Jamyang Wangmo, The Lawudo Lama: Stories of Reincarnation from the Mount Everest Region. Boston: Wisdom. 2004. Summary by Scarlett Bach Abstract The Lawudo Lama: Stories of Reincarnation from the Mount Everest Region captures the lives of two Lawudo Lamas: Kunzang Yeshe, born in approximately 1865, and his successor, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, born in 1946, both in the … [Read more...]
A Golden Swan in Turbulent Waters: The Life and Times of the Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje
Shamar Rinpoche. A Golden Swan in Turbulent Waters: The Life and Times of the Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje. Lexington, Virginia: Bird of Paradise Press, 2012 Summary by Mariah Johnson Abstract The biography of The Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje (1604 - 1674) titled A Golden Swan in Turbulent Waters: The Life and Times of the Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje (2012) by Shamar … [Read more...]
Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley
Monson, Elizabeth L. Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley. Shambhala Publications, 2021. Summary by Leif Wood Abstract The Tales of the Mad Yogi is the story of Drukpa Kunley (1455-1529), reconstructed by Elizabeth Monson from the four volumes of The Liberation Tales. The Liberation Tales are episodic, non-chronological, writings about … [Read more...]
Lion of Speech: The Life of Mipham Rinpoche
Khyentse, Dilgo, and Jamgon Mipham. Lion of Speech: The Life of Mipham Rinpoche. Shambhala Publications, 2020. Summary by Michael Deng Abstract Lion of Speech recounts the life of Mipham Rinpoche (1846–1912), one of the greatest 19th-century masters. It was written by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who taught many renowned Tibetan figures including the Dalai Lama. Dilgo … [Read more...]
The Life of One Merit Intellect, Summarized
D. L. Snellgrove. Four Lamas of Dolpo, Autobiographies of Four Tibetan Lamas (15th–18th Centuries). By Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1967. Summary by Michaela Sawyer Abstract MERIT INTELLECT (bSod-nams blo-gros) 1456-1521, Abbot of Margom (dMar-sgom). A biography constructed by Merit Intellect's favorite disciple and eventual successor Religious … [Read more...]
The Lives and Liberation of Princess Mandarava
Bsam gtan gling pa (b.1655). The Lives and Liberation of Princess Mandarava the Indian consort of Padmasambhava, Lama Chonam and Sangye Kandro (trans). Boston, Mass: Wisdom Publications, 1998. Summary by Jeffrey Khau Abstract The Lives and Liberation of Princess Mandarava recounts the different manifestations of Pandaravasini with a focus on the life of Mandarava, a … [Read more...]
The Life of My Teacher: A Biography of Ling Rinpoché
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama. The Life of My Teacher: A Biography of Kyabje Ling Rinpoché. Translated by Gavin Kilty, Wisdom Publications, 2017 [Tibetan text published 1989]. Summary by Jeffrey Khau Abstract Written by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, The Life of My Teacher: A Biography of Ling Rinpoché honors the memory and work of Kyabjé Ling Rinpoché … [Read more...]
Enlightened Vagabond: the Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche
Patrul Rinpoche 1808-1887: Ricard, Matthieu, Enlightened Vagabond: the Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche. Shambhala Publications: Boulder, Colorado, 2017. Summary by Darius Rubin Abstract Enlightened Vagabond is a biography of Patrul Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist monk who was given the name Orgyen Jikme Chokyi Wangpo. He lived from 1808 to 1887 and was a … [Read more...]
The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal
Nick Vaughan Abstract The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal: Autobiography of the Great Wisdom Queen is the secret autobiography of Yeshé Tsogyal, originally authored in the 8th century by one of Padmasambhava’s main disciples, Bendé Sangyé Yeshé, and subsequently concealed by Yeshé Tsogyal as an earth Treasure. This treasure text was revealed by Drimé Kunga in 1357 and … [Read more...]
Spiritual Biography of Marpa the Translator
Summary of the Spiritual Biography of Marpa the Translator India Wilson In 2000 Sri Satguru Publications published The Spiritual Biography of Marpa the Translator, providing an insightful English Language biography of one of the most influential figures in the Kagyu Lineage. Written by the 20th-century teacher, Thrangu Rinpoche (Geshe Lharampa), the biography … [Read more...]
Fearless in Tibet
The Biography of Tertön Sogyal Tertön Sogyal or Lerab Linpa was a treasure reveler, a tertön, who was born in the year of the Fire Dragon (1856) in Shiwa Village, in Nearing, Eastern Tibet. His family was descended from a financially secure lineage in upper Nyarong in Kham. Dargye, Sonam Gyalop’s father, encouraged his son to follow in the footsteps of the warrior chief … [Read more...]
