II. The big risk today is that China and America could end up at war as much by accident as by design. Graham Allison of Harvard University has famously warned of the ‘Thucydides trap’, an allusion to the Peloponnesian War, in which Sparta, the incumbent hegemon, was ‘destined for war’ with the rising power, Athens. It is tempting to dismiss Allison’s argument as alarmism. But over the past 500 years, there have been 16 instances of an incumbent power facing off with a rising power, and war was avoided in only four of them, the most famous being America’s rise to replace Britain as the leading world power in the early twentieth century. Notably, James recalls that China was ‘stunned’ by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union</a>. The message pushed by Chinese state-controlled media was that the UK had surrendered to ‘a losing mindset’. Clearly, the current Chinese leadership has no intention of showing weakness. The good news is that political and military leaders on both sides of the Pacific are aware of the risks. As Xi said in 2015, on his first state visit to America, “There is no such thing as the so-called Thucydides Trap in the world. But should major countries time and again make the mistakes of strategic miscalculation, they might create such traps for themselves.” The bad news, however, is that all countries are prone to ‘miscalculation’. <h2>Tick-Tock</h2> Almost a half-century ago, John Bagot Glubb, a British general who commanded the Jordanian army from 1939 until 1956, published a book entitled The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival. His thesis was essentially the same as Ibn Khaldun’s, only with the added claim that almost all empires rise and fall over a period of roughly 250 years. Putting aside the obvious flaws in Glubb’s arithmetic (the Ottoman Empire certainly did not ‘end’ in 1570), the core idea should not be dismissed. After all, historians now give the Qing Dynasty a lifespan of 267 years, and the Mughal Empire of Das’s book began to lose territory after only two centuries. A pessimist might say today’s China began with Communist victory in 1949, and that America’s quasi-imperial power began 201 years ago with the Monroe Doctrine. Time may not be on the side of those who place their trust in America to protect democracy and ‘liberal Western values’. John Andrews, a former editor and foreign correspondent for The Economist, is the author of The World in Conflict: Understanding the World’s Troublespots. © Project Syndicate  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040832_cfc464995c06ecb51810752401d179a4b4da0c9be7a21219b8b2f0845e1f1920.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240817040832_cfc464995c06ecb51810752401d179a4b4da0c9be7a21219b8b2f0845e1f1920" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The evolution of empire book cover page NT"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040832_f993521a48e8f6baa1ccc7fd4428cb0f19ae2b39a5ae76a9fb062a9af0675c36.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240817040832_f993521a48e8f6baa1ccc7fd4428cb0f19ae2b39a5ae76a9fb062a9af0675c36" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The evolution of empire book cover page NT"></figure>

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The Evolution of Empire

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1eeb9c7e80680e0af43ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/>Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche was born in Nubri of Gorkha district in 1975, and is the guru of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. Author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller The Joy of Living, he believes in the blending of traditional practices and philosophy with modern psychology. Last month, surgeon Saroj Dhital, himself a practitioner of Buddhism and student of Mingyur Rinpoche, sat with the guru at his Kathmandu Tergar Osel Ling Monastery, and talked about traditional and modern interpretations of Buddhist practices and philosophy. Excerpt of the conversation:Saroj Dhital: In our very first interaction you told me that taking refuge in the Buddha means taking refuge in the Buddha inside you. Could you elaborate?Mingyur Rinpoche: Shakyamuni Buddha tells you that you are the master of yourself. We all have this wonderful nature – our true nature – which we call the Buddha nature, and from the Buddhist point of view, no matter who you are, the essence is always the same. The essence of all the Buddhas, of all beings – humans, animals – what we call six realms, are the same.The Buddha recognised this, but we have not. You may have a diamond but as long as it is hidden and you do not recognise that, it does not matter. But, once you do, your life completely changes. The truth is, we are already rich from the beginning, many of us are yet to realise that.So it is really important to know that we all can become just like the Buddha, not just his follower, servant or retinue, through the practice of the dharma. "I can show you the path,” the Buddha said, “whether or not you fully become a Buddha is in your hands." We have to make an effort, follow the dharma, then we can become like the Buddha.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1eee9c7e80680e0af43bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="636"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Many people interested in Buddhist philosophy and practice look for faults in the Vajrayana. They say there is so much hierarchy in Vajrayana and that it is the path of the elite. While Vajrayana Buddhism developed in India and Nepal, it flourished in Tibet. In Tibet the guru is not like a God or a parent. It is a projection of your true nature, your Buddha nature, and its appreciation. To do this, you first project on the teacher the quality of the Buddha nature.But over time, this teaching from Tibet mixed with different cultures. Hierarchy is present in almost every culture. Starting with one’s family, there is either the father or the mother who is the head. The same is true for organisations and companies, even religions, as is evident in Buddhism. But in teaching, this is different.Let’s return to the previous example of a diamond that is hidden under layers upon layers. In the same way, we can also imagine our essence to be obscured by layers based on ignorance of our true nature.But then, what is our true nature, our Buddha nature?Buddha nature has three qualities: of emptiness, of being beyond concern, and being beyond subject and object. There is