Paljor Thondup - Undefeated

PUBLISHED BY

TIBET HOUSE US

22 West 15th Street

New York, NY 10011

www.tibethouse.us

Copyright 2020 by Paljor Thondup

All rights reserved.

No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without written permission from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 1 2 3 4 5

ISBN 978-1-941312-10-0 (paper)

ISBN 978-1-941312-11-7 (e-book)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

NAMES: Thondup, Paljor, 1949 author. | Brown, Susan Sutliff, 1946 | Preston, Douglas J., writer of introduction.

TITLE: Undefeated: confessions of a Tibetan warrior / Paljor Thondup, with Susan Sutliff Brown; introduction by Douglas Preston.

OTHER TITLES: Confessions of a Tibetan warrior

DES CRIPTION: New York, NY: Tibet House US, [2020] | Summary: A personal memoir by Paljor Thondup, a native-born Khampa-an inhabitant of Kham, a large southeastern region of Tibet; an account of his childhood and youth shared with his friend Dupa, and the journey they and their two families take across the east-west length of Tibet, while engaging in combat as guerrilla fighters against occupying Chinese forces in the late 50s and early 60s, and their escape to the west, ultimately to Nepal. The latter part of the book deals with the growth of the two friends into businessmen in Nepal and then founders of a cultural center for Tibetans (Project Tibet) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where their efforts are appreciated and blessed by a visit from the Dalai Lama. The two old friends return to Tibet to revisit their birthplace and bring in funding for Tibet-language schools for young Tibetans-now second-class citizens under the Chinese-before the occupation government discovers their activities and expels them from Tibet. Provided by publisher.

IDENTIFIERS: LCCN 2020022366 (print) | LCCN 2020022367 (ebook) | ISBN 9781941312100 (paperback) | ISBN 9781941312117 (ebook)

SUBJECTS: LCSH: Thondup, Paljor, 1949 | ExilesChinaKham (Region)Biography. | Tibet Autonomous Region (China)History1951 | Tibet Autonomous Region (China)HistoryUprising of 1959Personal narratives, Tibetan. | ExilesNepalBiography. | Khampa (Tibetan people)Biography. | Kham (China: Region)Biography.

CLASSIFICATION: LCC DS786 .T484 2020 (print) | LCC DS786 (ebook) | DDC 951.05/5 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022366

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022367

PRESIDENT: Robert A.F. Thurman

PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR: Thomas F. Yarnall

MANUSCRIPT EDITOR: Susan Sutliff Brown

COPY + PHOTO EDITOR: William Meyers

CARTOGRAPHER: Tsering Wangyal Shawa

COVER PHOTOS: Paljor Thondup

COVER + BOOK DESIGNER: Vin Dang

WE ARE HONORED TO PRESENT this memoir of a genuine Tibetan hero, a warrior for freedom and justice, who fought bravely from youth, and then ultimately rose to the supreme challenge and conquered the inner enemy of bitterness and hatred.

The Tibetan freedom fighter movement was founded in the 1950s primarily by the Eastern Tibetan cowboys or yak-boys from Kham and Amdo, where the brunt of the Chinese communist invasion and the devastation of Tibet was first experienced. Their first gathering was organized under the pretext of gathering resources to create a golden throne to offer to their beloved leader, the 22-year-old Dalai Lama. In spite of their valiant resistance to the Chinese takeover, the world thinks they lost, and has put the movement for a free Tibet in the lost cause category.

But the heart of the Tibetan battle for freedom is not the usual kill our enemy militarism program that all nations now use to destroy the planet. The golden throne is now seen as a museum piece in occupied Tibet, but it also towers majestically over the world, radiating from the roof of the world to all peoples who are suffering under internal and external violence. The Dalai Lama is a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and dwells somewhere in everyones mind as a personification of hope that we can all awaken from the self-destructive chaos induced by the industrializing of greed and hatred into unsustainable consumerism and militarism.

For decades, the Tibetan freedom fighters like Paljor Thondup bravely battled against overwhelming odds, and finally lost that external battle. The Dalai Lama urged them all along to wage an internal battle of the mind, sharing his own practice of Shantidevas great teaching: Defeating the inner enemy of hatred is the real victory; there is no such victory in killing outer enemies, who just leave their corpses, get reborn, and come back at you in the endless cycle. As the great Shantideva wrote:

Those who rise above all sufferings and conquer real enemies such as hatred

They are the truly victorious warriors! The rest just slaughter corpses.

Welcome to this fascinating history of heroic courage in battles, both outer and inner! You will discover the brave heart of Tibetone that, no matter what, remains undefeated.

ROBERT A.F. THURMAN

PRESIDENT, TIBET HOUSE US

THE STORY OF PALJOR THONDUPS LIFE, related in this book, is one of the most remarkable human stories I have ever encountered. The arc of his life, from an idyllic but rough childhood in the Himalaya mountains to Santa Fe, New Mexico, is immense in its sweep of history and geography, and especially in the human story it tells. The journey from revenge and hatred for unspeakable crimes to forgiveness through the compassion and loving kindness of the Dalai Lama is one of the greatest stories ever told.

I first met Paljor in the mid-eighties, after I quit my job as an editor at the American Museum of Natural History, left New York, and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to try to make it as a freelance writer. Paljor was the founder and leader of a small group of Tibetan exiles who lived in a picturesque compound on Canyon Road, where he ran an organization called Project Tibet. It supported the small expatriate Tibetan community, organized religious ceremonies from time to time, and also ran a business selling Tibetan rugs, jewelry, and religious items. The Tibetans had settled in Santa Fe because its mountains, adobe buildings, and high-altitude environment reminded them of home.

It was through Paljor that my own life was changed. It began when His Holiness the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize, and was planning a tour of the United States. Because of Paljors previous relationship with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama agreed to come to New Mexico to meet with the Tibetan community, Indian leaders, and New Mexicans, as well as to teach and lecture for a week. At the time, he wasnt quite the international celebrity he is today. He traveled with only a few monks and Tibetan bodyguards, few of whom spoke English. He had no handlers, advance people, press secretary, or travel coordinators. As the date of the visit approached, Paljor asked a young man named James Rutherford, who ran the governors art gallery in the state capitol building, to help plan the visit. Rutherford had a rare gift for persuasion and organization, he had good political contacts, and he knew how to get things done.

One of the most serious challenges was security. The Chinese were enraged over the Nobel Prize, calling it preposterous, and they issued a furious diplomatic protest when the U.S. granted him a visa for the visit. There was a concern that the over-the-top Chinese rhetoric might inspire some freelancing fellow traveler to take a potshot at the Dalai Lama. Another problem was how to manage the local press, which was clamoring for access to the Dalai Lama. A final problem was the cost of the visit.