Flight of the Bon Monks: War, Persecution, and the Salvation of Tibet's Oldest Religion

(Paperback)

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An inside account of the Chinese invasion of Tibet told through the voices of three persecuted monks

Shares the true story of three monks heroic escape from occupied Tibet and the subsequent rebirth of the Bon religion in exile

Introduces Bon, Tibets oldest religion, and a traditional way of life extinguished by foreign occupation

Reveals details of the 1950 Chinese invasion of Tibet and the exodus of thousands of Tibetans to neighboring countries

Providing an inside view into the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the tenets of Bon, one of the worlds oldest but least known religions, this book chronicles the true story of three Bon monks who heroically escaped occupied Tibet and went on to rebuild their culture through incredible resilience, determination, and passion.

After taking his vows to become a Bon monk and completing a pilgrimage around 22,000-foot Mt. Kailash, the holiest mountain in Tibet, Tenzin Namdak envisions a life of quiet contemplation at Menri, Bons mother monastery. Instead, he finds himself fleeing for his life across the highest and most difficult terrain on the planet. After being joined by a CIA-backed warlord, Tenzins escape party is ambushed and he is severely wounded. Narrowly escaping execution by Chinese soldiers, the dying Tenzin is taken to a concentration camp, where he is afforded special consideration because of his status as a monk. He overcomes his nearly fatal wound and makes an arduous escape from Tibet over the daunting Himalayas.

The other monks, life-long friends Samten Karmay and Sangye Tenzin, witness Tibets capital explode in a violent insurrection against Chinese rule. Escaping to Nepal, they worry about the survival of the Bon religion and begin collecting scattered works of Bon scripture. A chance meeting with British scholar David Snellgrove brings the three monks together again and dramatically changes their lives. Snellgrove invites Sangye, Samten, and Tenzin to spend three years in London on a Rockefeller Foundation grant. There, they hone their English and forge influential relationships, enabling Tenzin to answer the pleas for help from the Bon community by founding a settlement in exile in India. Sangye is chosen as the 33rd Menri Trizen, Bons highest office, and together the three monks help rebuild the nearly extinct Bon religion.

Aside from the escape of the Dalai Lama, no other Tibetan escape has been so consequential for so many.

Author Bio

The authors, Harvey Rice and Jackie Cole, are a husband-and-wife team. Rice spent 18 years as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Cole has studied Bon for over two decades and has many contacts in the worldwide Bon community. The authors live in Galveston, Texas.