Jamyang Norbu's blog
Meet Tenzin Namsé — a 12-year-old Tibetan artist from San Francisco who has created something truly extraordinary. His comic book, MARCH TEN UPRISING, is a beautifully drawn, deeply researched 48-page adventure that brings an important piece of history to life. Kids everywhere will be captivated from the very first page. Don’t miss this remarkable debut …
McMindfullness & Traditional Buddhism JAMYANG NORBU In a promotional talk for his insightful book Why Buddhism is True, evolutionary psychologist and mindfulness meditator Robert Wright made a statement that perplexed me: “And by the way, most Buddhists in Asia don’t meditate; it’s a kind of Western stereotype. They don’t meditate, but they do believe in …
Resolving the Mystery of Herodotus’ Gold-Digging Ants Herodotus of Halicarnasis“Father of History” In the world’s oldest history book, if one may call it that, China does not receive mention, neither does Britain, but “Tibet did not escape the notice of the Father of History,” or so Charles Bell tells us. “Writing some two thousand four …
A month or so ago, Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was “exposed” by the New York Times for identifying as both “Black” and “Asian” on his Columbia University application form, much to the indignation of his opponents, Mayor Eric Adams et al. Most US official forms require racial and ethnic identification. This is perhaps done …
TIPA’s project in the 1980s to seek out, research and document authentic folk songs, dances, and other performing traditions of Tibet. By Jamyang Norbu In the summer of 1959, a small group of Tibetan musicians in Kalimpong were summoned to Mussoorie by the just established exile government. This group was instructed to organize a performing …
A Preliminary Overview of China’s Genocide Campaign in Tibet: 1950 to 2023 HIGH ASIA RESEARCH CENTER INTRODUCTION The International Commission of Jurists in Geneva (ICJ), in their report on Tibet of June 24, 1959, stated that there was prima facie evidence that Communist China had “…committed acts of genocide in Tibet, with the intention of …
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 …
Continue reading “Samdhong Rinpoche and the Subversion of the Tibetan Freedom Struggle”
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 …
Continue reading “Echoes From Forgotten Mountains (synopsis)”
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Transcending the Confines of Traditional Male-Dominated Society in Old Tibet”
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