Tenzin

A fun fact about me is that my sister and I share the same first name. We share this name with monks who came before and after us. We share this name with our cousins and our fellow Tibetans. I was actually named by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. How? My ama la’s friend was travelling up North to the 14th Dalai Lama to ask what the name of my mother’s second born should be.

With just my name I could share with you the stories of the countless Tenzins who have embarked on a significant trajectory in the Free Tibet Movement. The name Tenzin is shared by countless monks who participated in self-immolations after 1959. For many Tibetans around the world 1959 marks the year of change and anguish. A year of emotions and resistance that built waves of advocacy, and during the time of self-immolations, a sacrifice of your life for a greater purpose was the form of protest that as a kid I was most shocked by. These efforts of relinquishing themselves from a state of being as a protest and ending their paths to enlightenment. Being revealed this idea of preservation of identity and then seeing the drastic measures these monks would go through to present how they felt was pivotal for me on how drastic measures like those were the only ones they felt they could resort to. In times of growing up in America and having this freedom of speech I wanted to share the importance of religious freedoms and how much my name Tenzin represents. 

Immigrating to the states as a young three-year-old girl, I was oblivious to the importance of what it meant to be Tibetan in America. I have only realized that recently as my efforts in advocating for Tibet had truly been implemented after high school, post my first integration to the policy processes and International Campaign for Tibet (a non-profit Tibetan organization).

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama is the religious leader and holy figure of the Tibetan identity. I “met” him when I was around eight years old when I fell asleep on the floor as he walked through the crowds of people in a community center in Oregon. His holiness is known for his countless efforts to strategize the best outcome for the Tibetan people in Tibet. As the Dalai Lama for the Tibetan people you hold the responsibility to carry the weight of a possible extinction of your people on your back. For Tenzin Gyatso la the pressure seemed easy to carry as he travelled the world sharing his view on what peace looks and feels like for people struggling with similar forms of genocide present in Tibet. As Tibetan-Americans and those who migrated out of Tibet struggle to escape the conflicts within Tibet the conflict between China and their sinicization continues brutally. Communists in power on what it means to be a nation was what has shaped this controlled spread of Chinese ideals on Tibet. 

The People’s Republic of China created by Mao Zedong in 1949 highlights the political state of China in their introduction of their vision for Tibet. Maoism influenced by Karl Marx with Marxism classifies what the beginning of rule under Mao Zedong entailed as he overthrew the Chinese Nationalist government through communist rule. This led with the infiltration of Chinese troops around the 1950’s and grew as the years went on. With this in mind, the uprising of March 10, 1959 was in response to the built up repression of the Chinese occupation in Tibet as they yearned to develop power. His Holiness escaped on March 17, 1959; amidst the uprising, he disguised himself as a soldier and escaped through the crowds of Chinese troops and protesters around the Tibetan Potala Palace. Many of his security personnel were assassinated by the Chinese army along with other protestors and monasteries. Though he was able to escape down to Dharamsala, Northern India, the people of Tibet still now await his return to reestablish their home however until then he works to share happiness, peace and community. 

The formation of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan Government in Exile is located in the northern region of India, Dharamsala due to this migration. I have been lucky enough to spend time there to learn about U.S policy with foreign affairs, Tibetan politics, government and advocacy through workshops and conferences. Around the early 1960s the Tibetan diaspora blossomed all around India with refugee settlements and globally from Washington to Italy. In 1989, His Holiness was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for not resorting to violence; he has kept this government-in-exile standing, pushed forth connection to the U.S., and established more global awareness on peaceful resolutions to genocide. The U.S government recently signed the Resolve Tibet Act policy in 2024, which initiates an active relationship between Tibet and the U.S. This act was something I pushed for with other Tibetan students when I was a sophomore in Shorewood High School. This policy is to state that the U.S will work to counter disinformation about China’s actions towards the Tibetan people, work to establish the autonomy of those in Tibet and note the situation between China and Tibet as unresolved. I cannot describe the feeling of sensation I felt when this bill was passed. It felt so liberating the thought of having made change for Tibet in some way with some many other Tibetans by my side. 

