Where do I find Tibetan Buddhists?
This map shows the home areas of people groups that traditionally follow Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists are found all around the world.
This map shows the home areas of people groups that traditionally follow Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists are found all around the world.
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See also the Baseline Study of the Tibetan Diaspora Community Outside Southern Asia, an extensive report on ethnic Tibetans who live outside China, India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Where can I find books/articles about Tibet?
rGyalrong Conservation and Change: Social Change on the Margins of Tibet, by David Burnett
The explosive growth of China’s economy since the late 1970s has impacted the whole world including the minority peoples in the west of China. Based on fieldwork in the high valleys of the eastern margins of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, David Burnett has produced a unique study of a people known as the Rgyalrong (officially classed as Tibetans). The Rgyalrong have been impacted by secular education, tourism, and migration to the cities that have resulted from economic reform. Amidst these changes, they endeavour to retain something of their traditional customs, songs, festivals, arts and crafts.
Where can I find books/articles about Tibet?
rGyalrong Conservation and Change: Social Change on the Margins of Tibet, by David Burnett
The explosive growth of China’s economy since the late 1970s has impacted the whole world including the minority peoples in the west of China. Based on fieldwork in the high valleys of the eastern margins of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, David Burnett has produced a unique study of a people known as the Rgyalrong (officially classed as Tibetans). The Rgyalrong have been impacted by secular education, tourism, and migration to the cities that have resulted from economic reform. Amidst these changes, they endeavour to retain something of their traditional customs, songs, festivals, arts and crafts.
Tibetan Research - a selection of articles for those interested in studying Buddhism and other Faiths
This website will introduce readers who are interested in studying Tibetan Buddhism and other faiths to a wider selection of articles than perhaps would normally be available in one location. Articles that focus on inter-religious dialogical encounters between Tibetan Buddhism and the Christian faith will be given priority. Material will range from that which is strictly academic (e.g. extracts from my PhD thesis) to essays and comments that are less academic in presentation. Website includes links to many resources including Elaine M. Robson's PhD thesis: A Christian Catechism in Tibetan - An English Translation and Study of Ippolito Desideri’s Tibetan manuscript - The Essence of the Christian Faith. Includes the Thanka - The Life of Christ with notes on it's development and copyright issues. Christmas and Easter art is included with explanations from the designer.
Other resources on Tibetan-related peoples: This web site is not political. We are interested in Tibetan-related peoples as people. There are some organizations whose websites may be political but also may contain useful information about people. These varied resources are listed here for your information only. Please be discerning: Snow Lion Publishing, Shambhala Publishing, T. government in-exile, Asia Times.
This website will introduce readers who are interested in studying Tibetan Buddhism and other faiths to a wider selection of articles than perhaps would normally be available in one location. Articles that focus on inter-religious dialogical encounters between Tibetan Buddhism and the Christian faith will be given priority. Material will range from that which is strictly academic (e.g. extracts from my PhD thesis) to essays and comments that are less academic in presentation. Website includes links to many resources including Elaine M. Robson's PhD thesis: A Christian Catechism in Tibetan - An English Translation and Study of Ippolito Desideri’s Tibetan manuscript - The Essence of the Christian Faith. Includes the Thanka - The Life of Christ with notes on it's development and copyright issues. Christmas and Easter art is included with explanations from the designer.
Other resources on Tibetan-related peoples: This web site is not political. We are interested in Tibetan-related peoples as people. There are some organizations whose websites may be political but also may contain useful information about people. These varied resources are listed here for your information only. Please be discerning: Snow Lion Publishing, Shambhala Publishing, T. government in-exile, Asia Times.
History Books
Trespassers on the Roof of the World by Peter Hopkirk
Stories of how foreign powers tried to reach the capital city. Part of "The Great Game" in the 1800's.
Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists by Morris Rossabi
"Modern Mongolia is the best-informed and most thorough account to date of the political economy of Mongolia during the past decade. In it, Morris Rossabi explores the effects of the withdrawal of Soviet assistance, the role of international financial agencies in supporting a pure market economy, and the ways that new policies have led to greater political freedom but also to unemployment, poverty, increasingly inequitable distribution of income, and deterioration in the education, health, and well-being of Mongolian society."