clarity, awareness, love and compassion. This is our true nature. But not recognising this is what hides our true nature from ourselves, in the form of our ego.Even scientists and philosophers have said, if we have ten qualities, nine are positive and one negative. This one negative quality is often what we see first and exaggerate. But we ignore the other nine good qualities. There is a lot of good that we manifest everyday, but we think the world is only getting worse every year.https://youtu.be/-2lTm2-sA7UCan we also think of guruyoga and other traditional Vajrayani practices as the highest form of tools to understand the truth? Certainly. In Vajrayana there are two paths: wisdom and skillfulness. Wisdom is the emptiness, which is the Buddha nature, while guruyoga falls under skillfulness with compassion, bodhichitta and awareness.Indeed, rituals, worshipping and recalling the deities are part of an art of expressing and connecting with our fundamental nature through imagination. There are plenty of rituals but we must understand their meanings. For example, when we imagine a deity, we require concentration. Connecting our true nature to different aspects of practice is the Vajrayana method.Is it possible to invite compassion and wisdom through the practice of samatha, or the awareness of the things around and within us?Only samatha cannot bring compassion and wisdom, we need samatha with skillful means. This can lead to vipassana, to insight. For example, one of the practices of samatha meditation in our tradition is watching our breath and being one with it. We need to learn how to be in our reality as it is.This is very important because our minds are restless and we tend to over exaggerate things to the point of worry. A scientist once said, 99% of our worries will be taken care of if we stop exaggerating and accept reality.But if we want to learn to see our reality, we have to start at a point, like with our breath. The emphasis here is to try and see our breath as it is. Does not matter if it is shallow or deep, irregular or peaceful. By listening to our breath, we must then let go of our aberrations.We all have great qualities. We all have Buddha nature. There is awareness, love and compassion, wisdom, skills and potential within all of us, and we should try our best to use them. We should also try to use our own mistakes, our own incapacities. Letting go doesn't mean giving up. The best power is within ourselves.There is a teaching in our Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism that wisdom, love, compassion and awareness are the best powers. There is a story popular in Tibet: Once there was a king who was very generous and wanted to help everyone. He gave barley to his people from his own store, but once that ran out, there was nothing to eat. One of the ministers suggested that the people could be taught how to plant barley themselves so the wisdom stays with them. When they did that, the entire nation was saved.Accepting reality as it is, is the beginning of wisdom. The path is not smooth, of course, as there are lots of ups and downs, and our reality itself is impermanent and constantly changing. On top of this, our mind is like a restless monkey. We think of work, we worry about family, about life – many thoughts come and go. We often act on impulse, our past habits and what other people say. That creates a lot of misunderstanding and miscommunication.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1ef19c7e80680e0af43cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="863">When we fight with these thoughts, we end up thinking about it more. But when we really want to think about it, the thought will disappear. That is what I mean by the monkey mind.This is not to say that thoughts are bad. It is important to let them come. But we have to also remember to breathe. If we don’t, we are not lost. We have to let go of craving, of attachment to develop wisdom, as wisdom is knowing reality as it is. Then slowly we return to ourselves, our bodies, our feelings, our minds. Thus, wisdom comes together through the samatha, and vipassana and samatha become one in the end.Is there an issue of balance or moderation when it comes to developing compassion within us?Yes. One day in the Buddha’s past life, he saw a mother tiger with her cubs looking for food. Thinking that if the mother died, the cubs would too, he offered his body to them. But Buddha later said, “Yes, I did so in my past life but new practitioners of bodhichitta should never do the same. The desire itself may become an obstacle.”It is important to develop love, compassion and bodhichitta, but in practice we need to find our own balance. We have to check our ability, our resources and the strength of our mind. We cannot help beyond our limit. Love and compassion alone won’t save the world, we need to combine it with wisdom. Wisdom is the main practice and compassion is the method.Wisdom is completely free like emptiness, beyond subject and object. And suffering is an illusion, while everything is emptiness. The view is totally open but your action has to be there. Generosity, discipline, effort, patience – all are important. But there are many dos and don’ts when it comes to action, as there are societal and cultural aspects. When you think about them, you cannot be free, which then leads you to tie yourself, which is another extreme.So, try your best to help others. But know your limits and find balance between the extremes.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/buddhas-birthday-in-his-birthplace/">Buddha’s birthday in his birthplace</a>, Nepali Times<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1ef49c7e80680e0af43djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Being able to identify evil within us is one thing, but what can we do when we see evil outside of ourselves?Normally we should support the victims, which is really important. But how do we do that?Sometimes we just follow our inner mara, and we become the same as the perpetrator, without understanding the condition, the situation in which the act was committed. While trying to save the victim, we choose violence. This is not real wisdom or compassion, and in the end it will create more problems and distractions.People do not want to change themselves – they only want to change the world, and then the world becomes chaotic. But Buddha’s way is that you need to change your inner world, your inner mara first. Only then does the genuine influence come.When you transform yourself, you want to help others, you want to radiate