Jamyang Norbu | |
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| Born | 1949 |
| Known for | Activist for Tibetan independence |
| Spouse | Tenzing Chounzom |
| Children | 2 |
Jamyang Norbu (Tibetan : འཇམ་དབྱངས་ནོར་བུ་, Wylie : ‘jam-dbyangs nor-bu) is a Tibetan political activist and writer, currently living in the United States, having previously lived for over 40 years as a Tibetan exile in India.
![Rakra Tethong Rinpoche [fr], Jamyang Norbu and his mother on the roof of Tethong house in Banakshol 1950 Rakra Rimpoche, Jamyang Norbu and his mother on the roof of Tethong house in Banakshol 1950.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Rakra_Rimpoche%2C_Jamyang_Norbu_and_his_mother_on_the_roof_of_Tethong_house_in_Banakshol_1950.jpg/262px-Rakra_Rimpoche%2C_Jamyang_Norbu_and_his_mother_on_the_roof_of_Tethong_house_in_Banakshol_1950.jpg)
Norbu attended St. Joseph's School in Darjeeling, India. [1] As a teenager, he dropped out of school [2] and ran away from home to join the Tibetan guerrilla group Chushi Gangdruk, which operated from Mustang in Nepal. [3]
He is the creator of the ubiquitous Rangtsen Lakdheb or ‘Independence Handbook’ (Tibetan : རང་བཙན་ལག་དེབ་, Wylie : rang-btsan-lag-deb) carried by most Tibetans in-exile. Also commonly referred to as the Green Book, it has been a long-standing and critical source of funding since its 1972 inception for the Tibetan government in-exile to pay for staffing, maintenance, setting up scholarships for Tibetans, and a myriad of other services. Prior to the Green Book, the government in-exile mainly got its money through a small grant from the Dalai Lama. [4] The main purpose of the Green Book is to allow Tibetans to take the role of legal citizen and willingly submit taxes to the in-exile Tibetan government on a regular basis, legitimizing it as the true authority of the Tibetan people, completely independent from the Chinese government. [5] [6] More importantly, it is the basis for which citizenship is to be given should Tibet attain independence in the near future, [7] hence earning the name ‘Independence Handbook’. Contrary to the belief of a small minority, the controversial Samdhong had no part in the creation of the Green Book and has instead always been one of the most vocal critics against any support of independence, notoriously declaring that pro-independence Tibetans pose a greater danger than either Dorje Shugden worshippers or the Chinese government. [8] Even by 1991 when he entered the Tibetan parliament, Samdhong has still never possessed the required Green Book that had been around since 1972. [9] Jamyang Norbu was even responsible for his Green Book’s more subtle features in order to facilitate the message of Tibet’s independence, such as giving it passport-size dimensions and a passport-like design, as per other independent countries. The use of official seals to acknowledge paid fees was also his idea, as well as to have the color in green to honor the 14th Dalai Lama (whose favorite color has always been green). [10] [11]
Later he founded and directed the Amnye Machen Institute, Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies, in Dharamsala. [12]
Jamyang Norbu has been called a "radical Tibetan separatist" by the People's Daily. [13] His advocacy for complete Tibetan independence and criticism of the "Middle Way" autonomy plan of the Central Tibetan Administration has led him to push for more "confrontational" methods. [2]
Jamyang Norbu is also critical of the role of religion in the Tibetan exile community, [14] and of its Western benefactors who, he argues, see Tibetans one-dimensionally. [15] He calls the "New Age perception of Tibet... that this even materialist west will be saved by the spiritualism of the Tibetan Buddhists" "total nonsense." [16] He said of a scene from the American film Seven Years in Tibet where Tibetan monks rescue earthworms from a construction site, that Tibetan viewers would find it ridiculous. [17] In a 2005 article for the New Humanist , he recalled an outbreak of rabies in 1983 Dharamsala: when he advocated that a Tibetan woman get a rabies shot instead of seeing a shaman, he was shunned in the community as a "non-believer." He lamented, "We are frankly, a people still in thrall to ignorance and superstition, which far from declining with the years seems to be gaining new life and impetus with foreign sponsorship and encouragement." [14]
Norbu has written several books and theater pieces in English and in Tibetan. Illusion and Reality, a collection of his political essays, was published in 1989. [12] In 2000 he received the Hutch Crossword Book Award for The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes . The book was published in the U.S. in 2001, first under the title Sherlock Holmes - The Missing Years, and fills in the gap in 1891 when Arthur Conan Doyle temporarily killed off Holmes. In the book, Holmes joins Huree Chunder Mookerjee, another fictional spy who last worked for the English in Rudyard Kipling's Kim . [18] [19]
He has written many book reviews, including that of Professor Grunfeld. [20]
In 2011, he participated in the International Writing Program (IWP) Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. [21]
The Tibetan independence movement is the political movement advocating for the reversal of the 1950 annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, and the separation and independence of Greater Tibet from China.
