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Tibet Is My Country

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Tibet Is My Country TIBET IS MY COUNTRY The Autobiography of TIHUBTEN JIGME NORBU Brother of the Dalai Lama as told to HEINRICH HARRER Translated from the German by EDWARD FITZGERALD E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC. NEW YORK 1981 First published in the U.S.A., 1961, by E. P. Dutton 81 Co., Inc. English Translation copyright, 0, 1960 by E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc., New York, and Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd., London. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. FIRST EDITION (i No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast. First piiblished in Germany under the title of TIBET VERLORENE HEIMAT original edition 0, 1960 by Verlag Ullstein GmbH Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-5040 TO HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA IN RESPECT AND FRATERNAL LOVE The Tibetan Calendar 1927 Fire-Hare Year 1957 Fire-Bird Year 1928 Earth-Dragon Year 1958 Earth-Dog Year 1929 Earth-Snake Year 1959 Earth-Pig Year 1930 Iron-Horse Year 1960 Iron-Mouse Year 1931 Iron-Sheep Year 1961 Iron-Bull Year 1932 Water-Ape Year 1962 Water-Tiger Year 1933 Water-Bird Year 1963 Water-Hare Year 1934 Wood-Dog Year 1964 Wood-Dragon Year 1935 Wood-Pig Year 1965 Wood-Snake Year 1936 Fire-Mouse Year 1966 Fire-Horse Year 1937 Fire-Bull Year 1967 Fire-Sheep Year 1938 Earth-Tiger Year I 968 Earth-Ape Year 1939 Earth-Hare Year 1969 Earth-Bird Year I 940 Iron-Dragon Year I 970 Iron-Dog Year 1941 Iron-Snake Year I 97I Iron-Pig Year 1942 Water-Horse Year 1972 Water-Mouse Yeat 1943 Water-Sheep Year 1973 Water-Bull Year 1944 Wood-Ape Year 1974 Wood-Tiger Year 1945 Wood-Bird Year 1975 Wood-Hare Year 1946 Fire-Dog Year 1976 Fire-Dragon Year 1947 Fire-Pig Year 1977 Fire-Snake Year I 948 Earth-Mouse Year 1978 Earth-Horse Year 1949 Earth-Bull Year 1979 Earth-Sheep Year 1950 Iron-Tiger Year 1980 Iron-Ape Year 195I Iron-Hare Year I 98 I Iron-Bird Year 1952 Water-Dragon Year 1982 Water-Dog Year 1953 Water-Snake Year 1983 Water-Pig Year 1954 Wood-Horse Year 1984 Wood-Mouse Year 1955 Wood-Sheep Year 1985 Wood-Bull Year 1956 Fire-Ape Year 1986 Fire-Tiger Year The element which is the first part of the name of each year, counts as " male " the first time, and " female " the second. Thus I 960 is the " male" Iron-Mouse Year. Apart from these divisions into elements and animals there is also a cycle of sixty years. At the moment, according to the Ti- betan Calendar, we are living in the sixteenth cycle, which began in 1927 with the "female Fire-Hare year." Contents PREFACE BY HEINRICH HARRER I. MY HOME VILLAGE 2. AN ORDINARY DAY AT HOME 3. A HAPPY CHILDHOOD 4. I ENTER A MONASTERY 5. THREE MONTHS IN SHARTSONG 6. FIRST LESSONS 7. APPRENTICE YEARS IN KUMBUM 8. MY ACCEPTANCE BY THE TSOGCHEN 9. MY YOUNGEST BROTHER, THE DALAI LAMA 10. MY FAMILY MOVES TO LHASA 11. CARAVAN JOURNEY FROM KUMBUM TO LHASA 12. ARRIVAL IN LHASA 13. STUDIES IN DREBUNG MONASTERY 14. NEW YEAR'S FESTIVAL IN LHASA IS. DEATH OF MY FATHER 16. MY JOURNEY TO INDIA AND CHINA 17. ABBOT OF KUMBUM 18. ALTERNATE THREATS AND PROMISES 19. FAREWELL TO TIBET 20. TO AND FRO IN THE WORLD 21. THE PRICE OF LIBERTY Illustrations Heinrich Harrer and Thubten Jigme Norbu meet in Kitzbiihel in I959 frontispiece Young couple in Tibetan ceremonial dress. Both woman and girl wear characteristic and often quite costly necklaces facing page 48 It took this monk many months of plodding over the high plateaux of Tibet before he reached the holy places between pages 48 and 49 The mamcent colours (made from plant and animal dyes) on the rock murals of Buddha are kept constantly renewed by pious Tibetans who live from the alms given to them by pilgrims facing page 49 Norbu and his mother Dekyi Tsering I 12 Holy relics are preserved in such golden Chortens as this one, which is at the Western gate of the holy city of Lhasa 113 From Lhasa, which is already lying in the shade here, the eye sweeps over the turquoise bridge away to Mindrutsari, almost twenty thousand feet high. The ropes serve to fix the marquees which protect the houses from the heat of the sun and rain I44 Every day Tibetans pay honour to their gods with incense and prayer-flags, as they are doing here on a ridge of Chagpori, or the Iron Mountain. In the background is the Potala with its golden roofs, the Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama between pages 144 and 145 Entrance to the Norbu Lingka, the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. In 