Tibet Is My Country: Autobiography of Thubten Jigme Norbu, Brother of the Dalai Lama as Told to Heinrich Harrer

281 Pages·1961·12.464 MB·English

by  Thubten Jigme Norbu, Harrer, Heinrich

T I B E T
IS MY COUNTRY
The Autobiography of
T I H U B T E N J I G M E N O R B U
Brother of the Dalai Lama
as told to
HEINRICH HARRER
Translated from the German by
E D W A R D F I T Z G E R A L D
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.
F I R S T 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 fmacrnPgag e 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 f d g olden 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