Palden Gyatso

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Palden Gyatso (born 1933 in Panam, Tibet) is a Buddhist monk who was born in Tibet in 1933. During the Chinese invasion in Tibet he was arrested and he spent 33 years in Chinese prison. After his release in 1992 he went to Dharamsala, (North India) in exile. Since then he is practicing his Buddhistic religion as a free monk.

[edit] Life

Palden Gyatso was born in the Tibetan village Panam in 1933. This place is located at Nyangchu river between Gyantse and Shigatse. In 1943 he entered Gadong monastery as a novice monk. During the Chinese invasion he was nominated as a fully ordained monk of the Gelug school. Later he studied in Drepung monastery which is close to Lhasa.

After the Tibetan uprising in 1959, Palden Gyatso was arrested by Chinese officials. He spent the following 33 years in different Chinese prisons and labour camps. He was forced to participate in barbarous reeducation classes and was brutally tortured, leading to irreversible physical damage. During this time, he continued to abide by the Dharma (Buddha's teachings).

1992 Palden Gyatso was released. He escaped to Dharamsala in India, the place of the Tibetan exile government. There he wrote his autobiography Fire Under The Snow which has been translated in many other languages.

During his following visits in America and Europe he became politically active as an opposer of the Chinese occupation in Tibet and as a witness of many years under Chinese confinement. In 1995 he was heard by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

These days Palden Gyatso is living in Dharamsala and following his Buddhistic studies.