whatever peace you have within you to help others. Otherwise, you miss out on a lot of social work. Based on your inner mara, your social work becomes a weapon to develop your own mara, and it results in more conflict and more fighting. Social justice is important, and Buddha did that through love and compassion – not through hatred, violence.We have become very human-centric, not caring about the other sentient beings in the world. How should we use Buddha’s teachings, also for other beings?I think it is really important to connect with the balance. The world is based on the individual, and as we are the individual, we need to transform our actions according to our limit, our capacity. Then the world will change. The problem is when we want to change the world and that doesn’t happen, we give up. We think, “I am just one person, whatever I do, doesn’t affect the world.” And then we quit. If we are too tied and follow violence, we will then destroy the world.So, as the Buddha said, you help in your own way, with whatever you can contribute, whatever you can do to help the environment and the world – even the small things.I have met many social workers who were exhausted, stressed and depressed because nothing changed. If they practice the teachings of the Buddha – love and compassion, awareness and wisdom – and get more imagination and power, they can help the society and the environment more. Balance like this is very important.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1ef79c7e80680e0af43ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1285" height="1758">If you don’t believe in the soul, but you believe in rebirth, what is it that passes from one body to another? What is this continuity? Is it also a part of the soul?The Buddha nature is obscured by two layers. The outer layer is when we talk about self, which itself has three more layers: the unhealthy sense of self, the healthy sense of self, and the self beyond self.The unhealthy self is what we call clinging on to the ‘permanent, single, independent’. We perceive ourselves as permanent. At the same time, we don’t like to have unexpected surprises. But if the surprise is expected, we are happy. There is a kind of consistent belief that everything should be a certain way. For example, if you are waiting in a line to use the toilet and someone cuts in, the unhealthy self explodes.Maybe that person did not see you, had an emergency or just doesn’t respect you – there can be many causes and conditions, but we do not see them. We just want everything to be as we expected.Then there is ‘singularity’, meaning my way is the best way. During a science experiment, more than 70% of taxi drivers interviewed said that their driving skill was above average. But that is impossible. For example, if you and your friend are in a car, and the road is a little bumpy, then automatically we think that it would be safer if we were driving it.Then comes ‘independent’, meaning we want to control everything. We think, “if it is not controlled by me, it is wrong”. These three combined together [permanent, single, independent] is the mara actually. It is very touchy and egoistic. It doesn’t care about others. And that single, independent, permanent self actually does not exist even at the relative level. It is just at the conceptual level.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1efa9c7e80680e0af43fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">Next is the healthy sense of self. It is the self that is changing. So maybe at home you are parents, husband or wife, and at work maybe a boss or a staff. With your friend circle, you are friends. Your Self is always changing. And this self has changed from your childhood till now. Sometimes the self is happy in the morning but unhappy in the evening. Sometimes good Self, sometimes not so good Self. Self is always changing.There is multiplicity – you become you because of your education, your family background, the way your friend looks at you, your body, your mind. There are so many pieces there. Understand that this is healthy. And they are all interconnected, interdependent, not independent. Not everything is in your hand. From there comes compassion, awareness and wisdom.And lastly, there is emptiness that does not mean nothing, but that everything can manifest. So the true nature of self is beyond time and matter, beyond subject and object.So then, what is continued? The healthy self is changed and that stream of consciousness, matter and particles is continued. The body is the particle and the mind is consciousness, and they will continue like a river even though they are changing.But the real self is emptiness at the ultimate level – empty, but not nothing. There is clarity and potential. These two are one and therefore we are not nothing – yet, we are not existing.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kinship-karma-and-kung-fu/"> Kinship, karma, and kung fu</a>, Shristi Karki

On nature and human nature

https://youtu.be/dftVLbsLptIA long time ago in the beginningThere was no vast cosmos,And there was no beautiful earthLater the omnipotent Ningwaphuma arrivedAnd she created the earthIt is rare to hear folk songs in the Limbu language in Kathmandu, but this was Manu Nembang, Jhuma Limbu and Deepa Suhang (pictured) singing a traditional song from their community at Shilpee Theatre this week. The event was organised by Raithane Music to promote true folk melodies that people live by, and which are endangered by assimilation.This was Raithane Music’s first performance and started off with Hakpare, a melody popular among the Limbus from eastern Nepal. It is a kind of Mundhum, songs passed down orally from one generation of Limbus to another, with information about the community’s traditions, beliefs and worldview. Sung by priests, healers and shamans, the Mundhum is also called the ‘Veda’ of the Limbus, since they contain instructions for life. Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18795#.XDco3lUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Songs of our past</a>, Amar Gurung<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/fasting-feasting-and-festivities-of-gaura/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fasting, feasting and festivities of Gaura</a>, Sewa BhattaraiMundhums contain age-old lyrics that trace the history of the Limbu community. Hakpare is believed to be the oldest melody or style of Limbu music tradition sung during important occasions like weddings, births, and even deaths. “When one person starts singing a Hakpare, another person may contradict him, and yet another may add information to clarify it. And so Hakpare progresses as a form of dialogue,” says sociologist Chaitanya Subba who thinks that since Hakpare contained references to people living in caves, the songs could be from the period the Limbus first settled in what is now eastern Nepal 10,000 years ago.Hakpares can be sung during weddings and about what life was like before people started getting married, and how a young couple’s courtship proceeds. The ones sung during pregnancy wish for the baby’s safe birth, and the songs of death wish for the departed soul’s safe passage. And then there are the dense songs that sing of the history of the earth, and how human civilisation came about. “There is a saying we find in these Hakpares. When the wind blows too chilly, or the weather grows gloomy, a human heart becomes full of feelings. That is when we sing these songs, to console the heart,” said Lokman Wanem from Taplejung. Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7665#.XDcn5FUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Translating Bairagi Kainla</a>, Manjushree Thapa<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-a-high-note/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tibetan music in Nepal's sacred valley</a>, Sewa Bhattarai 		
										<img width="1400" height="1050" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22539c7e80680e041782jpeg.jpg" alt=""/> Senior poet and Mundhum expert Bairagi Kainla added: “Youngsters are holding hands and singing to each other. One would imagine their songs would be joyful. But no, Hakpares are sorrowful. That is because they are aware that we are mortal. No matter what we achieve, it is gone. This awareness of the core nature of human existence is what makes the songs melancholy. We need these sorrowful melodies,” says Kainla who has collected and documented Mundhums.These songs were orally passed down from one generation to the next, and were barely documented until modern times, but today, their usage is fading as people do not need these songs for entertainment or for social guidelines. “Our ancestors thought that if they sung and memorised the lessons from their lives, it would be easier for the following generations to live their lives. It is not just music but an entire community’s history and tradition,” said Kainla. The melody is popular in eastern Nepal and other communities sing their own lyrics, including in Nepali. There are even modern and pop songs based on the melody, but the thousands of years of knowledge and wisdom that Limbus collected can only be found in the original Limbu Hakpare. We the siblings of human genesis We the wisest animals on earth Let this Mundhum remain forever And let this continue even after lifeRead also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/making-the-sound-of-music-in-patan,3976" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saving the sound of music</a>, Sebastian Wellingbat<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nation-have-nepalis,601" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Have Nepalis forgotten Dharmaraj Thapa?</a> Sunir Paney

Eastern melodies in Kathmandu

<figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933799c7e80680e03df9fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Yuntai or Cloud Platform, located at the base of the Great Wall's Juyongguan section. Photos: SEWA BHATTARAI</figcaption></figure>The Great Wall of China is one of the world’s most famous landmarks, but what is less well known is the historical link between this World Heritage Site to another one 4,000km to the south in Kathmandu Valley. Here on the white marble Cloud Platform of the Juyongguan Section of the Great Wall 60km from Beijing, visitors come across ancient Buddhist inscriptions that tell the story of the influence of Nepal on the Yuan dynasty in the 13thcentury.At the base of the Great Wall is an arch built in 1345 and inscribed with Buddhist sutras in six languages: Mandarin, Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian, Tangut and Sanskrit. Kublai Khan and his descendants had to pass under the script of the Buddhist scriptures when they visited nearby temples.What is surprising is that the Sanskrit lines inside the arch are not in the usual Devanagari letters, but in the Ranjana script that originated in Kathmandu Valley.   <figure><img width="2592" height="1944" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369337d9c7e80680e03dfa0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Ranjana is called ‘Lanzha’ in Mandarin, and can be found in religious monuments across Tibet and China, having travelled with the spread of Mahayana Buddhism, whose main texts including the Pragya Paramita are written in Ranjana. Many sects of Buddhism had already spread to China through Central and South Asia more than 2,000 years ago, but they were overlaid by Mahayana Buddhism after Princess Bhrikuti took the sect to Tibet in the 7th century from Kathmandu Valley. The practice of inscribing Buddhist scriptures in a distinctive Nepali style have been documented from this time. Cultural historian Satya Mohan Joshi believes that tradition began as early as the 7thcentury in China after the arrival in Beijing of Priyajiv, the ambassador of King Narendra Dev. In his book on <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-life-and-times-of-arniko/">Arniko</a>, Joshi cites a 1,400-year-old stele inscribed with the Usnisa Vijaya Dharini Sutra in the Xi'an Museum. However, Ranjaan was not in the picture yet, and these scripts may have been the precursors of Ranjana. Ranjana started appearing in Buddhist monuments after the 12th century.  <figure><img width="2502" height="757" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933809c7e80680e03dfa1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Ranjana alphabet was derived from the Brahmi script and originally developed in Nepal in the 11th century, which is why some say it should be called the ‘Nepali script’. "In Nepal the Brahmi developed into the Lichhavi script and the Nepal script, which further was transformed to Ranjana," says Devdas Manandhar, a forceful proponent for the preservation of Ranjana. "The Nepal script was uniquely Nepali and has a very distinctive way of writing the vowel ‘ae’ which carried over to Ranjana.” However, other scholars say the script originated in Bengal and transferred to Nepal along with other cultural heritage after Buddhism was overrun in northern India. Buddhist scholar Basanta Maharjan says that the Ranjana letters were beautified, and preserved by the Newars of Kathmandu Valley from where it travelled to Tibet, China and on to Korea and Japan."Tibet's religion and philosophy were influential not just in China but in Mongolia in the north and Kashmir in the west. The version of Ranjana found in all these places is distinctly Nepali, and that is something that we can be proud of," says Maharjan.  <img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933839c7e80680e03dfa2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="850" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933869c7e80680e03dfa3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933899c7e80680e03dfa4jpeg.jpg" alt="">Nepali art and philosophy got another boost in China from Arniko, the Kathmandu architect who travelled to Beijing in the 13thcentury to help  <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7263#.W-JtI6cQ0Wp">Kublai Khan</a> build temples and monuments with Buddhist symbolism, and leave a Nepali imprint in the ancient architecture of China, Korea and Japan.  Satya Mohan Joshi researched Arniko in China, and is convinced it was Arniko's influence that helped spread the Ranjana script. The White Dagoba built by Arniko in Beijing in 1279 still stands today, and contains many distinct Ranjana inscriptions. The Cloud Platform at the Great Wall, which Joshi also documented in his book, was built almost a century after Arniko reached China and shows his influence. On top of the arch are Garuda, crocodiles, and other carved elements which look like they have been transplanted from Kathmandu.The Ranjana script was used in a new golden stupa built in Beijing's Patachou as recently as 1960 to house the Buddha's tooth relic. "The prevalence of this script is an example of the enduring influence of Arniko, and the close cultural links between Nepal and China," says Joshi.  <img width="2592" height="1944" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369338c9c7e80680e03dfa5jpeg.jpg" alt="">Arniko created the White Pagoda on Kublai Khan's command, and it was then a symbol of the unification of China under Yuan dynasty. Today the Miaoying Temple museum in Beijing acknowledges his work as ‘a great symbol of cultural exchange between Nepal and China’. That Nepali art, architecture and the Ranjana script were so widespread in China are proof of this historical trans-Himalayan connection. Devdas Manandhar says that Ranjana is Nepal’s gift to Asia’s culture, and is still seen from Kashmir to the Great Wall of China, and in Japan. He explains: "Since the Ranjana script was associated with the Buddhist scriptures, it is always found above doors, so that you never stepped on the holy fonts.”

The script of the scriptures

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

Thousands of Nepali students dreaming of an American education have been forced to look elsewhere as the Trump administration’s visa restrictions make their future uncertain.
The US was long considered a top destination for higher studies, making Nepal the 10th biggest country of origin for international students in America.&nbsp;
However, that number has seen a significant decline with the total for Nepali students now at 16,482. Some 8,000 Nepali students obtained no-objection certificates to study in the US from the Ministry of Education in the past year.&nbsp;
India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom and Japan are the other popular destinations for Nepali students. There are no clear numbers for Nepalis going to India, but a slight decline was noted this year after the deaths of two female students.
The US State Department has issued a circular to its embassies not to issue new visas to applicants until further notice. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the directive stated that the department planned to expand the screening of applicants' social media.&nbsp;
While new applicants are barred including those applying for visitor visas, students with scheduled interviews are allowed to proceed.
“Many of our students are affected by the new restrictions, but those who had applied for student visas earlier have got interview dates,” one Kathmandu-based college counsellor told us.
Meanwhile, even foreign students with spotless records already in the US have not been spared, as visa scrutiny intensifies under the new policy. In a move that underscores the growing sense of insecurity, many US colleges advised international students to carry their passports and documents at all times, even when traveling locally.
“Me and my friends did not go home this summer because we were not sure we would be allowed back, so we just went to Niagara Falls,” said a Nepali undergrad in Ohio, who like many interviewed for this report did not want her name used for fear of repercussion.
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Nepali students have adopted a cautious stance, with many choosing not to return home during summer vacation due to fear of visa revocations as well as travel bans. Meanwhile, over 7,000 Nepalis with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to come back to Nepal by 5 August or face deportation. Thirty-seven were flown back to Kathmandu on Omni Air last week.
“The US is one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education, and the ban will definitely impact bright students,” says Narottam Aryal of the King’s College in Kathmandu.
Indeed, Nepali undergraduates admitted into Ivy League colleges for the 2025 academic year have been asked to look for alternatives. The entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board resigned on Wednesday citing interference from the Trump administration on the selection of this year’s cohort. Some Nepali students already on Fulbright scholarships have noted disruptions, delays and even cancellation of stipends.&nbsp;
The student visa restrictions were initially just for foreign students admitted to Harvard University, but it was later extended to all Chinese students and now to all students. Universities like Columbia which actively recruit foreign students, face sharp enrolment declines, threatening their financial stability and diversity.
An Indian female PhD candidate at Columbia University had her visa revoked by the US State Department, and said she was targeted on the basis of her social media posts on Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Social media vetting of political activism has raised concerns about privacy and freedom of expression in a country where such rights were a given.
