An inside account of the Chinese invasion of Tibet told through the voices of three persecuted monks
2024 International Book Award Nonfiction - Creative Category
Shares the true story of three monks' heroic escape from occupied Tibet and the subsequent rebirth of the Boen religion in exile
Introduces Boen, Tibet's oldest religion, and a traditional way of life extinguished by foreign occupation
Reveals details of the 1950 Chinese invasion of Tibet and the exodus of thousands of Tibetans to neighboring countries
Providing an inside view into the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the tenets of Boen, one of the world's oldest but least known religions, this book chronicles the true story of three Boen monks who heroically escaped occupied Tibet and went on to rebuild their culture through incredible resilience, determination, and passion. After taking his vows to become a Boen monk and completing a pilgrimage around 22,000-foot Mount Kailash, the holiest mountain in Tibet, Tenzin Namdak envisions a life of quiet contemplation at Menri, Boen's mother monastery. Instead, he finds himself fleeing for his life across the highest and most difficult terrain on the planet.
After Tenzin's escape party is ambushed and he is severely wounded, Tenzin is taken to a concentration camp, where he overcomes his nearly fatal wound before making an arduous escape from Tibet over the daunting Himalayas.
The other two monks, lifelong friends Samten Karmay and Sangye Tenzin, witness Tibet's capital explode in a violent insurrection against Chinese rule. Escaping to Nepal, they worry about the survival of the Boen religion and begin collecting scattered works of Boen scripture. A chance meeting with British scholar David Snellgrove brings the three monks together and dramatically changes their lives. Tenzin founds a Boen settlement in exile in India, Sangye is chosen as the thirty-third Menri Trizen, Boen's highest office, and together the three monks help rebuild the nearly extinct Boen religion. Aside from the escape of the Dalai Lama, no other escape from Tibet has been so consequential for so many.
