Great fun

Great fun. It’s interesting to see how we project our minds when interpreting the cartoon. Here is another unabashed projection.

In the first panel we see Tintin and Capt. Haddock in a most austere situation of worldly renunciation. Although they may indeed be at Karme Choling as has been suggested, they are sitting on their bedrolls, implying homelessness. Their expressions are of joyless inward concentration, and their meditation is on a mantra of emptiness. Their shared begging bowl speaks of voluntary poverty and dependence on the goodness of others.

In the second panel, the meditators appear to have a genuine experience of emptiness (“POP”)—better-known as shunyata in the Mahayana tradition they seemed to be practising, a usually disconcerting experience of conceptual dwelling suddenly falling apart.

In the third panel we see why. They gaze in awe upon a scene of fully realized worldly society, with a cheering crowd welcoming a regal procession led by a police escort, elegant equestrians, and a full-blown military. The procession curls out of sight in the distance, implying a multitude—indeed perhaps the whole—of humanity.

The fourth panel shows us the heart of the procession: a beneficent Sakyong Mipham and Sakyong Wangmo Tseyang Palmo atop an elephant, smiling and dispensing blessings upon all—he with hand gestures, she with flowers. The male and female Dorje Kasung—with collars unbuttoned and sleeves rolled the regulation two fingers, or one inch, above the elbow (definitely at least a Kasung influence on the artist)— march proudly on either side of the elephant, carrying the flag of Shambhala with a stylized trident on the tip of the flagpole (the prominent bagpiper in full regalia may be a clue to the identity of the artist—as is the similarity between the Kasung in front of the piper and Major John Perks. More later…). A helicopter escort implies an air force, or is further indication of the society’s full development. The calligraphy on the side of the elephant’s howdah appears to be Tibetan cursive script (right-way up)—perhaps saying “Shambhala” or “Great Eastern Sun” or something similar.

The fifth panel shows three different kinds of steeds—camels, horses and an ostrich—and a variety of historical military headdress, all implying the worldwide inclusiveness of the Shambhala kingdom, and its reflection through the ages (there even seems to be a 17th-Century Spanish Morion helmet—or maybe it’s a cowboy hat—under a Sun banner). The white horse could be the Dorje Dradul’s horse “Drala”, and the rider Lady Diana Mukpo. The limousine license plate could have a sideways HUM as suggested, but it might also be Tibetan cursive script for something Shambhalian. Tintin and Capt. Haddock may simply be reacting to the copious dust raised by the procession—or they are being left in the dust (which seems a somewhat harsh interpretation, but…).

In the final panel, Capt. Haddock--a famous if not notorious tippler and bon vivant, who must have been persuaded by someone as righteous as Tintin to give up worldliness in order to follow the path of renunciation—seems overcome with chagrin, and Tintin seems to be saying something self-exculpatory, such as, “How was I to know we could travel the path of Dharma without giving up the world and all its splendours?”

Thanks to Mr. Gilkerson (?), or whoever the clever person is, for the insightful riddle,

Nick Wright