Many students have been informed via email that their visas have been revoked for getting speeding or parking tickets, but even others with no criminal record have been affected. The fear of deportation looms large amongst international students, including those from Nepal.&nbsp;
For most Nepalis who migrate to the US for education, the journey is a high-stakes investment. They come largely from middle-class families, often rely on a patchwork of scholarships, work-study programs, loans, or even the sale of family assets to afford fees.
Most Nepali students pursue STEM subjects which offer extended Optional Practical Training (OPT) periods that help fund their education. But with the US backsliding on education and humanitarian matters, countries like the UK and Canada are becoming more attractive despite their own recent stricter controls on student visas.&nbsp;
The UK universities saw a 63% rise in Nepali students’ admissions in 2024. Japan is another popular destination with 64,816 Nepali students enrolled as of 2024.
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Already, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are poised to benefit from the increased scrutiny of US student visas. Several Hong Kong universities are offering unconditional admission to affected students, while Malaysian institutions are targeting previously US-bound Asian students. China and India have 330,000 and 280,000 students respectively in America, but the numbers for China have seen a sharp drop in the past year.
Elsewhere, branch campuses of American institutions such as NYU in Abu Dhabi, Georgetown in Dubai and Northwestern in Doha are getting more admission applications, and universities in the Gulf region are expanding infrastructure to accommodate those who would otherwise have gone to the US.&nbsp;
Even educational institutions in Nepal are hopeful that the US visa restrictions can be an opportunity to at least keep Nepali undergrads in Nepal, and also attract foreign students from the region.&nbsp;
“Many students might choose to complete their undergraduate degree here in Nepal and then move abroad for their Master’s degree later,” says Aryal of King’s College. “There was a need for quality higher education in Nepal anyway in terms of innovation and opportunities, so this could be the time to reduce our dependence on other countries.”
Nepal’s strategic position between India and China makes it sensitive to US policy shifts. India, a key ally, is also under US scrutiny for potential student travel restrictions. Chinese universities are already offering more scholarships to Nepali talent to capitalise on the US retreat.
American universities have challenged student visa restrictions in the courts. A federal court in Boston revoked the blanket ban on Harvard, and the State Department has ordered the resumption of processing student and exchange visitor visas.&nbsp;
Some are still hoping that President Trump will backtrack on the student visa restrictions, just like he has done with many of his more drastic executive orders.
Even so, the visa see-saw and longer-term uncertainties about living in the United States and its education system means students across the world are making alternative plans.
Says Aryal: “Policies of foreign countries change according to their needs, so excessive dependence was never a good idea. We should work to create different opportunities and choices of higher education within Nepal, so students are retained.” &nbsp;

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

While Nepal was hosting the Sagarmatha Sambaad international climate conference in Kathmandu this month, on Mt Everest it was pretty much business as usual.&nbsp; The signs of climate breakdown are all there: a river now runs through Base Camp in summer, the Khumbu Icefall is more unstable, and there are more &nbsp;frequent avalanches. When expeditions arrived in March, the mountains were bare: it had not snowed since September, but then blizzards dumped unseasonal snow in May. And despite climate worries, such is the pull of Himalayan mountaineering that the Everest Industry showed no signs of slowdown. More than 600 international climbers and their Nepali guides had made it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. At one point there were an estimated 2,000 people in the tent city on the Khumbu Glacier. All the ropes and ladders on the Icefall came down on Thursday, marking the official end of the spring climbing season, and just in time to avoid a monsoon cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal. It has been an action-packed season. One factor could be that Everest fees will go up from September: each foreign climber needs to pay a $15,000 royalty, up from the present $11,000. The cost for a Nepali climber on the South Col route will also go up: from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.&nbsp; The fee to climb Everest in autumn is $7,500 (up from $5,500), but most climbers still prefer spring. Winter permit fee (December-February) is only $3,750 per person and the mountain is now also open for monsoon (June-August) climbs, when the fee is ever lower at $2,750. The revised rule also makes it mandatory for every two climbers on an 8,000m peak to hire one Nepali mountain guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046" data-rendition-name="original" width="931" height="732" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry graph 1"> </figure>  In addition, climbers also have to pay for porters and guides, equipment, Base Camp costs, Ice Fall and fixed rope team fees, so climbing Everest does not come cheap. But such is the draw of climbing the world’s highest peak that some say the increased fees will not diminish the crowds next year. The government has tried to spread expeditions out to other seasons and other 8,000ers, but with not much success. Earlier this year, Nepal unilaterally increased the number of 8,000m peaks to 14 by adding six more sub-summits to broaden the choice for climbers. Added were: Yalung Kang (8,505m), Yalung Kang West (8,077m) &nbsp;Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m), Kangchenjunga South (8,476m), Lhotse Middle (8,410m) and Lhotse Shar (8,400m).