Escape from the land of snows : the young Dalai Lama's harrowing flight to freedom and the making of a spiritual hero

On the evening of March 17, 1959, as the people of Tibet braced for a violent power grab by Chinese occupiers—one that would forever wipe out any vestige of national sovereignty—the twenty-four-year-old Dalai Lama, Tibet’s political and spiritual leader, contemplated the impossible. The task before him was immense: to slip past a cordon of crack Chinese troops ringing his summer palace and, with an escort of 300, journey across the highest terrain in the world and over treacherous Himalayan passes to freedom—one step ahead of pursuing Chinese soldiers.Mao Zedung, China’s ruthless Communist dictator, had pinned his hopes for total Tibetan submission on controlling the impressionable Dalai Lama. So beloved was the young ruler—so identified with his country’s essence—that for him to escape might mean perpetual resistance from a population unwilling to tolerate an increasingly brutal occupation. The Dalai Lama’s minders sent word to the Tibetan rebels and CIA-trained guerrillas who waited on the route: His Holiness must escape—at all costs.In many ways, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was unprepared for the epic journey awaiting him. Twenty-two years earlier, government search parties, guided by prophecies and omens, had arrived at the boy’s humble peasant home and subjected the two-year-old to a series of tests. After being declared the reincarnation of Tibet’s previous ruler, the boy was brought to Lhasa to learn the secrets of Buddhism and the ways of ultimate power. Forced in the ensuing two decades to cope with aching loneliness and often stifling ritual—and compelled to suppress his mischievous personality—Gyatso eventually proved himself a capable leader. But no previous Dalai Lama had ever taken on a million Communist Chinese soldiers bent on stamping out Tibetan freedom.To keep his country’s dream of independence alive by means of a government in exile, the young ruler would not only have to brave battalions of enemy soldiers and the whiteout conditions waiting on the slopes of the Himalayas’ highest peaks, he’d have to overcome a different type of blindness: the na?vet? intrinsic to his sheltered palace life and his position as leader of a people who considered violence deeply taboo. His mind made up, the young Dalai Lama set off on his audacious journey to India while behind him a Chinese army rolled over Lhasa, its advance hunter patrols in fierce pursuit of the man they most coveted. The 14th’s escape was an act of daring and defiance that represented Tibet’s last hope, and so the world watched, transfixed, as the gentle monk’s journey unfolded. Emotionally powerful and irresistibly page-turning, Escape from the Land of Snows is simultaneously a portrait of the inhabitants of a spiritual nation forced to take up arms in defense of their ideals, and the saga of an initially childlike ruler who at first wore his monk’s robes uncomfortably but was ultimately transformed by his escape into the towering figure the world knows today—a charismatic champion of free thinking and universal compassion. On the evening of March 17, 1959, as the people of Tibet braced for a violent power grab by Chinese occupiersone that would forever wipe out any vestige of national sovereigntythe twenty-four-year-old Dalai Lama, Tibets political and spiritual leader, contemplated the impossible. The task before him was immense: to slip past a cordon of crack Chinese troops ringing his summer palace and, with an escort of 300, journey across the highest terrain in the world and over treacherous Himalayan passes to freedomone step ahead of pursuing Chinese soldiers. Mao Zedung, Chinas ruthless Communist dictator, had pinned his hopes for total Tibetan submission on controlling the impressionable Dalai Lama. So beloved was the young rulerso identified with his countrys essencethat for him to escape might mean perpetual resistance from a population unwilling to tolerate an increasingly brutal occupation. The Dalai Lamas minders sent word to the Tibetan rebels and CIA-trained guerrillas who waited on the route: His Holiness must escape at all costs. In many ways, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was unprepared for the epic journey awaiting him. Twenty-two years earlier, government search parties, guided by prophecies and omens, had arrived at the boys humble peasant home and subjected the two-year-old to a series of tests. After being declared the reincarnation of Tibets previous ruler, the boy was brought to Lhasa to learn the secrets of Buddhism and the ways of ultimate power. Forced in the ensuing two decades to cope with aching loneliness and often stifling ritualand compelled to suppress his mischievous personalityGyatso eventually proved himself a capable leader. But no previous Dalai Lama had ever taken on a million Communist Chinese soldiers bent on stamping out Tibetan freedom. To keep his countrys dream of independence alive by means of a government in exile, the young ruler would not only have to brave battalions of enemy soldiers and the whiteout conditions waiting on the slopes of the Himalayas highest peaks, hed have to overcome a different type of blindness: the navet intrinsic to his sheltered palace life and his position as leader of a people who considered violence deeply taboo. His mind made up, the young Dalai Lama set off on his audacious journey to India while behind him a Chinese army rolled over Lhasa, its advance hunter patrols in fierce pursuit of the man they most coveted. The 14ths escape was an act of daring and defiance that represented Tibets last hope, and so the world watched, transfixed, as the gentle monks journey unfolded. Emotionally powerful and irresistibly page-turning, Escape from the Land of Snows is simultaneously a portrait of the inhabitants of a spiritual nation forced to take up arms in defense of their ideals, and the saga of an initially childlike ruler who at first wore his monks robes uncomfortably but was ultimately transformed by his escape into the towering figure the world knows todaya charismatic champion of free thinking and universal compassion. Cover......Page 1 Other Books by This Author......Page 2 Title Page......Page 3 Copyright......Page 4 Dedication......Page 5 Epigraph......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Key Persons......Page 10 Map......Page 13 Introduction......Page 14 1. AN EXAMINATION OF RIORM EMORIES......Page 20 2. TO LHASA......Page 36 3. A CROSS THE GHOST RIVER......Page 54 4. EASTERN FIRES......Page 70 5. A RUMOR......Page 84 6. FOREIGN BROTHERS......Page 113 7. ACROSS THE KYICHU......Page 130 8. FLIGHT......Page 148 9. The Norbulingkha......Page 157 10. OPIM......Page 179 11. “GODLESS REDS VS . A L IVING GOD ”......Page 188 12. THE JOKHANG......Page 201 13. LHUNTSE DZONG......Page 218 14. IN TIBETAN PRISONS......Page 230 15. THE LAST BORDER......Page 239 16. MEETING A POET......Page 256 Epilogue......Page 277 Glossary......Page 294 Bibliography......Page 296 Notes......Page 301 Acknowledgments......Page 320 Documents The Dalai Lama's Flight From Tibet To India In 1959, Describing The Violent Uprising In Lhasa Between Tibetan Rebels And Chinese Occupiers And The Near-death Incidents That The Buddhist Spiritual Leader Endured. An Examination Of Prior Memories -- To Lhasa -- Across The Ghost River -- Eastern Fires -- A Rumor -- Foreign Brothers -- Across The Kyichu -- Flight -- The Norbulingka -- Opim -- Godless Reds Vs. A Living God -- The Jokhang -- Lhuntse Dzong -- In Tibetan Prisons -- The Last Border -- Meeting A Poet -- Bonfires. Stephan Talty. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 265-286) And Index.