An inside account of the Chinese invasion of Tibet told through the
voices of three persecuted monks
- Shares the true story of three monks' heroic escape from occupied
Tibet and the subsequent rebirth of the Bon religion in exile
- Introduces Bon, 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 Bon, one of the world's oldest but least known religions, this
book chronicles the true story of three Bon 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 Bon monk and completing a pilgrimage
around 22,000-foot Mt. Kailash, the holiest mountain in Tibet, Tenzin
Namdak envisions a life of quiet contemplation at Menri, Bon's mother
monastery. Instead, he finds himself fleeing for his life across the
highest and most difficult terrain on the planet. After being joined by
a CIA-backed warlord, Tenzin's escape party is ambushed and he is
severely wounded. Narrowly escaping execution by Chinese soldiers, the
dying Tenzin is taken to a concentration camp, where he is afforded
special consideration because of his status as a monk. He overcomes his
nearly fatal wound and makes an arduous escape from Tibet over the
daunting Himalayas.
The other monks, life-long 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
Bon religion and begin collecting scattered works of Bon scripture. A
chance meeting with British scholar David Snellgrove brings the three
monks together again and dramatically changes their lives. Snellgrove
invites Sangye, Samten, and Tenzin to spend three years in London on a
Rockefeller Foundation grant. There, they hone their English and forge
influential relationships, enabling Tenzin to answer the pleas for help
from the Bon community by founding a settlement in exile in India.
Sangye is chosen as the 33rd Menri Trizen, Bon's highest office, and
together the three monks help rebuild the nearly extinct Bon religion.
Aside from the escape of the Dalai Lama, no other Tibetan escape has
been so consequential for so many.