&nbsp; The announcement could go against the accepted topographic criteria that a stand alone peak has to be at least 300m higher than an adjoining prominence, and at more than 3km isolation from it. The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) still recognises only 14 mountains as eight-thousanders, and only eight of those are in Nepal, or on the border with China. Nepal’s revised mountaineering regulations also increased the insurance coverage of high-altitude workers to protect porters and high altitude guides who usually take more risks on the mountains. Rescue teams and clean-up campaigners to collect trash and remove bodies of dead climbers up to Camp IV of Mt Everest do not need permits.&nbsp; The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is now using drones to fly down trash in 20kg sacks. Each climber is also required to bring down at least 6kg of waste and not just their own, but this rule is erratically enforced. With five fatalities on Everest and Lhotse, Spring 2025 had a historically low death toll. Another five climbers died on Annapurna, Kangchenjunga and Makalu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="665" height="740" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest industry graph 2"> </figure>  Journalist Ben Ayers who ran the Everest Live social media channel from Everest Base Camp with daily updates credited the low death rate to dramatic rescues of climbers from the ‘Death Zone’ by their Nepali guides and longline helievacs — the visuals all uploaded on YouTube.&nbsp; “Ironically, this perception of safety is bringing more and more inexperienced climbers to the mountain, and they need more rescues,” Ayers said in one of his dispatches.&nbsp; American expedition chronicler and summiteer Alan Arnette suspects there is a lot of under-reporting given that the jet stream and storms were lashing Everest even till late in the season. He told us: “I heard a lot about frostbite and rescues that were not made public. It’s become practically impossible to cover the details on Everest. All the teams report nice news, and they don’t talk about bad stuff to avoid hurting businesses.” Although trash on Nepal’s mountains makes headlines, what does not receive as much attention is the climate impact of so many expeditions. The Sagarmatha Sambaad conference sidestepped this issue, which is ironic given that the impact of climate breakdown is most evident on Himalayan peaks and their glaciers.&nbsp; <h2>Need for Speed</h2> The big stories this year have been about speed-running from their home cities to the top of Everest. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andrew Ushakov flew out of JFK on 15 May at 10:15AM Nepal time, and was on the summit 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes later on 19 May at 9:22AM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry"> <figcaption>Andrew Ushakov at the summt. Photo: ELITE EXPED</figcaption> </figure>  “I could never find the time for the traditional 40-50 days of acclimatisation,” Ushakov explained matter-of-factly. His ‘Everest Sea-to-Summit’ climb was possible because he spent 400 hours in hypoxic sleep tents over the past four years in New York. However, Ushakov did use ropes already fixed, hired four Nepali guides, helicoptered to Base Camp, and used much more oxygen than an average climber. And after the climb, Ushakov was arrested at Kathmandu airport for being in possession of $20,000 of undeclared cash and spent a night in jail and fined $60,000.&nbsp; The other speedsters were Garth Miller, Alastair Cairns, Anthony Stazicker, and Kev Godlington, all former British Army commandos. They left London and summited five days later on 21 May, and flew right back. They also used hypoxic tents to simulate the thin air high on Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="810" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry "> <figcaption>All four members of the Furtenbach team at the summit. Photo: Sandro Gromen-Hayes</figcaption> </figure>  But more controversial was their use of xenon gas therapy in a German hospital to ramp up the production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobins in their blood. Xenon is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for being performance enhancing in sports. Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach said this rule does not apply to mountaineering, as it is not a regulated sport like swimming. Nepal has no rules about xenon, but the Department of Tourism said it was launching an ‘investigation’ to decide on future policy since it is difficult to ban xenon, but allow oxygen. The controversy has also divided the mountaineering community, with some climbers saying they just want to maximise their chances of survival. Spending less time on the mountain could make climbing safer by reducing avalanche risk. It would also mean less trash on the mountains, but it would reduce the income of Nepal’s expedition industry. It is also unclear how much of the success was due to xenon therapy and whether the ex-special forces were already in good physical shape.&nbsp; The need for speed hides the fact that climbing in the Himalaya is dangerous business, and climbers cannot sprint to the top just by huffing xenon. But ultra-fast climbs could be charged more, and the revenue generated can be used to establish state-of-the-art rescue operations, and increase pay and insurance for guides. Two other speed chasers this season were Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff and American Tyler Andrews, both on Everest without oxygen. Andrews choppered to Base Camp to catch a weather window, but turned back from 8,500m due to high winds. Heavy snow and wind also forced Egloff to descend from 7,000m. Slow and steady climbers like Anja Blacha from Germany did make it to the summit without oxygen, while Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record with his 31st Everest summit as he led a 26-strong Indian Army group. There were 468 permits issued for foreign climbers from 48 expeditions to Everest this spring. Nepal’s other eight-thousanders together had only 17 expeditions. Nepal has more than 1,000 peaks above 6,000m, and has opened only 476 of them for climbing.&nbsp;

The Everest Industry

