A.R. writes to say:
I cannot resist asking this question: I recall reading somewhere that a nineteenth century explorer - possibly Sir Richard Francis Burton (the chap who translated the Kam Sutra in 1883) encountered a community of Tibetan monks who had devised a code or private language through a series of intricately nuanced farts.
This is probably an early 'urban myth', but have you heard of or encountered anything like this on your travels, or any evidence that such behaviour might be within the range of normality? For, although I am interested in and respectful of Tibetan Buddhism, I can't help hoping there's some truth in it!
I will ask my Tibetan contacts, A.R., and get back to you.
Is he the bloke out of "mountains of the moon?" him and some other toff went off to find the nile's source. They killed loads of animals and sent them back to blighty for the Natrual History Museum. Then some insect climbed into his ear and buzzed about. He dug it out with a compass thing went deaf and mad I guess and the natives liked when he blew smoke out of his ear!
ReplyDeleteI think he blew his head off while killing animals for NHM in 1885, so I think the fart monks is a bluff, urban myth number 648.
mis-informed in darkest surrey