December 22, 2022 | An old friend sent the above photograph of me and Samdhong Rinpoche having a spirited side discussion at the first Tibetan Youth Conference in October 1970. Perhaps he sent the photograph to remind me I had not written the second part of the essay I posted in 2019, where I recounted Samdhong Rinpoche’s bid for …

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Echoes From Forgotten Mountains (synopsis)

August 29, 2021

Jamyang Norbu has taken the stories of “forgotten” Tibetans: resistance fighters, secret agents, soldiers, peasants, lamas, aristocrats, merchants, women, officials, chieftains,  even street-beggars, and skillfully worked their myriad accounts into a single glorious “memory history” of the Tibetan struggle. He uses recollections from his own childhood to ease the reader into an immersive understanding of …

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A MOST SELF-INDULGENT COUP

January 17, 2021

Illustration: Craig Stephens, SCMP. When Trump held his infamous rally on the 6th of January and urged his supporters to “march to” (read “storm”) the US Capitol Building, and further called on them to “cheer on” (read “threaten”) US lawmakers to reverse the “stolen” election, I had a strange moment that I can only describe …

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Transcending the Confines of Traditional Male-Dominated Society in Old Tibet

December 31, 2020

Myself with an exciting new generation of Tibetan intellectuals at JNU, Delhi. Prof. Tashi Phuntsok-la sitting, front left. This rambling essay is based on a rambling talk I gave to Tibetan students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi on the 1st of April 2019. I had been invited to speak at the Dawa …

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Introduction to 𝑨𝑵𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬, a novel by Tsering Wangyal aka “Editor-la”

November 28, 2020

Tsering Wangyal at a March 10 rally, 1979, Chanakyapuri. Image@High Asia  We got off on the wrong foot. I met Tsering Wangyal-la in 1968 when I was working at the Bureau of H.H. the Dalai Lama at Delhi. Three junior officials had come down from Dharamshala to fly to Britain for further studies. In my …

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The Buddha’s Discourse on Defending Democracy

October 28, 2020

The Death (parinirvana) of the Buddha, c.AD 20. Grey schist from ancient Gandhara. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. At a time when many democracies are being undermined at home by corrupt politicians or threatened externally by would-be totalitarian regimes, perhaps a discourse the Buddha gave before his great passing, his mahaparinirvana, might provide an …

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