A Life Unforeseen: A Memoir of Service to Tibet

by Rinchen Sadutshang, Dalai Lama (Foreword by)

Overview

One of the only government officials in pre-Communist Tibet to have been educated in English recounts the pivotal events that changed his homeland, and the fate of his people, forever.

Rinchen Sadutshang was born in 1928 near the Tibet-China border to a well-off trading family, educated in a Jesuit school in the Himalayan foothills of British India, and served in the Dalai Lama’s government both before and after the 1959 Communist takeover of Lhasa. A refugee alongside tens of thousands of his countrymen, he played a crucial role in bringing the plight of the Tibetan people to the world’s attention.

In this memoir, published just months after his passing in July of 2015, the author recounts his long, fascinating career in service to the Tibetan cause. From meeting British viceroy Lord Waverly in India and General Chiang Kai-shek in China in 1946 to being part of the delegation that successfully pled Tibet’s case before the United Nations in the 1960s, he offers a first-hand perspective on a number of memorable historical events.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614292234
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	03/15/2016
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Rinchen Sadutshang served in the Tibetan government in exile in the late 1970s. He passed away in 2015.

Table of Contents

Foreword Dalai Lama vii

Preface ix

Part 1 The Hope and Optimism of Youth

1 My Early Childhood in Kham 3

2 The Journey from Kham to Lhasa 9

3 Life in Lhasa 15

4 From Lhasa to Kalimpong 27

5 Schooling at St. Joseph's Convent 33

6 St. Joseph's College, Primary Division 43

7 St. Joseph's College, Middle Division 53

8 St. Joseph's College, Upper Division 61

9 A Visit to Lhasa 65

10 Back to School in Darjeeling 73

11 To Delhi with the Tibetan Delegation 77

12 A Brief Stopover in Bombay En Route to China 81

13 To China with the Tibetan Delegation 83

14 Back in Kalimpong 93

Part 2 Enormous, Imminent Changes in Tibet

15 An Official in the Tibetan Government 107

16 The Enemy at Our Door 119

17 Tragedy at Shegar Khunlung Jangthang 127

18 In India with Foreign Minister Surkhang Surpa 131

19 In China as an Official with the Tibetan Delegation 141

20 Back to Tibet after the Signing of the Seventeen-Point Agreement 147

21 The Return of the Panchen Lama 161

22 The Sadutshang Family Separates 169

23 To China with the Dalai Lama and His Entourage 173

24 The Return Home 183

25 Tense Times in Lhasa 189

26 The Dalai Lama Visits India for the Buddha Jayanti 193

27 Last Days in Lhasa 201

28 Farewell to Lhasa 209

Part 3 A Refugee and Stateless in India

29 A Refugee in India 217

30 An Appeal to the United Nations 227

31 A New Democratic Constitution 237

32 Financial Responsibilities in the Exile Government 241

33 His Holiness Visits Japan and Thailand 249

34 The Plight of Tibetan Refugees in Bhutan 253

35 Promotion and a New Portfolio 265

36 Changes in Chinese Government Policy 269

37 Over the Years 273

Index 281

About the Author 297