1959 many thousands of people gathered on the great square in order to prevent the Chinese from entering the Residence, thus giving their ruler the opportunity to flee to India fmacrngPage I45 ILLUSTRATIONS I I His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama with his mother facing page I 76 Kiindeling nestles in the mountains. It is one of the many monasteries in the neighbourhood of Lhasa between pages 176 and 177 In the centre Norbu's mother; on the left his elder sister Tsering Droma facing Page I77 The Potala, the Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama, rises steeply like a fortress above the city of Lhasa. Its fdgolden beauty is to be seen in the autumn 208 Many thousands of effigies of Buddha are carved in the rock and decorated with prayer-flags along the great caravan routes between pages 208 and 209 Thubten Jigme Norbu in everyday Tibetan clothing. His country lies beyond the snow-capped Himalayas in the distance facing page 209 Wherever the Dalai Lama appeared with his retinue on his flight in the winter of 1950-51 he was met by monks (wearing the typical yellow woollen hats) with prayer-flags and good-luck symbols 224 The monastery of Dungkhar lies in the Chumbi Valley near the border of India. In 195 I it served the Dalai Lama as a provisional residence during his flight. It was from here that he negotiated his return to Lhasa with the Chinese 225 On the occasion of the 2,500th anniversary of the birth of Buddha the Dalai Lama came to India to take part in the great celebra- tions. He is enthroned here under the "Tree of Knowledge" taking part in a religious ceremony 231 After his flight from Tibet the Fourteenth Dalai Lama found a temporary residence in Birla House in Mussoorie to the north of Delhi in the foothills of the Himalayas. This photograph was taken in the spring of 1960 232 Chronology 1919 Birth of Tsering Droma in Tengtser. 1922 Sixteenth Day of the Eighth Month: Birth of Thubten Jigme ' Norbu in Tengtser. 1928 Summer : Birth of Gyalo Dondrub in Tengtser. 1931 Second Month : Norbu leaves Tengtser for Shartsong Ritro. 193 I Eighth Day of the Fifth Month: Norbu leaves Shartsong Ritro for Kumbum. Eighth Month: Norbu becomes a monk in Kumbum 1932 Summer: Norbu's first trip to Chukhar Ritro. 1933 Spring: Lhagsam becomes Norbu's teacher. Fifteenth Day of the First Month: Tse~gDroma comes with her affianced, Piintso Trashi, and her parents to visit Norbu in Kumbum. Autumn : Birth of Lobsang Samten in Tengtser. December 17: Death of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in Lhasa, Tibetan date : Thirtieth 'Day of the Tenth Month. 1935 January: Norbu's trip to Ditsa Ritro. May: Norbu's trip to Shartsong Ritro. June 6 : Birth of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in Tengtser. 1936 Second Month: Ohon Yongdzin becomes Norbu's professor in logic. 1936 Spring: Norbu takes his first examination: admission to the general assembly of monks. Seventh Month: Norbu and a friend cheat at an examination. 1937 Fifteenth Day of the First Month: Lobsang Samten begins his life as a monk in Kumbum. Early Summer: Death of the Panchen Lama in Kantze. Late Summer: Arrival of the Official Commission from Lhasa in Kumbum to conduct the search for the new Dalai Lama. 1938 Autumn: Death of Norbu's first teacher, Piintso. 1938-39 Winter: Norbu's youngest brother, the Dalai Lama, comes to Kumbum. CHRONOLOGY 1 3 1939 Fifteenth Day of the First Month: Norbu takes part in the Butter-Lamp Celebration in Kumbum. Fifth Month: Norbu's parents leave for Lhasa with the Dalai Lama. 1940 Fifth Month: Tsering Droma and her husband Piintso Trashi leave for Lhasa. Seventh Month: Norbu sits for the examination of the first five classes. 1941 Fifth Month: Norbu leaves Kumbum for Lhasa. Summer: Norbu's younger sister Jetsiin Pema born in Lhasa. Ninth Month: Norbu's arrival in Lhasa. Eleventh Month : Norbu enters Drepung Monastery near Lhasa. 1943 Summer: Building of "Changtseshar," the palace of the Dalai Lama's parents in Lhasa. 1944 Autumn: Gyalo Dondrub and Piintso Trashi leave for India. India. 1945 Summer: Lobsang Samten joins Norbu in Drepung Monastery. 1946 First Month: Norbu's youngest brother Tenzing Chogyel, later to be Ngari Rimpoche, born in Lhasa. Seventh Month: Norbu sits for his Parchin examination in Drepung. 1947 First Day of the First Month: Death of Norbu's father in Lhasa. Summer: Dalai Lama visits the monasteries of Drepung and Sera. Autumn: Norbu leaves for India and China. 1948 Summer: Norbu returns to Kumbum.
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