The flag of Tibet, also known as the "Snow Lion flag", depicts a white snow-covered mountain, a yellow sun with red and blue rays emanating from it, two Tibetan snow lions, a multi-coloured jewel representing Buddhist values, a taijitu and a yellow border around three of its four sides. The flag was used as the national flag of the independent country of Tibet from 1916 until 1951, when Tibet was annexed by the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1916 and used in Tibet until the Tibetan uprising of 1959, after which the flag was outlawed in the People's Republic of China. While the Tibetan flag is illegal in Tibet today as it is governed by the PRC as the Tibet Autonomous Region, it continues to be used by the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala in India, and by pro-Tibet groups all over the world to show support for human rights in Tibet and Tibetan independence.
This is a list of topics related to Tibet.
The history of Tibet from 1950 to the present includes the Chinese annexation of Tibet, during which Tibetan representatives signed the controversial Seventeen Point Agreement following the Battle of Chamdo and establishing an autonomous administration led by the 14th Dalai Lama under Chinese sovereignty. Subsequent socialist reforms and other unpopular policies of the Chinese Communist Party led to armed uprisings, eventually assisted by the CIA, and their violent suppression. During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped to northern India for fear of being captured by Chinese forces. He formed the Central Tibetan Administration and rescinded the Seventeen Point Agreement. In 1965, the majority of Tibet's land mass, including all of U-Tsang and parts of Kham and Amdo, was established as the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans suffered along with the rest of China during the Great Chinese Famine and the Cultural Revolution under episodes of starvation, religious repression, destruction of cultural sites, forced labour, and political persecution. US-China rapprochement in the 1970s saw an end to Washington's support for Tibetan guerillas. Amid broader reforms across the country, China adopted policies to improve conditions in Tibet. Since the 2000s, it has invested heavily in the region but generated controversies due to the sinicization of Tibet. Human rights abuses remain a concern especially where it comes to freedom of religion and political prisoners.
Thubten Jigme Norbu, recognised as the Taktser Rinpoche, was a Tibetan lama, writer, civil rights activist and professor of Tibetan studies and was the eldest brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. He was one of the first high-profile Tibetans to go into exile and was the first to settle in the United States.
Kumbum Monastery, also called Ta'er Temple, is a Tibetan gompa in Lusar, Huangzhong County, Xining, Qinghai, China. It was founded in 1583 in a narrow valley close to the village of Lusar in the historical Tibetan region of Amdo. Its superior monastery is Drepung Monastery, immediately to the west of Lhasa. It is ranked in importance as second only to Lhasa.
Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was a Tibetan senior official who assumed various military and political responsibilities both before and after 1951 in Tibet. He is often known simply as Ngapo in English sources.
The national anthem of Tibet, commonly referred to as "Gyallu", is a Tibetan patriotic song which serves as the de facto anthem of the Central Tibetan Administration.
