Enigma People ▎The Burmese Tibetans (Part 2)

February 3, 2026

"Padmasambhava"
15th Century, Private Collection

"Tibetan Monks Invited to Da Hang Dang Village"
Excerpted from A. Rabinowitz's "Through the Last Villages:
Discoveries in Asia's Hidden Realms," 2001

ཆུ་ཐིག་གཅིག་དང་རྩྭ་ཉག་ཟོས་པ་ཡང་།

གཅོང་ནད་ལ་སོགས་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཞི་བར་འགྱུར།

དབང་པོ་མི་གསལ་བ་རྣམས་གསལ་བར་འགྱུར།

རྒན་པོ་རྣམས་ཀྱང་གཞོན་ནུའི་ལུས་སུ་འགྱུར།

དམ་ཆོས་མི་དྲན་ལས་ངན་ཚན་ཅན་ཡང་།

གནས་དེར་ཕྱིན་པས་རང་གྲོལ་གྲུབ་ཐོབ་འགྱུར།

Drinking Drops of Water or Eating Grass

Can Eliminate Old Ailments and Suffering
Dull Senses May Become Clear
The Elderly May Regain Youth
For Those Who Forget the Teachings and Bear Heavy Karma
Entering the Realm Brings Liberation and Attainment

— Selected from "The Guide to the Hidden Land of Padma Bkod" (སྦས་ཡུལ་པད་མ་བཀོད་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཡིག།)
A Prophetic Terma Revealed by Jatsön Nyingpo (འཇའ་ཚོན་སྙིང་པོ་；1585-1656)

"The Burmese Monk U Thilawka"

Excerpted from A. Rabinowitz's "Through the Last Villages:
Discoveries in Asia's Hidden Realms," 2001
*The first Burmese monk to reach Hang Dang Village and teach the Dharma

After the jolting journey, you choose to stay. The mountains and rivers before you isolate people from the disturbances of the outside world. You know of the hidden lands (སྦས་ཡུལ་), spiritual homelands beyond the natural world, sacred destinations where past troubles and sufferings can be dissolved. "Whoever can reach this place may attain the rainbow body," and your hidden land is the very ground beneath your feet. In the legends still circulating in the village, this hidden land shares its mysteries with the renowned and revered "Lotus Realm" (པད་མ་བཀོད་), honored as the foremost of the sixteen hidden lands. The mountain is Hkakabo Razi, the river is the N'Mai Hka, the hidden land is Namtahkod (རྣམ་ཐར་བཀོད་/ནང་ཐར་བཀོད་; also translated as Namtahkod/Liberation Realm), and those who dwell here are the Burmese Tibetans. "Hidden and being hidden"—after experiences of compromise, forgetting, and integration, the Burmese Tibetans have always survived through movement.

"Padmasambhava Hovering in the Air"
Illustrated by Tashi Tseten, selected from *Nyingchi Folk Tales, Volume 1*
2017, Beijing People's Publishing House

"The Fifteenth Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje"
First half of the 20th century, Rubin Museum of Art Collection

In the interpretation of Namtahkod within the Burmese Tibetan community, two figures cannot be overlooked: Padmasambhava and Kathog Dorje. The former, as a spiritual totem, not only connects the Tibetan concept of hidden lands with the natural space inhabited by the Burmese Tibetans. More importantly, the appearance of Padmasambhava provides a positive reason for migration for both the initial diaspora and later generations: not to escape disaster, but as a courageous journey in pursuit of liberation. According to the research of scholar Yang Meng, Namtahkod consists of three concentric circles (conforming to the classical paradigm). The core circle includes "the area formed by the three villages of the Seinghku Long Valley and Dahaangdang Village in the Adung Long Valley." The middle circle includes "the area where Gyathar Village (རྒྱས་ཐར་), visible across the mountains, is located." The outer circle includes "the area where Ridong Village (རི་གདོང་།) in the northeast is situated." To link these concepts, a key figure is needed, and Kathog Dorje fulfills this role. There are many speculations about Kathog Dorje, with some suggesting he was a terma revealer active in Zayul, while others associate him with the traditional belief linking him to the Fifteenth Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje (མཁའ་ཁྱབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་; 1871–1922).

"Avalokiteshvara"
Wall Painting, Late 11th Century
Bagan, Myanmar, Abeyadana Temple

"Hayagriva"
Wall Painting, Late 11th Century
Bagan, Myanmar, Abeyadana Temple

"Samaya Yogini Tara"
Mid-18th Century, Rubin Museum of Art Collection
Detail: Buddhagupta—Vajradhara—Taranatha

"Vanaratna and His Lineage System"
Late 15th century, Kronos Collections

If the "Tibeto-Burman Corridor" and Tibetan descriptions of ancient Myanmar serve as carriers of Tibeto-Burman relations, then the Tibetans who flowed into Myanmar since the late Qing dynasty represent the continuation of such ties. As a core route for Tibeto-Burman ethnic integration, southern trade (especially in gems and spices), and cultural exchange, the "Tibeto-Burman Corridor" was recorded as early as in Fan Chuo's *Man Shu* of the Tang dynasty: "It is said there is a path on this mountain, not far from the Tsanpo's tent." The origins of the Ari sect (အရည်းကြီး), popular in the pre-Pagan period and infused with esoteric Buddhist elements, are also believed by scholars to be related to Tibet. In the religious historical works (རྒྱ་གར་ཆོས་འབྱུང་།) of Taranatha (1575–1634), the term "Pagan" (པུ་ཀམ་/པུ་ཁང་།/ར་ཁང་།) appears frequently, using limited sources to present the history of Mahayana Buddhism’s spread in Myanmar. As Taranatha’s teacher, Buddhagupta (བུདྷ་གུཔྟ་) traveled through Southeast Asia, including northern Myanmar. Even earlier, Vanaratna (ནགས་ཀྱི་རིན་ཆེན་; 1384–1468), who entered Tibet, was born in the border region between ancient Bengal and ancient Myanmar, enriching Tibetan understanding of Myanmar.

"Panoramic View of Pa-an County, Xikang"
1940, produced by Rongguang Photo Studio
*The foreground shows Batang Kangning Monastery

"The Matriarch of Da Hang Dang Village and Her Granddaughter"

Excerpted from A. Rabinowitz's "Through the Last Villages:
Discoveries in Asia's Hidden Realms," 2001
*The girl had acute conjunctivitis
She passed away shortly after the photo was taken

Against the backdrop of grand history, the Burmese Tibetans not only continue the "Tibeto-Burman Corridor" but also possess a modern origin filled with legendary elements. Most existing Burmese Tibetans originate from Zayul County, with their migration to Myanmar traceable as early as the late 19th century. Additionally, there are groups from other Tibetan regions, such as monks from the Kangning Monastery (formerly known as Dingling Monastery) who fled to Myanmar to escape the aftermath of the "Batang Incident." Escape from famine, refuge from political turmoil, avoidance of forced labor, and religious guidance—these four circumstances constitute the earliest reasons for the settlement of Burmese Tibetans. In the final article, the author will delve into the migration history of the Burmese Tibetans, as well as their lived realities and community structures, which exist both beyond authority and within the bounds of rules.