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Second reply of Chang-beer to Tea
After this initial exchange of arguments, the Dispute escalated. Chang (Deden Dutsi) takes the floor again and repeats his accusations through insults. Tea is a witch (she weakens the body), a beggar (an expensive grass), a vagrant (a Chinese with no Tibetan roots) and impudent (thinks she is a sacred herb). Chang challenges Tea to prove her ancestry with the sacred trees.
If Tea (Sherab Drolma) has deceived her audience, her wisdom is questioned. Offending a fundamental Buddhist precept (not to lie), Tea would then be grievously guilty. First rule of a debate between monks: showing that the other is wrong. Second rule of this dialectic: showing you are right. Chang enforces them by playing on three registers:
- The Indian mythology is once again invoked : gods honor beer.
- The legendary behavior of great Lamas favored beer.
- The deeds of sovereign protectors of Buddhism. They have praised the virtues of golden chang , the royal beverage by excellence.
Each episode highlights the antiquity of beer and its prominent place in the ancient Tibetan rituals.
Tea retorts with a same insulting tone. Tea accuses Chang< of being a devil (the enemy of Buddhism), a witch (making people lose their minds) and a disbelieveress (the drink of lawless laymen). Three complementary registers to argue symmetrically against beer.
After this second skirmish, the arguments are exhausted. Tea and Chang must keep silent. The king must arbitrate the Dispute. He plays his role of a wise king: summarize the antagonistic reasons, understand the Dispute, and get out of the conflict by the "top", by a deep understanding of things and their seeming contradictions. His goal: settle the conflicts and proclaim fair sentences in accordance with the Buddhist doctrine.