Thubten Jigme Norbu () (August 16, 1922 – September 5, 2008), recognised as the Taktser Rinpoche, was a Tibetan lama, writer,

civil rights activist Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

and professor of Tibetan studies and was the eldest brother of the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

, Tenzin Gyatso. He was one of the first high-profile Tibetans to go into exile and was the first to settle in the United States.

Early life

Thubten Jigme Norbu was born in 1922 in the small, mountain village of

Taktser Taktser or Tengtser (; meaning 'Place on the Heights'") or Hongya Village () is a village in , Ping'an District, Haidong, in the east of Qinghai province, China, (also known as Amdo or Kokonor). Tibetan, Han and Hui Chinese people populate the vil ...

in the

Amdo County Amdo County (; ) is a county within Nagqu of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The county covers an area of 43,410.85 square kilometres and is dominated by mainly by Tibetan grassland. In 2000 it had a population of 32,843 . Its capital is ...

of Eastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

Independence walks

In 1995, Norbu cofounded the International Tibet Independence Movement (ITIM). He led three walks for Tibet's independence, starting in 1995 with a week-long walk 80 miles from Bloomington, Indiana to Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1996 he led a 300-mile, 45-day walk from the PRC embassy in Washington, DC to the

Headquarters of the United Nations zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

, surrounded by New York City. The following year, joined by Dadon with her 3-year-old son, he led a 600-mile walk from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

to New York City, beginning on March 10 ( Tibetan Uprising Day) and ending June 14 ( Flag Day).

Life in the US

Norbu lived at the Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center with his wife Kunyang. They have three sons, Lhundrup, Kunga and Jigme Norbu, all born in New York. In late 2002, Norbu suffered a series of strokes and became an invalid. Norbu died at the age of 86 on September 5, 2008, at his home in Indiana in the United States having been ill for several years. His body was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

in a traditional Buddhist ceremony. His youngest son, Jigme, died at the age of 45 on February 14, 2011, while carrying on his father's work. He was hit by a car in Florida during a walk to promote Tibetan independence and raise awareness of Tibet.

Writings

*''Tibet Is My Country'' is his autobiography dictated to Heinrich Harrer in 1959, and updated with a new essay in 1987 () and 2006 () *''Tibet: Its History, Religion and People'', co-written with

Colin Turnbull Colin Macmillan Turnbull (November 23, 1924 – July 28, 1994) was a British-American anthropologist who came to public attention with the popular books '' The Forest People'' (on the Mbuti Pygmies of Zaire) and '' The Mountain People'' (on the ...

in 1968 () *''Tibet: The Issue Is Independence – Tibetans-in-Exile Address the Key Tibetan Issue the World Avoids'' is an essay collection from 1994 by Tibetans in the diaspora (mainly

Tibetan American Tibetan Americans are Americans of Tibetan ancestry. As of 2020, more than 26,700 Americans are estimated to have Tibetan ancestry. The majority of Tibetan Americans reside in Queens, New York. History Ethnic Tibetans began to immigrate to the ...

s) and features an introduction by Norbu () *Norbu and Robert B. Ekvall provided the first English translation of the Tibetan play originally authored by the fifth

Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, h ...

Lobsang Yeshe Lobsang Yeshe (; also written Lobsang Yeshi) (1663–1737) was the fifth Panchen Lama of Tibet. He was born of a well-known and noble family in the province of Tsang. His father's name was De-chhen-gyalpo and his mother's Serab-Drolma. He w ...

''Younger Brother Don Yod'' in 1969.

References

External links

BiographyTibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural CenterTaktser Rinpoche, eldest brother of the Dalai Lama, passes awayReminiscences of Thubten Jigme Norbu
by

Jamyang Norbu Jamyang Norbu ( Tibetan: འཇམ་དབྱངས་ནོར་བུ་, Wylie: 'jam-dbyangs nor-bu) is a Tibetan political activist and writer, currently living in the United States, having previously lived for over 40 years as a Tibetan exi ...

''The Independent'': Thubten Jigme Norbu: Activist and Dalai Lama's brother
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norbu, Thubten Jigme 1922 births 2008 deaths American civil rights activists Lamas American people of Tibetan descent Indiana University faculty Tibetan dissidents Tibetan Buddhism writers Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teachers Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Tibet freedom activists Tibetan writers Rinpoches Taktser Rinpoches