The Invasion

Monstrous houses have popped out of the tiny wooded hill like large abscesses on a head. The tiny path has become a detour for people going to avoid throng of vehicles and their reckless drivers on the main road.

It’s Heart Attack, Not Green Nail Polish

China’s political system is a darkroom, where we are often left to speculate on all crucial issues. Event concerning Xi Jingping, who has gone off the radar for the past days, has left the China scholars, experts and professional commentators to think over hundreds of possible reasons. Last week, Xi cancelled meetings with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong. On 9 September, he failed to show up at a meeting with the Danish prime minister.

YAK HORNS

'Bhuchung D. Sonam articulates the voice of a new generation of Tibetans in exile – voiceless and stateless – longing for a space to call home. He eloquently describes the hopes and aspirations of young Tibetans. He is perhaps one of the very best spokespeople
for the youth of his generation.'
Tsering Shakya, author of Dragon in the Land of Snow


Backcover:
Tibet has been written about, commented on and described by travellers, ‘experts’ and scholars for centuries – each presenting their own version of reality. This title brings together a collection of essays on contemporary Tibetan arts and social issues, expressed through the eyes of a Tibetan writer
in exile who experienced and lived through
many of the events narrated here. 

YAK HORNS
Notes on Contemporary Tibetan Writing, Music, Film and Politics

Monsoon Reading List

Here are six books that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and also made me think, act and frame myself differently. Hope that you will enjoy them during the monsoon as you spend more time indoor hiding from the rain.

TIBET: A History by Sam Vam Schaik, a scholar on  ancient Tibetan history and Buddhism, is a narrative history of Tibet. This is an easy-to-read, balanced and detailed history of Tibet starting from around seventh century to the present.  

Volumes have been written on Mao, but this one by Jonathan Spence, arguably the finest historian on China, is  a balanced book grounded on up-to-date research.

The Joys and Sorrows of Nagtsang Boy is  an epic title about China's occupation of Tibet and its Great Leap Forward, a mammoth failed campaign and their impact on Tibet. Told through the eyes of eight-year-old Nulo, this is arguably the finest first-hand Tibetan testimony that can stand up to any of China's best 'scar literature'.

Ju Kalsang's poetry collection གངས་གྲོང་གི་རླུང་བུ། was published under 21st Century Tibetan Writers Series. This is a gem of a collection with of range his poetry written from 1980s to the present. 

At a time when the line between propaganda and advertisement blurs with both throwing super-saturated photographs before our eyes, we need new dreams, new visions and new concept. Ben Ogri's A Time for New Dreams shows us ways to think afresh and anew boldly.

'No doubt you will ask - / Hold on - but hold on to what?' .... asks Lhasang Tsering in his new collection of poetry. He answers the question for you 'Well, you can hold on to yourself; / You can hold on to your goals and your purpose / You can hold on to what you believe...'

That's all for the moment. If you find interesting titles that you think others should read, please let me know so that I can share them here.

Enjoy monsoon! Enjoy reading!

Last Words of Tamding Thar

These were the last words of Tamding Thar:


''བླ་མ་ཡི་དམ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ།
འཛམ་གླིང་ལ་ཞི་བདེ་ཡོང་བའི་རེ་བ་དང་།
 ༸རྒྱལ་དབང་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་རང་ཡུལ་དུ་ཕེབས་པའི་རེ་འདུན།

བོད་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ཀྱིས་རང་ས་ཟིན་པའི་དོན་དུ་རང་ལུས་མེ་མཆོད་དུ་འབུལ་རྒྱུ་ཡིན།”

'I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

I am setting myself on fire as an offering of light

with hope that His Holiness the Dalai will return to Tibet,

that peace will prevail on earth and that

Tibet will be ruled by Tibetans.'

On 16 June 2012, Tamding Thar, an elderly Tibetan in his 50s, set himself on fire in front of Chinese People's Armed Police office in Chentsa, Amdo, Northeastern Tibet, to protest against China's rule over Tibet. Since 2009 as many as 40 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to demand freedom in Tibet, the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama  and to end communist rule in Tibet.

Lang Dharma told me

"I was his brother, Ralpachen's brother

Born of the same flesh and blood.

He who is one of the Three Great Dharma Kings,

He who followed what the other two believed

He who spread what the other two brought in.

And I, his brother, had a different view.

I believed in what we had,

A set of philosophy born out of our land

A set of tenet as good, if not better.

And I loved my country, oh I did.

I was as human as anyone in our land

I was smart as any of the Dharma Kings

I had no horns poking from my head

I had no tail hanging from behind.

But he killed me with a shot of an arrow

That monk called Lhalung Paldor

Who wore long black robes

Who rode a mighty black stallion

Who came in a flash of light

Who ran away across the river

Who turned white after crossing.

He now adorns your history books.

And I became the infidel, enemy of the dharma,

Misjudged by history as the misfit king.

But I loved my country, oh I did.

I wasn't as bad as your history books say

But that fratricidal maniac monk killed me.

For what?

The history has answered --

One hundred years of chaos

A fragmented nation

The end of the warrior's bloodline.

My dream for tomorrow was erased.

My vision for the future mismanaged.

My name debased to a condescending metaphor.

I watched all these happened from where I am now.

And I am tired of endless blunders

That rape and wreck the people I love.

But I can tell you one thing for sure --

I was the last king of Tibet.

I was killed in 842.

The king is dead.

There are no more kings.

You are all tsampa-eaters of equal standing."