Flight of the Bön Monks

War, Persecution, and the Salvation of Tibet's Oldest Religion

By: Harvey Rice, Jackie Cole, Dalai Lama - introduction

Narrated by: Jez Sands

• 2024 International Book Award Nonfiction - Creative Category

• 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.

The Tibetan Refugee Experience

This was a really well organized and compelling story that detailed the escape of members of Tibet’s least understood religion. It also gives a strong sense of what all those refugees went through, Bon, Buddhist, and others. Fascinating and uplifting, even though I’m not a Bon practitioner. A very worthwhile read.

Little Known History

Tibet has always been a mystery to most of us in the west. Harvey Rice and Jackie Cole brought clarity to the horrendous treatment of those in Tibet who were devotees of Bon, or any religion at all, by the Chinese government.
Yes I knew of the invasion and take over of Tibet, but this tells the personal stories of Bon and the Monks escaping, their devotion to Bon, and of Tibetan culture and isolation from the rest of the world. An interesting and informative read! I recommend it!