Fire Under the Snow: Testimony of a Tibetan Prisoner
by Palden Gyatso, Tsering Shakya (Translator)
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Palden Gyatso was born in a Tibetan village in 1933 and became an ordained Buddhist monk eighteen years later. Through sheer determination, he won a place as a student at Drepung Monastery, one of Tibet's "Three Greats", where he came to spiritual and intellectual maturity. However, Tibet was enduring political changes that would soon alter his life irrevocably. When Communist China invaded Tibet in 1950, it embarked on a program of land reform and "thought reform" that would eventually show more affect all of Tibet's citizens and nearly decimate its ancient culture. In 1959, along with thousands of other monks, Palden Gyatso was forced into labor camps and prisons. He would spend the next thirty-three years of his life being tortured, interrogated, and persecuted simply for the strength of his beliefs, for being a monk. In 1992 Palden Gyatso was released from prison and escaped across the Himalayas to India, smuggling with him the instruments of his torture. Since then, he has devoted himself to revealingthe extent,of Chinese oppression in Tibet and the atrocities he endured. Palden Gyatso's story bears witness to the resilience of the human spirit and to the strength of Tibet's proud civilization, faced with cultural genocide. show lessTags
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Palden Gyatso was born in a Tibetan village in 1933 and became an ordained Buddhist monk at 18 — just as Tibet was in the midst of political upheaval. When Communist China invaded Tibet in 1950, it embarked on a program of “reform” that would eventually affect all of Tibet’s citizens and nearly decimate its ancient culture. In 1967, the Chinese destroyed monasteries across Tibet and forced thousands of monks into labor camps and prisons. Gyatso spent the next 25 years of his life enduring interrogation and torture simply for the strength of his beliefs. Palden Gyatso’s story bears witness to the resilience of the human spirit, and to the strength of Tibet’s proud civilization, faced with cultural show more genocide. show less
Palden Gyatso was born in a Tibetan village in 1933 and became an ordained Buddhist monk at 18 — just as Tibet was in the midst of political upheaval. When Communist China invaded Tibet in 1950, it embarked on a program of “reform” that would eventually affect all of Tibet’s citizens and nearly decimate its ancient culture. In 1967, the Chinese destroyed monasteries across Tibet and forced thousands of monks into labor camps and prisons. Gyatso spent the next 25 years of his life enduring interrogation and torture simply for the strength of his beliefs. Palden Gyatso’s story bears witness to the resilience of the human spirit, and to the strength of Tibet’s proud civilization, faced with cultural show more genocide. show less
This is essentially 'Night' from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective. This is a well-written and compelling look at the horrors of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Cultural Revolution, and one monk's ordeal. This book certainly helps give a face and a story behind the 'Free Tibet' movement. My only criticism is that it could benefit from a glossary in the back; it got a bit tough keeping track of the Tibetan words.
A great nonfiction story about Tibet during the early 1900s and the influence China had. A story of suffering and shock at what relatively peaceful people had to endure. Highly recommended.
A real eye opener. Brutal, tear-rending revelations of how one portion of humanity is treating another, told with a steady and enlightened perspective. A very valuable piece of biography that every public library would benefit from holding. Read this book and you will be an instant convert to the Tibetan cause. Don't be surprised if you want to pass it on to others as soon as you finish the last page.
A harrowing story of the suffering of the gentle Tibetan monks at the hands of their Chinese masters, and particularly the 31 years of brutal imprisonment of the author by the Chinese PLA. An "unputdownable" read.
The impact of this book was made more profound by the great honor of meeting the author in person at a college reading. It is incredible to imagine the terrible descriptions of torture happening to this gentle man.
difficult content - although he manages to leave Tibet there are many more monks still in prison
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Palden Gyatso was born in Panam, Tibet in 1933. At the age of 10, he became a monk at Gadong Monastery and completed his training at Drepung Monastery. In 1950, China took control of Tibet because they consider it a culturally distinct part of China. Gyatso protested Chinese control of his homeland and was imprisoned almost continuously from 1959 show more until his release and exile in 1992. While in prison, he endured starvation, hard labor, and torture. In 1995, he spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva and a human rights subcommittee of the House of Representatives in Washington. In 1997, he published a memoir written with Tsering Shakya. The memoir inspired a documentary film about Gyatso entitled Fire Under the Snow. He died from liver cancer on November 30, 2018 at the age of 85. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Fire Under the Snow: Testimony of a Tibetan Prisoner
- Original title
- Fire under the snow
- Alternate titles
- The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk
- Original publication date
- 1997
- People/Characters
- Palden Gyatso
- Important places
- Tibet; Drepung Monastery, Tibet; labor camps, China; Dharmsala, India
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- Members
- 309
- Popularity
- 103,424
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (3.95)
- Languages
- 10 — Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 23
- ASINs
- 4
