His Journey: Exile

Driven from his homeland, Tibet's god-king still dreams of Marxism and reconciliation

As a child, I spent a lot of time in Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's summer palace in Lhasa. It was very pleasant there, and I was very happy. I remember everything was fresh, calm and peaceful. There were lots of flowers. But when I remember these things, it makes me very sad to realize that it has all changed. Even if I were to return, all of that is permanently gone. It has been destroyed. Older Tibetans used to say that the communists were destroyers of dharma (divine law). Perhaps, in the end, they were right.

I was very young when...

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