Ven.Palden Gyatso-Background and 2000 USA/Canada Tour
In my Feb.1 article, I mention Ven. Palden Gyatso and post a picture of him--repeated here--posed with this correspondent. The picture was taken at his home which is a second-floor apartment near Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India. Palden Gyatso's story and current USA-Canada speaking tour serves as the May column. This is not about Buddhism in the academic sense. Palden Gyatso's story transcends any sectarian definition and stands as a universal testament of faith.
One has to be in Palden-la's presence to feel the living radiance that carried this man through trials few would survive. He went through a hell of imprisonment and torture for 30 years. He was a victim of mindless hatred and religious persecution by the Chinese. His story is condensed at the end of this article. I have included links at which his book can be obtained, and also links to websites that tell much of the story that is in the book. Palden Gyatso's story deserves the widest possible audience.
We were introduced by Phuntok, a longtime friend of Palden-la, who served as interpreter for the visit. The visit had come about because I had read Fire Under the Snow in one sitting the previous night and mentioned this to Phuntok. He promptly told me that he was friends with Palden Gyatso and he would arrnage a visit. In typical Tibetan style, no time was wasted. One phone call and our visit was on for the next day.
We met Palden Gyatso on the street outside his apartment as he was returning from the store with a bottle of milk. We went upstairs and sat in his spare but comfortable living room with typical Tibetan furnishings: two armless sofas which also serve as beds, covered with cushions for day use, altar with picture of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, other religious pictures and articles in a glass case, a coffee table and a chest with drawers. The floors, as are most in Dharamsala, were stone or marble, I forget which, and Palden-la delighted me by quite unself-consciously shuffling about in his socks with two towels under his feet so as to keep things tidy.
He whipped out the thermos of milk tea and the flat biscuits which are requisite visit fare in this culture, chatted a while with Phuntok in Tibetan, then beamed his full attention on me.
I told him I teach at a high school in the United States and am embarrassed to say how little the students know of the Tibetan situation.
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