Norbu, Thubten Jigme 1922-2008 (Thubten J. Norbu, Takster Rinpoche, Thubten Jigme Norbu, Jigme Norbu Thubten, Tashi Tsering)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born August 16, 1922, in Tengster, Tibet; died September 5, 2008, in Bloomington, IN. Religious leader, political activist, Buddhist monk, educator, translator, and author. Norbu seemed in many ways to represent the polar opposite of his younger brother, the revered spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, but they shared one strong bond: a deep, unshakable love for their homeland of Tibet and its spiritual heritage. Raised as Tashi Tsering in a devout Buddhist family in rural Amdo province in northeastern Tibet, Norbu was only three years old when he was recognized as the reincarnation of the high lama Takster Rinpoche and given that new name. His brother later bestowed on him the name Thubten Jigme Norbu, by which he would come to be known in the West. Norbu was sent to Kumbum monastery at age eight and promoted to abbot at age twenty-seven. In that year, 1949, Chinese Communists invaded Tibet and demanded that Norbu betray his brother, the Dalai Lama. Instead he went to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital where his brother lived, to warn his brother of danger, then Norbu fled to India. Eventually Norbu found his way to the United States, became a U.S. citizen, adopted a Western lifestyle, and began teaching Tibetan studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. He renounced his monastic vows and any commitment he might have had to pacifism. Whereas the Dalai Lama hoped for a future peaceful coexistence in a Tibet that was an autonomous region of China, Norbu would settle for nothing less than total independence. His activism was intense, and his approach was militant. He believed that any Chinese presence in his homeland would eventually suffocate the spirit of Tibet and destroy every vestige of Tibetan culture. While he never criticized his brother, Norbu never changed his mind. As early as the 1950s he requested support from the American Central Intelligence Agency for Tibetan soldiers of the resistance, and he worked as a translator for the ensuing guerrilla training program. As recently as 2008, in his eighties, he attended public protests related to the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, China. In the intervening years Norbu worked as a curator of Tibetan artifacts at the Museum of Natural History in New York, a cofounder of the International Tibet Independence Movement, and the creator of the Midwest institute that came to be called the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. He served as his brother's representative in the United States and the highest-ranking member of the U.S. Buddhist priesthood. All the while, Norbu maintained an academic lifestyle without actually becoming a prolific writer. He coauthored a book on Tibet and cotranslated a play based on the life of a former lama. His best-known book is his memoir, Tibet Is My Country: The Autobiography of Thubten Jigme Norbu, Brother of the Dalai Lama, originally published in 1961 and updated in 1986.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Norbu, Thubten Jigme, and Heinrich Harrer, Tibet Is My Country: The Autobiography of Thubten Jigme Norbu, Brother of the Dalai Lama, translated from German by Edward Fitzgerald, E.P. Dutton (New York, NY), 1961, 2nd edition, Wisdom Publications (London, England), 1986.

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2008, p. B6.

New York Times, September 9, 2008, p. C7.

Times (London, England), September 16, 2008, p. 62.