While Nepal marked <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a> Day on 29 May, on the other side of the planet in the US state of Colorado dozens of Nepalis who have climbed the world’s highest peak multiple times were busy working as chefs and Uber drivers. Among them is Nima Doma Sherpa, who climbed Mt Everest in 2019 after her husband Tshering Wangchu was among 16 crushed by an avalanche on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu">the Khumbu Icefall</a> five years earlier. A large serac broke off the West Shoulder of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry">Mt Everest </a>and fell directly on a group of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/more-porters-sick-on-everest-trail">porters and guides</a> making their way up the Icefall at 5,800m. Their bodies were flown by helicopter to Khumjung where Tshering Wangchu was born. He was excited about climbing Mt Everest for the first time.&nbsp; In Khumjung, Nima Doma felt like her own life had also ended. This was the kind of news Sherpa wives, mothers and sisters dreaded every <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">mountaineering season</a>. She stayed home for more than two years grieving, but ultimately gathered up all her emotional strength to take care of her 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. Nima had grown up in Khumjung hearing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/stories-of-nepal-s-summiteers">tales of adventure on the mountains </a>from their father, Ang Chubi Sherpa who had climbed Everest in 1993. He used to bring her and her sisters and brother European chocolates after every expedition, and used to tell them that the chocolate bars grew on the mountains. “It was only after we got older did we realise that he told us that chocolates grew in the mountains so we would not worry about him putting himself in harm's way,” Nima Doma recalled with a faraway look at her home in Boulder this week. Nima went to the school that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/commemorating-edmund-hillary-in-nepal,4145">Edmund Hillary</a> opened in Khumjung till Grade 8, and then dropped out to help in the kitchen and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">tend yaks</a>. She was married off to Tshering Wangchu, who was also a high altitude guide. When Tshering went on expeditions, Nima also started working as a porter from Namche to Base Camp. It was perhaps her father’s tales of mountains of chocolates that had always attracted her to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/knowing-our-mountains-43v4iyvo">the peaks</a>. After her husband was killed ten years ago this month, being a widow with children was not easy for Nima Doma. But she was not alone: there were at least 200 single mothers in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/khumbu-since-1950-jaww4qn0">the Khumbu</a>, and 20 of them just in Khumjung whose husbands had been killed in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/tragic-start-to-himalayan-spring-nepal,3695">mountaineering accidents</a>. Some were not even 20 years old, and had children growing up without fathers. But there were also women in the 50s whose husbands had been killed in the 1980s. Nima found sponsors for her children’s education, and moved to Kathmandu. In the capital, Sherpa widows used to meet to help each other. Some of them had joined the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) training for rock and ice climbing. “I decided that it was no use sitting home and crying anymore, after meeting other single mothers I felt less alone,” remembers Nima, who joined the Juniper Foundation and enrolled in an NMA training camp in Manang. There she climbed Chulu East (6,584m) and met Furadiki Sherpa, whose rope-fixing husband had also been <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/on-mt-everest-s-70th-records-and-fatalities">killed on Everest</a> in 2013. They set themselves the goal of climbing Everest one day, and started a fund-raising drive.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250530090544_621be0724b9182c8e3594b2c562a71ec32ac01d985a71d0cf31646de9d51e15a.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250530090544_621be0724b9182c8e3594b2c562a71ec32ac01d985a71d0cf31646de9d51e15a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2678" height="1274" loading="lazy" alt="Everest summiteers find new life in the US"> </figure>  “We decided we had to overcome society’s stigma of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/widows-personal-happiness-comes-last-in-face-of-social-financial-hardships,1855">widowhood</a> and prove that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-junko-tabei">women could also climb mountains</a>,” Nima said, adding that she was inspired by Nepal’s first woman Everest summiteer Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, who died during her descent in 1993. Nima Doma and Furdiki climbed the technically-difficult Ama Dablam (6,812m) and then arrived at Everest Base Camp in April 2019 as part of their Two Widows Expedition with the motto, ‘So Can We’. While climbing up the Icefall Nima passed the spot where her husband had been killed. It was a jumble of constantly-shifting ice blocks bigger than houses. She closed her eyes and said a prayer. “I remember thinking, this is so difficult and dangerous. This is what my husband had to do to support our family,” Nima Doma said. “I was determined to fulfil my husband’s dream of climbing Chomolungma, and to prove to ourselves that we two women could do it.” It was 23 May 2019 when <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/world/two-sherpa-widows-scale-everest-and-smash-stigma-idUSKCN1SU0MV/" target="_blank">Nima and Furdiki stepped on the summit</a> and looked over into Tibet, and down at Tengboche Monastery to the south.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250530090544_6b822582b5d88ba5e972db084f184690b40653c6efd9901b2dd082ffba2a263b.png" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250530090544_6b822582b5d88ba5e972db084f184690b40653c6efd9901b2dd082ffba2a263b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2700" height="1522" loading="lazy" alt="Everest summiteers find new life in the US"> </figure>  Nima Doma hugged Furdiki, took off her mask and wept. But for the first time in five years, it was not from grief but relief — relief for being free of all the sadness and sacrifices and for fulfilling her husband’s dream. They had found <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/life-after-death">life after death</a>. “I felt this immense joy to be on top of the world, it was indescribable,” Nima Doma said, “I have wept only twice in my life. Once when my husband died, and once there on top of Everest.” The tears had frozen on Nima Doma’s cheeks, as she and Furdiki headed back down the mountain.