The Milarepa Fund is an American

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

that raises money for and promotes awareness of the Tibetan independence movement.

History

The Milarepa Fund was founded in May 1994,A History of the Milarepa Fund
/ref> by musician

Adam Yauch Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), also known by the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bassist, filmmaker and a founding member of the Hip-hop, hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed m ...

and activist Erin Potts. The fund was named after the 11th century Tibetan singer- yogi

Milarepa Jetsun Milarepa (, 1028/40–1111/23) was a Tibetan , who was famously known as a murderer when he was a young man, before turning to Buddhism and becoming a highly accomplished Buddhist disciple. He is generally considered one of Tibet's most fa ...

, and was originally intended to distribute royalties from Yauch's

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

' 1994 songs "Shambala" and "Bodhisattva Vow", which had sampled the chanting of Tibetan monks, to support Tibetan independence. The first action for the fund was during the 1994

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

tour. Because the Beastie Boys were co-headlining the tour, the Milarepa Fund set up information tents to pass out pro-Tibetan independence pamphlets throughout the tour. Some fans were receptive to the pamphlets, but others were hostile, and later blamed Yauch's interest in the Milarepa Fund for the late release of the Beastie Boys' fifth album, Hello Nasty. Expanding upon that idea, the Milarepa Fund put on a two-day concert in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

called the Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1996, which raised over $800,000 for Tibetan exile organizations. The success of the concert spawned a Free Tibet Tour that summer in conjunction with Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) and the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). Other two-day concerts similar to the 1996 Tibetan Freedom Concert followed in 1997, 1998, and 1999. In 1998, the Milarepa Fund, SFT, and ICT organized a protest for Tibetan independence on Capitol Lawn, claiming an attendance of 15,000.SFT history

References

1994 establishments in the United States Political organizations based in the United States Tibetan independence movement {{Tibet-stub