Xue yu qiu fa ji (Seeking the Dharma in the Snow Land)
Review of Xue yu qiu fa ji by Xing Suzhi. Yiqiang Gong Abstract: Xue yu qiu fa ji (Seeking the Dharma in the Snow Land) is an autobiography based on the oral history of Xing Suzhi, whose Tibetan name is Blo bzang brtson 'grus. The book, only published in Chinese, mainly records Xing’s journey to and experience in Tibet from the 1930s to 1949. Xing was a Han Chinese born in … [Read more...]
The Magical Play of Illusion
Review of The Magical Play of Illusion Brittany Remark ABSTRACT: Trijang Rinpoche’s book The Magical Play of Illusion: The Autobiography of Trijang Rinpoche (skyabs rje khri byang rdo rje 'chang chen po'i gsung rnam 'khrul snang sgyu ma'i zlos gar) describes his life and his work as junior tutor to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. It covers the time from his birth in 1901 to 1975, … [Read more...]
My Youth In Tibet
Abstract and Review of My Youth In Tibet: Recollections of a Tibetan Woman Sevahn Vorperian Abstract My Youth in Tibet is a two-part narrative written by Tseyang Sadutshang, the niece of the 5th Reting Rinpoche (Thupten Jampel Yishey Gyantsen; Tupten Jampel Yeshe Gyentsen) during the first half of the 20th century. Part 1 is Tseyang’s autobiography of her childhood in … [Read more...]
Tseten Dolkar & Windsor, John. Girl From Tibet. Chicago: Octavo, 1971.
Girl From Tibet By Tseten Dolkar as told by John Windsor Avery Park Abstract Girl from Tibet is an autobiography narrated by Tseten Dolkar and written by John Windsor. The autobiography is of Tseten’s life, narrated when she was still in her twenties. She was born in Lhasa right around the time Communist China colonized the country. Her father, fortunately, had enough … [Read more...]
Pema, Jetsun. Tibet: My Story. Element Books, 1996.
Jack A. Waddell Abstract Tibet: My Story is the autobiography of Jetsun Pema (born July 7th, 1940), the sister of the 14th Dalai Lama and the President of the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV). Written at the age of fifty-six years-old, Jetsun Pema uses her autobiography not only to recount her life from her birth in Lhasa in 1940 to her 2006 retirement from … [Read more...]
Taklha, Namgyal Lhamo. Born in Lhasa: The Autobiography of Namgyal Lhamo Taklha. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2001.
Summary Tenzin Dudul Taklha Born In Lhasa is the autobiography of Namgyal Lhamo Taklha (rnam rgyal lha mo stag lha). Born in 1942, the author tells the story of her life through 2001. The book begins with the author recreating her life in Lhasa as the daughter of an aristocratic family before the Chinese occupation. She describes her education in India (pre-occupation) as … [Read more...]
Kleisath, C. Michelle, ed. Heavy Earth, Golden Sky: Tibetan Women Speak About Their Lives. Sherri’s Women’s Group USA, 2008.
Bilal Choudhry ABSTRACT Heavy Earth, Golden Sky provides a collection of autobiographies of ten women from the Kham and Amdo regions of Tibet. Compiled by C. Michelle Kleisath from students who either were attending or had already graduated from the English Training Program at Qinghai Normal University, these autobiographies give readers a brief look into a series of … [Read more...]
Keyzom, Tsering & Zevon, Sanford S. My Journey to Freedom: One Girl’s Survival Story. Scotts Valley, California: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012.
Sofia Riva Abstract My Journey to Freedom is the autobiography of Tsering Keyzom. Her story recounted through conversation sessions with Dr. Sanford S. Zevon at a local community college, begins in Amdo, a nomadic village in Tibet where she lived with her family, and ends in Westchester, New York way of Kathmandu, New Dehli, and Dharamsala. The language is simple and … [Read more...]
Losal Rinpoche, Yeshe. From a Mountain In Tibet: A Monk’s Journey. Penguin Life, 2021.
Hiroki Sato ABSTRACT: Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche (Jampal Drakpa) was born in Darak, Kham in 1943. He is the Abbot of Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre, as well as the director of the Holy Island Project in Scotland. His autobiography covers the twist and turns of his life, such as the Chinese invasion and his escape from Tibet, exile in India, purposeless life in … [Read more...]
Tsarong, Paljor. The Life and Times of George Tsarong of Tibet, 1920–1970: A Lord of the Traditional Tibetan State. Rowman & Littlefield, 2022.
The Life and Times of George Tsarong of Tibet, 1920-1970 Written by Paljor Tsarong (2022). Abstract Paljor Tsarong’s book “The Life and Times of George Tsarong of Tibet, 1920-1970” is a very recent addition to the writings on the history of twentieth century Tibet. The author portrays to us a detailed biographical account of his father Dundul Namgyal Tsarong (wylie: bdud … [Read more...]