ལམ་འགྲོ་བདེ་ལེགས།
lam 'gro bde legs
The Tibetan phrase for "happy journey" is ལམ་འགྲོ་བདེ་ལེགས། (lam 'gro bde legs).
ལམ་འགྲོ་བདེ་ལེགས། is used specifically when someone is departing on a trip or journey.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of lam 'gro, which means "travel" or "journey" and bde legs, which means "good", "well" or "happy".
How does it change in a sentence?
In a conversational context, this phrase functions as a complete well-wish and does not require a subject or a verb to be grammatically complete.
How do you pronounce it?
lam 'gro bde legs
Did you know?
- Tibetan has no single word for 'goodbye', so phrases like ལམ་འགྲོ་བདེ་ལེགས། are essential for marking the social transition of a departure.
- In many Tibetan communities, instead of just saying 'have a good journey', people may offer a specific blessing involving 'protection' to ensure the traveler is safe from unseen spirits.
- The word ལམ་ meaning 'path' or 'road' is used metaphorically in Tibetan to describe a spiritual path toward enlightenment, not just a physical road.
Example conversation
Tseringmo is seeing Rinchen off at the airport.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoརིནཅེན། ལམ་འགྲོ་བདེ་ལེགས།Rinchen, lam 'gro bde legs!Rinchen, have a happy journey!
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenཐུགས་ཆེ་། ཚེ་རིང་མོ།thugs che, Tseringmo!Thank you, Tseringmo!
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoགནམ་ཐོར་ལམ་འགྲོ་བདེ་ལེགས།gnam thor lam 'gro bde legs!Have a safe flight!
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenང་ཚོ་མོ་ནས་མཇལ།nga tsho mo nas mjal!I will see you later!