The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) was founded by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama on reaching McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India in exile from Tibet in August 1959. It was then called Tibetan Music, Dance and Drama Society, which was one of the first institutes set up by the Dalai Lama, and was established to preserve Tibetan artistic heritage, especially opera, dance, and music.
The 1959 Tibetan uprising began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the Seventeen Point Agreement was reached in 1951. The initial uprising occurred amid general Chinese-Tibetan tensions and a context of confusion, because Tibetan protesters feared that the Chinese government might arrest the 14th Dalai Lama. The protests were also fueled by anti-Chinese sentiment and separatism. At first, the uprising mostly consisted of peaceful protests, but clashes quickly erupted and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) eventually used force to quell the protests. Some of the protesters had captured arms. The last stages of the uprising included heavy fighting, with high civilian and military losses. The 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Lhasa, while the city was fully retaken by Chinese security forces on 23 March 1959. Thousands of Tibetans were killed during the 1959 uprising, but the exact number of deaths is disputed.
Tempa Tsering.
The serfdom in Tibet controversy is a prolonged public disagreement over the extent and nature of serfdom in Tibet prior to the annexation of Tibet into the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1951. The debate is political in nature, with some arguing that the ultimate goal on the Chinese side is to legitimize Chinese control of the territory now known as the Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, and others arguing that the ultimate goal on the Western side is to weaken or undermine the Chinese state. The argument is that Tibetan culture, government, and society were feudal in nature prior to the PRC takeover of Tibet and that this only changed due to PRC policy in the region. The pro-Tibetan independence movement argument is that this is a misrepresentation of history created as a political tool in order to justify the Sinicization of Tibet.
The Kashag was the governing council of Tibet during the rule of the Qing dynasty and post-Qing period until the 1950s. It was created in 1721, and set by Qianlong Emperor in 1751 for the Ganden Phodrang in the 13-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet. In that year the Tibetan government was reorganized after the riots in Lhasa of the previous year. The civil administration was represented by the Council (Kashag) after the post of Desi was abolished by the Qing imperial court. The Qing imperial court wanted the 7th Dalai Lama to hold both religious and administrative rule, while strengthening the position of the High Commissioners.
Serfs' Emancipation Day, observed annually on 28 March, is a holiday in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China that celebrates the emancipation of serfs in Tibet. The holiday was adopted by the Tibetan legislature on 19 January 2009 and it was promulgated that same year. In modern Tibetan history, the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai declared the dissolution of the Tibetan government on 28 March 1959 and he replaced it with the temporary Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region (PCTAR), with the Panchen Lama also replacing the Dalai Lama as its acting chairman.
Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari Rinpoche, Kasur Lodi Gyari or "as he is universally known to the Tibetan-speaking world, Gyari Rinpoche" was a Tibetan politician, and journalist who served as the 14th Dalai Lama's special envoy to the United States. Exiled to India in 1959, he was also the executive chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet.
Human rights in Tibet has been a subject of intense international scrutiny and debate, particularly since the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. Before the 1950s, Tibet's social structure was marked by inequality and described as a caste-like system or, controversially, as serfdom. Severe punishments, including permanent mutilations of body parts, were common, although capital punishment was banned in 1913. Muslim warlord Ma Bufang caused widespread destruction and deaths in Amdo which is northeast of Central Tibet.
The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Jamyang Norbu, originally published in India in 1999.
Tashi Tsering also called Tashi Tsering Josayma; born in 1960, is a Tibetan tibetologist, historian and writer.
Lhasang Tsering is a Tibetan poet, writer, and activist. He was President of the Tibetan Youth Congress and a founding director of Amnye Machen Institute in Dharamshala, India. He is a vociferous and ardent advocate of Tibet's independence and a passionate lover of literature.
Tibetan Review is a Tibetan monthly journal and news website published in English, based in Delhi, India. It was first published in Darjeeling, West Bengal in April 1967 by Lodi Gyari. It is well known for its open and vibrant democratic forum for the discussion of the Tibetan problem and other related governmental and social issues on Tibet.
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