 In Tibetan Buddhism “Dharma” means the right way of living and path of “rightness”. It ultimately signifies the right way of how things are the way they are. Practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism seek refuge in the Dharma, and due to our persistence of non-violent actions we have developed an effective route to combating violence through more long-term advancements. With the practice of cultural preservation His Holiness has strategically come up with tours and trips within northern parts of India and Nepal like Ladakh to keep the purity of our identity close to our home. Now, with the 14th Dalai Lama getting older, we prepare for the discussion of how life would be without our spiritual leader and what that would mean for the Free Tibet movement.

My grandmother and I had a very thoughtful discussion during which, despite with our language barrier and confused translations, we were able to get the same point across, “If we all unite with the truth [truth in being educated in learning what is right and wrong] we can defeat the chinese communist party with their lies fed to the Tibetan children[in Tibet] and media[CCP propaganda].”

The truth always comes out. I don’t know if that’s a Buddhist belief or a general understanding of life, but it mostly certainly is one because ever since I was little my ama la would always tell me that the truth would come out so there was no use in hiding it. In a way, my name, Tenzin, carries this same inevitability. Just like the truth, the name Tenzin is bound to reveal something profound about who I am and the legacy I carry.

Tenzin is a name shared by countless monks, each one embodying the ideals of the Tibetan struggle. His Holiness is not just as a guide but a figure whose journey of liberation and resilience I am meant to reflect. Through this name, I am reminded of the tools we, as Tibetans, use to fight for our country—tools that expand our cultural identity, values, and the very activism that has defined our resistance. When I asked my grandmother how she thinks His Holiness has done with his time as our spiritual leader, she replied, “He is the reason our fellow Tibetans have escaped and are still prevailing outside of Tibet.”

She continued to speak about his family, like his sister and how she was able to begin “bhugu saksas,” known as Tibetan orphanages in English, which allowed Tibetan literature to be taught and continued in peace while in India. This is important because, in efforts to keep our identity from getting banned by China, there are colonial boarding schools where thousands of Tibetan children in current Tibet are forced to get rid of their native tongue through sinicization and even taught to act and celebrate the deliberate force onto Tibet to assimilate into China. Having the name Tenzin is a form of protest for all Tibetans, and in keeping that name as it is spelled, said and heard is a way our oral lineage can be past down in efforts of keeping our. 

In trying to figure out my identity in who I am I struggled to identify with my name. It felt like I had already been defined, that my character was already established when I was born and I am just learning to play that role. As I invest my time in fighting for Tibet I have learned that although non-violent forms of protest are important, our actions to freedom can be violent in causing change without harm. The importance of organizing and building community are necessary for humanity. Though my name and individuality has left me questioning my identity, I always feel close to warrior-like characteristics. A Tibetan activist, Tenzin Tsundue, who has been imprisoned by Chinese authorities at least 16 times, once told me that those who fight for their country are willing to kill but those that are warriors are willing to die. In these words remain the truth in our solidarity, in our fight for humanity, and opposition to violence with peaceful resilience. Through our actions and thoughts, words and wisdom we are actively challenging the “status quo” of how though we are compassionate people the fire we bring to our cause will never burn out. The name Tenzin was one that I always defined as a light in the darkness. I feel that meaning in me more and more as I grow and learn about the world and am holding onto it as it passes through our Tibetan freedom fighters. 

 There is a part of me that believes that when the Dalai Lama passes he will leave the same effect like Jesus did. The earth will shake, rocks will split and graves will open up. The earth will shake in a way that tumbles down upon China’s Communist Regime. As the earth shakes, rocks will split where the mountains will crumble down upon Chinese military regimes and the graves of those Tibetan monks will rise to release fire on the People’s Republic of China. And these ashes will then make way for rain to clean out the pollution and help those innocent see the day again.

Tenzin was a fellow in the 2024 Story Gathering Sandbox, a program that gives young writers the opportunity to publish an article for our news outlet, Voices.