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There was peace in the valley - the Jocko Valley - Saturday

By B.L. Azure

Nk^wusm Salish language teacher Stephen Small Salmon promises Tibetan Buddhist Lama Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, founder of the Garden of 1,000 Bhuddas, a new cowboy hat the next time they meet. (B.L. Azure photot)

JOCKO VALLEY — Hundreds of folks from throughout western Montana journeyed to the Jocko Valley Saturday to take part in the 6th annual Peace Festival at the Ewam's Garden of the 1,000 Buddhas. The 60-acre Buddhist compound is located approximately two miles north of Arlee on White Coyote Road.

The westerly breeze that zipped through the Jocko Valley Saturday had just the right torque to it. Its bluster snapped the prayer flags that were draped throughout the celebration grounds to attention. Thanks to the mostly sunny skies it didn't chill.

Yum Chenmo, or great mother, watches over the Garden of 1,000 Bhuddas. (B.L. Azure photos)

The annual Peace Festival is the major undertaking of the Tibetan Buddhist community in western Montana. It is hoped the Garden of 1,000 Buddhas will become a major pilgrimage site once the garden is completed.

Once the garden is complete, the Dalai Lama - the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists - will come to give his blessings and officially open the garden to the public. The date of that visit depends on the completion of the garden and organizers hope that will be late next year.

The Peace Festival is one way to draw attention to the Garden of 1,000 Buddhas and to promote the peace among mankind.

"The festival's aim is to bring people together to dance, to move, to sing with the heart of one people," said Dr. Georgia Milan, one of the event organizers in an interview with the Missoulian. "If we can get it together, we can save all the other species on the planet, so this is our small way of making a difference on an international scale."

Each year a variety of speakers and performers participate in the event. This year part of the focus was on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Educator Julie Cajune assists the youngsters at the children's coloring and craft table at the Peace Festival. (B.L. Azure photo)

Tribal educator Julie Cajune and attorney Dan Decker as well as students, staff and faculty of Nk^wusm Salish Language Immersion School participated via presentations and performances.

Attorney Dan Decker told of the struggles of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes had trying to maintain their homeland and ways of life.

"One hundred and fifty-five years ago our great nation - the Flathead Nation - signed a treaty with the United States on a nation-to-nation basis. This area, the Jocko Valley, was to be a permanent tribal homeland of the Native people forever. That was the deal," Decker said. "In exchange for that, we (the Confederated Tribes) gave the United States 12 million acres of land or pretty much western Montana. The Hellgate Treaty was pretty much a land exchange document."

Attorney Dan Decker gave a presentation on the opening of the Flathead Indian Reservation to non-Indian homesteading at the Peace Festival. (B.L. Azure photo)

However, permanent didn't last long. In the early 1900s the U.S. government conducted a census of the tribal people on the Flathead Reservation. In 1904 the Flathead Allotment Act came into effect and parcels of land were allotted to individual Indians and the tribal government.

"The Allotment Act or Dawes Act was a governmental scheme that had a two-fold purpose. It was meant to civilize the savage and to make them an agrarian society," Decker said. "It was all under the control of the U.S. government. They wanted to make us more pleasant to live with."

Decker said the tribal people of the Flathead Reservation were quite content and self-sufficient prior to the allotting of reservation lands.

The Nk^wusm Salish Language Immersion School was selling dry meat as well as books, T-shirts and sweaters at the Bhuddist Peace Festival near Arlee. (B.L. Azure photo)

"The Native people here didn't want allotment," Decker said. "They wanted to continue to use the lands communally as they always had."

Once the land was all allotted out to individual Indians and the tribal government there was many thousands of acres of land un-allotted.

In 1910 the federal government declared the un-allotted lands as "surplus land" on the Flathead Indian Reservation and "opened" the reservation to non-Indian homesteading.

Before long more and more Indian-owned land came under the ownership of non-Indians, often by nefarious ways. The federal government also enacted the Flathead Lake Villa Front Act that eventually put much of the premium lake front property into the hands of non-Indians.

In 1934 the CSKT government came into being via the Indian Reorganization Act that, among other things, stopped the allotting of Indian-owned lands. By then the Tribes and tribal members owned only 400,000 of the original 1.2 million acres within the exterior boundaries of the Flathead Reservation.

People could make "prayer flags" at one of the many stands at the 6th annual Peace Festival. (B.L. Azure photo)

Decker said the CSKT are currently purchasing back as much non-Indian owned land as they can afford to with the goal of eventually owning all reservation lands again. The Tribes now own approximately 60-percent of Flathead Reservation lands.

"We are purchasing back what we once owned," Decker said.

The present situation on the reservation is what it is, Decker said and people should embrace the diverse nature of the populace. It is often non-Indians who move onto the reservation and don't like what they perceive as a tribal yoke. They, Decker said want to change things they don't like on the reservation. That has led to a lot of bad blood through the years. There has to be a better way.

Stephen Small Salmon and Tachini Pete sing a round dance song while hundreds of folks linked hands and danced. (B.L. Azure photo)

"We all have our own concept of peace. What I have learned through the years is that we need to be respectful of one another," Decker said. "We never force our way of life, our beliefs on anyone else but we have had other ways of life and beliefs forced upon us by the United States. I respect those who have their own ways of praying and acknowledging their spirituality. We share what we have here with others. All we ask is for people to be respectful. Be respectful of our beliefs and ways of life."

Decker said the aboriginal territory of the Tribes is caped in spiritual power. "Others have recognized the spiritual power of this place. That is why they came here," Decker said, alluding to the Tibetan Buddhist enclave on White Coyote Road, site of the Peace Festival. "Things have changed. Diversity came here with the homesteading. We have adapted. All we, as the Tribes ask is for you to be good neighbors. We are good neighbors who don't buy into that old adage about good fences making good neighbors. Peace comes when we respect one another but it doesn't stop there. Respect the power that is in the land, the trees, the water, the mountains and other forms of life."

Pend d'Oreille elder and Salish language teacher Pat Pierre discussed the mission of Nk^wusm: the salvation of the Salish language, the key component of understanding as well as preserving the history, culture and spiritual ways of the tribal people of the Flathead Reservation.

There will be 1,000 Buddha statuettes like these in the Garden of 1,000 Buddhas. (B.L. Azure photo)

"Everyone, love one another," Pierre told the crowd and encouraged all to look to the person next to them and introduce themselves to each other. "Don't make enemies make friends, live in harmony with the environment. Let happiness into your lives. Every day think of what you can do to make someone smile, what you can do to make others happy. Let's not have jealousy and envy. That is what hurts us all."

Pierre said that in order to live a long and happy life people must take care of the environment.

"Everything comes from the Mother Earth," Pierre said. "Let's work together to protect Mother Earth and she will continue to provide for us. And remember we must give back something for everything we take."