PROFILES IN COURAGE: Day 11 – FEBRUARY 28TH

Bangri Tsamtrul Rinpoche
Age: 52
Monk; Community activist and co-founder of Gyatso orphanage

Bangri Tsamtrul Rinpoche was born in what is now Nangchen County, Kyegudo Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. In 1996, he and his wife Nyima Choedron founded Gyatso orphanage in Lhasa, designed to help some of the city’s most deprived children. At its peak, the orphanage was home to 60 children. The orphans were given education in Tibetan language, Chinese language, English language and mathematics. Bangri Rinpoche and Nyima Choedron ran the orphanage and were well respected by the Tibetan community for their service to the community.

In 1999, Tashi Tsering, a Tibetan worker involved in a construction project at the orphanage, was arrested for trying to raise a Tibetan flag and allegedly explode a bomb in the Potala Square during the National Minority Games in Lhasa in August.

Shortly after this incident, Chinese authorities arrested a large number of people connected to the orphanage. Bangri Rinpoche and Nyima Choedron were amongst those arrested and were charged with “attempting to split the country”. Twelve other Tibetans, including Bangri’s relatives, were also sentenced. The orphanage itself was declared an “illegal organisation” and the children, aged between two months and 12 years, were forced to leave.

At this time, Bangri Rinpoche’s life became nightmarish. Separated from his wife and newborn daughter, he was subjected to severe torture. For five days he was interrogated day and night. He was held handcuffed with one hand behind his shoulder and the other around his waist. His legs were fettered, he was hooded and forced to kneel on a low stool.

Under these intense and inhumane conditions, Bangri Rinpoche confessed to his alleged crime and was sentenced to life in prison, later commuted to a fixed term of 19 years, and then reduced by one year. Nyima Choedron was initially sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, later reduced to seven years. She was released in 2006.

Bangri Rinpoche is not due to be released until 2021.

There are parallels between the case of Bangri Rinpoche and that of revered Tibetan Buddhist teacher and community leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche (see Day ). Both are respected figures in their local communities, providing education, welfare and housing for those in need. Both cases appear to reflect an effort by the Chinese government to single out for severe punishment individual leaders  who are promoting and preserving Tibetan language, culture and religion.

But ultimately, both cases show the continued defiance and determination of Tibetans inside Tibet to empower future generations.

OUR NATION: EPISODE 14

Share this Video

It feels like last year all over again.

It feels like last year all over again.

News from Tibet says that there are protests here and there. All of us on the outside are scrambling to find out the details. We call Dharamsala, New York, London, Beijing, trying to work out what exactly happened. Once we piece together the story we take it to the world.

Again there are so few images. And so far, no moving images. No video. Nothing to show on TV.

But it is happening and everyone knows. We know. 6 million Tibetans and hundreds of thousands of Chinese police, soldiers and officials know.

Just like last year, and the year before that, and fifty years before that, there is a heroic battle raging at the highest point of the earth. It is a test of wills between a people with nothing but faith and a State without a soul.

I know the people will win. They always do when they have this kind of feeling.

Yesterday Tape may have killed himself. But it wasn’t suicide. It certainly wasn’t selfish. He did it for his people and his nation. But it’s still so sad. So very, very sad.

It kind of feels like last year all over again.

Except now everything is different.

Because this year there is No Losar, the beginning of a new movement.

Monk shot by police after self-immolating in Tibet

A Tibetan monk from Kirti monastery named Tape was shot by Chinese police in Tibet yesterday when he self-immolated at the crossroads of the main market in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) town. We don’t know if he’s alive or dead, but we assume he is dead. Reports indicate that hundreds of Tibetans have already gone to his home village to conduct prayers.

This is the first time that I have ever heard of a self-immolation protest in Tibet although it has happened in India a number of times. In 1998, a Tibetan man named Thupten Ngodup died after he self-immolated in New Delhi at the Tibetan Youth Congress organized hunger strike. It was an awful scene caught on tape that haunts every Tibetan who has seen it.

When the Indian police saw the Thupten Ngodup was on fire, they tried to save his life. When the Chinese police saw that Tape was on fire, they shot him.

Losar vigil in Tibet

On February 25th, the first day of the Tibetan New Year, around 100 monks in Mangra (eastern Tibet) held a candlelight vigil and protest march from Lutsang monastery to the local town center.

Following this daring protest, the monastery was surrounded by People’s Armed Police and reports now indicate at least 3 of the monks have been detained.

Despite overwhelming repression and a heavy Chinese military presence in Tibet, Tibetans continue to resist Chinese rule. The ‘No Losar’ movement is one of the most creative civil disobedience campaigns ever seen in Tibet. Despite the Chinese authorities’ best attempts to stop them, Tibetans right across the plateau canceled traditional Tibetan New Year celebrations and turned this normally festive time into a somber time of mourning for those killed and imprisoned since last year’s protests.