གཟིམ་ལམ་བདེ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ
zim lam de wei mön lam
The Tibetan phrase for "goodnight" is གཟིམ་ལམ་བདེ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ (zim lam de wei mön lam).
This phrase is used to wish someone a peaceful sleep and a good night's rest.
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is zim lam de wei mön lam.
Did you know?
- Tibetan culture views sleep as a transition. Using a phrase like གཟིམ་ལམ་བདེ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ acknowledges the 'path' ལམ་ of sleep as a journey to be navigated peacefully.
- The term བདེ་བ used in the phrase shares a root with བདེ་ཆེན་, which refers to the 'Great Bliss' of enlightenment in Vajrayana Buddhism.
- In traditional Tibetan culture, there is no exact historical equivalent to the English 'goodnight' as a routine social script. Most people simply say 'I am going to sleep' or use a general blessing.
Example conversation
Norbu and Lhamo are ending their day at home.
- ནོར་བུ། Norbuངས་ད་ལྟ་གཟིམ་ནའོ་།ngas da ta zim na oI am going to sleep now.
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoའོ་ན་གཟིམ་ལམ་བདེ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ།o na zim lam de wai mön lamThen, goodnight.
- ནོར་བུ། Norbuལྷ་མོར་ཡང་གཟིམ་ལམ་བདེ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ།lha mo yor yang zim lam de wai mön lamGoodnight to you too, Lhamo.
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoཐུགས་ཆེ། ནོར་བུ།thuk che nor buThank you, Norbu.
