My first post to CPinMongolia.com was back in January 2014. More than a decade has flown by and I still enjoy the technical aspects of building and maintaining this site, as well as the challenge of composing articles to add to its growing collection. So I’m thinking, “Why stop?”

In the beginning, the intention was simply to share aspects of my ethnographic study of contemporary Mongolian culture in Mongolia, a project I started after my first visit way back in 2004. Over time however, I began weaving other threads of personal interest into its unfolding expositional arc.

What’s the point in having a mind if you can’t change it?

There are now 100+ original (researched) articles, intermedia and musical compositions across this site and its associated two You Tube channels (a multi-platform presentation). There are no on-postings or feeds. For an overview of the content, or for an entry point into the content, especially if you’re new to this site, you may like to take a look at the INDEX and its categorical structure. I suggest you start there.

Now longitudinal in nature the inter-connectedness of this accumulation, manifest in various forms of cultural production, makes perfectly sound (chronological) sense to me [she laughs]. “Auto-ethnography” you say? Quite possibly … given the autobiographical elements and critical reflection added to the mix.

In working with a purposeful selection of Mongolian, Tibetan and other cultural resources, I aspire to simply reflect the creative practices of people around the world with whom I have the very good fortune to associate. This was my goal at the outset. In this regard, nothing has changed.

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From 2021 until now …

In terms of further study, the focus has been on translating and interpreting a folio of poems (Skt. doha)* by the contemporary Mongolian Gelug scholar-poet Zava Damdin Rinpoche. You’ll find links to a selection of these in the Mongolian Poetry section of the INDEX.

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Where to from here?

Good question! Given …

The additional imprints from the intense generative, (non)proximal and inner experiences associated with this kind of formal training in the (fine) art of interpreting doha into another language via a culturally appropriate, oral induction and lineage transmission;

Along with the (selective and persistent) memories of the studious immersion and sustained concentration required to accurately understand an original text, according to the scholar-poet’s intended meaning (conceptually, through explanation and contextual commentary) and then to articulate it into another language, in a poetic way,

All I can say is, with my heart overflowing with gratitude, this training “experience” has again been so inspiring. Now, it’s time to re-focus!

With a freshly-polished preoccupation with narrative detail, I  have now turned my attention to the expressive flow of my own musicianship, and its inter-medial expression. I am no officiando, but I do enjoy playing the piano, and creating music with digital authoring tools if I’m in the mood and up for a challenge!

Addressing questions of visual narrative, technical proficiency and instrumentation have now floated to the top of my work-it-out list.

There are already a number of (detailed) essays on CPinMongolia.com that explain to you some of the background and context of my completed intermedia works. This website is the text-based component of an inter-connected multi-platform presentation. Sub-headings are there to help you navigate your way through this ocean of words as you search for what you are looking for.

Some articles are sparse (introductory) whilst others are very detailed and drill down into the minutiae of a particular subject or theme. The postings to my You Tube Channels @cpleteshner (current) and @cpleteshner299 (until 2018) are the associated digital artefacts of intermedial performance and production.

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In terms of background, I have been studying Buddhist philosophical reasoning according to the Tradition of Je Tsongkhapa since 1987. I have been given the opportunity and privilege to attend residential courses and other important events in centres, monasteries and colleges of higher education all over the world.

I have two principal Teachers: my heart-tutor is Mongolian, the other Tibetan … I’m such a slow learner, nonetheless, I keep trying and a strong and beautiful Gelug voice sings in my heart. In keeping with our principle of life-long learning, I continue to study subjects with other specialist tutors if need be. Until recently, all these goings on have run in tandem with the demands of a professional working life.

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The Zava Damdin Medallion, an award

In November 2011, I was awarded the Zava Damdin Medallion in recognition of my scholarly contribution to the study of contemporary Mongolian culture in Mongolia. I understand that I am the first Australian (in a woman’s body) to have been publicly awarded this honour.

Here I would like to also acknowledge my dear friend and colleague Sodontogos Erdenetsogt (now Director-General of MONTSAME) and to thank her for all that she has done and continues to do for so many others. Our scholarly collaboration is without parallel … The Honourable Professor Choirov Khishigtogtokh and Dr Hatagin Gotovin Akim received the same award for their own lifelong and much greater contribution to scholarship at the same official ceremony.

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In October 2014 I was honoured with the position of inaugural Research Fellow (Nomadic and Buddhist Philosophies) at the The Zava Damdin Sutra and Scripture Institute in Mongolia. This unexpected appointment is a great honour indeed. The inter-disciplinary discourses on this website and other contributions to Zava Damdin’s English language publications are harvests from this honorary and ongoing role.

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Notes

• Variously translated as ‘songs of experience‘ (Skt. doha) or ‘songs of realisation‘, such compositions are characteristic of a poetic form associated with the Vajrayana Buddhist tantric movement.
• The Doha Form can be seen as a sung spiritual aphorism, a concise original thought, that is often rendered linguistically in couplets.
• In terms of an intercultural interpretation, it is important to clarify for readers the idea of ‘singing‘. Such devotional songs are performed internally, and are intimately connected with meditation, feelings, imagination, faith, deep love and respect.

Source: The Great Nenchen (2015) by Zava Damdin (1976- ). Translated from the Mongolian language into English by C.Pleteshner and E.Sodontogos (Zava Damdin Sutra and Scripture Institute, Mongolia). p3.

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Afterword

In curating one’s own blog, one has the opportunity to exercise a particularly spacious and judicious freedom: to discern and (re)configure artistically what one considers to be more important in relation to what may be deemed less so. The curatorial aspect of blogging itself is a reflection of a contemporary modernity and its vast array of online discourses that inform, shape and engage trans-cultural diversities in a globalising world.

© 2013-2024. CP in Mongolia. This post is licensed under the  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.   Posted: 6 January 2014. Last updated: 23 July 2024.