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  • Flight of the Bön Monks

  • War, Persecution, and the Salvation of Tibet's Oldest Religion
  • By: Harvey Rice, Jackie Cole, Dalai Lama
  • Narrated by: Jez Sands
  • Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 rating)

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Flight of the Bön Monks

By: Harvey Rice, Jackie Cole, Dalai Lama
Narrated by: Jez Sands
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Publisher's Summary

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

• Introduces Bön, Tibet’s 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 Bön, one of the world’s oldest but least known religions, this book chronicles the true story of three Bön 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 Bön monk and completing a pilgrimage around 22,000-foot Mount Kailash, the holiest mountain in Tibet, Tenzin Namdak envisions a life of quiet contemplation at Menri, Bön’s mother monastery. Instead, he finds himself fleeing for his life across the highest and most difficult terrain on the planet.

After Tenzin’s escape party is ambushed and he is severely wounded, Tenzin is taken to a concentration camp, where he overcomes his nearly fatal wound before making an arduous escape from Tibet over the daunting Himalayas.

The other two monks, lifelong friends Samten Karmay and Sangye Tenzin, witness Tibet’s capital explode in a violent insurrection against Chinese rule. Escaping to Nepal, they worry about the survival of the Bön religion and begin collecting scattered works of Bön scripture. A chance meeting with British scholar David Snellgrove brings the three monks together and dramatically changes their lives. Tenzin founds a Bön settlement in exile in India, Sangye is chosen as the thirty-third Menri Trizen, Bön’s highest office, and together the three monks help rebuild the nearly extinct Bön religion. Aside from the escape of the Dalai Lama, no other escape from Tibet has been so consequential for so many.
©2024 Harvey Rice. All Rights Reserved. (P)2024 Inner Traditions Audio. All Rights Reserved.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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Fascinating and compelling

As a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner I came to this book seeking to learn more about Bön. This book confirmed for me that the same spirit of meditation, love and compassion animates the two religions.

The book also gave very detailed accounts of the Cultural Revolution and provided some information and perspectives which I hadn’t come across in other similar narratives.

People with an interest in any of these topics will enjoy this book.

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