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford, Jonathan Davis, et al.
"The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization."
Baabar's History of Mongolia by Baabar
Nomads of Western Tibet by Melvyn Goldstein and Cynthia Beall
"For sixteen months between June 1986 and June 1988, Melvyn Goldstein and Cynthia Beall lived in Tibet studying a community of roughly three hundred Tibetan nomads at altitudes above 16,000 feet in yak-hair tents, weathering temperatures which reached thirty to forty degrees below zero, drinking butter-salt tea, and eating 'tsampa'...popped and ground barley ...and mutton. This copiously illustrated book is a fascinating account of these remarkable people, of their traditional way of life and their continuing struggle for cultural survival."
Trespassers on the Roof of the World by Peter Hopkirk
Stories of how foreign powers tried to reach the capital city. Part of "The Great Game" in the 1800's.
Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists by Morris Rossabi
"Modern Mongolia is the best-informed and most thorough account to date of the political economy of Mongolia during the past decade. In it, Morris Rossabi explores the effects of the withdrawal of Soviet assistance, the role of international financial agencies in supporting a pure market economy, and the ways that new policies have led to greater political freedom but also to unemployment, poverty, increasingly inequitable distribution of income, and deterioration in the education, health, and well-being of Mongolian society."
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford, Jonathan Davis, et al.
"The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization."
Baabar's History of Mongolia by Baabar
Nomads of Western Tibet by Melvyn Goldstein and Cynthia Beall
"For sixteen months between June 1986 and June 1988, Melvyn Goldstein and Cynthia Beall lived in Tibet studying a community of roughly three hundred Tibetan nomads at altitudes above 16,000 feet in yak-hair tents, weathering temperatures which reached thirty to forty degrees below zero, drinking butter-salt tea, and eating 'tsampa'...popped and ground barley ...and mutton. This copiously illustrated book is a fascinating account of these remarkable people, of their traditional way of life and their continuing struggle for cultural survival."
Things we want you to know about Christians
Christians are peaceful and good citizens. The Bible tells us to follow the laws of the country we are in unless they conflict specifically with God’s laws. We try to bring benefit to the Tibetan people. We are not political.
You can't tell much about Christians by watching movies. Some people think because America has been called a Christian country, that what they see on TV and in movies show what Christians believe and how they act. This is not true. Western culture is not Christian culture and we would disagree with much we see in media.
Not all who say they are Christians really love Jesus and follow his teachings. Many say they are Christians because their parents are Christians, but they don't really believe or act like a Christians. If you want to know what a follower of Jesus is like, find one that reads their Bible and prays every day. They would love to answer your sincere questions.
Not every Christian has good sense. Many Christians are good-hearted people who may be inexperienced in travel or relating to people of other cultures. This website exists to help them to learn more, so they can be the good friends that they want to be.
Christianity is not a western religion. Jesus was born in the Middle East. Initially there were more followers of Jesus in the East than the West. You may think that Christianity is a religion of Americans or Europeans, but following Jesus is possible inside any culture. It is not tied to one culture. People do not have to abandon family or culture to follow Jesus.
Christians are peaceful and good citizens. The Bible tells us to follow the laws of the country we are in unless they conflict specifically with God’s laws. We try to bring benefit to the Tibetan people. We are not political.
You can't tell much about Christians by watching movies. Some people think because America has been called a Christian country, that what they see on TV and in movies show what Christians believe and how they act. This is not true. Western culture is not Christian culture and we would disagree with much we see in media.
Not all who say they are Christians really love Jesus and follow his teachings. Many say they are Christians because their parents are Christians, but they don't really believe or act like a Christians. If you want to know what a follower of Jesus is like, find one that reads their Bible and prays every day. They would love to answer your sincere questions.
Not every Christian has good sense. Many Christians are good-hearted people who may be inexperienced in travel or relating to people of other cultures. This website exists to help them to learn more, so they can be the good friends that they want to be.
Christianity is not a western religion. Jesus was born in the Middle East. Initially there were more followers of Jesus in the East than the West. You may think that Christianity is a religion of Americans or Europeans, but following Jesus is possible inside any culture. It is not tied to one culture. People do not have to abandon family or culture to follow Jesus.