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Tibetan Uprising Day 2023
March 10, 2023 All day
MARCH 10th TIBETAN Uprising Day
TIBETAN UPRISING DAY, observed yearly on MARCH 10th, commemorates the 1959 Tibetan peaceful uprising against Communist China’s repression in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. The failure of the armed rebellion ultimately resulted in a violent crackdown on Tibetan independence movements, forcing His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to flee into exile in order to save his life.
Tibetan Uprising Day 2023:
64th Anniversary
While not a traditional Tibetan Buddhist holiday, MARCH 10th is a very important date in the Tibetan calendar. This year marks the 64th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising. Around the world, Tibetans and their supporters remember and pay tribute to all those who have sacrificed their lives for Tibet’s struggle. An estimated one million Tibetans have perished and 98% of monasteries and nunneries were destroyed under the Communist Chinese invasion.
Lhasa’s three major monasteries—Sera-Jey, Ganden, and Drepung—were seriously damaged by shelling. Sera and Drepung were nearly damaged beyond repair. According to the TGIE, Members of the Dalai Lama’s bodyguard remaining in Lhasa were disarmed and publicly executed. Same as Tibetans found to be harboring weapons in their homes. Thousands of Tibetan monks were executed or arrested, and monasteries and temples around the city were looted or destroyed.
OUR dearest teacher Geshe-la and his family were amongst eighty thousand Tibetans who began fleeing. They were hoping to cross over the snow-capped Himalayas toward India.
Sadly, three-year-old Geshe-la along with his family had been one of the thousands captured by the Chinese army. Next, they were thrown into concentration camps. Then, for two years Geshe-la’s family was held hostage and forced into free labor. When suddenly, his mother successfully planned their narrow escape to India in 1961.
Then at 17, Venerable Phelgye was one of the first monastics to help rebuild Sera-Jey monastery now in Mysore, India.
Women’s Uprising Day:
March 12, 1959
ON MARCH 12, 1959, thousands of women gathered peacefully outside of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Now known as Women’s Uprising Day many of the women involved were imprisoned, including the leader of the nonviolent demonstration, Pamo Kusang.
Some of the women were tortured, died in prison, or were executed such as Gurteng Kunsang, mother of six.
Join us in Solidarity:
Walk a Mile on March 10th
PLEASE JOIN our sangha in solidarity and prayer. Let us pray for all Tibetans whose fight for autonomy remains to this day. Walk a Mile for Tibet on March 10th, 2023. Please take pictures to share on social media with the hashtag #walkamilefortibet
