Kunsang Dolma

While I love reading books about cultures I know so little of, which was certainly the case with this one, the subject matter is often excruciating to read. Although I do know that the Chinese are in control of Tibet, I did not know how hard the people had and still have it under their rule. Another example of man's inhumanity to man. While I love reading books about cultures I know so little of, which was certainly the case with this one, the subject matter is often excruciating to read. Although I do know that the Chinese are in control of Tibet, I did not know how hard the people had and still have it under their rule. The author was a young girl in Tibet during the beginning occupation and she writes of the terrors her, her family and all the villagers went through. Of course she goes on and travels to India and than as a refugee in America. Her story is told almost with a lack of emotion which at times bothered me, but maybe that is the only way she can tell her story. I learned much about this culture such as what "closing the gate meant" to the Tibetans and learned how very strong this woman is and admire very much how she has managed to keep hope alive and her sense of humor intact.… (mais)

A Hundred Thousand White Stones is the fearlessly told, unvarnished story of life as a Tibetan woman and refugee. Kunsang Dolma writes from her heart of the hardship and struggle she experienced as a girl in Tibet, as a woman in India, and as an immigrant refugee in America. Yet despite the many moments of sadness her story contains, she manages to find hope and levity in her memory of even the worst of circumstances.

A Hundred Thousand White Stones offers an honest, first-person assessment of what is gained in pursuing life in the developed world, and what is lost.

The story of Kunsang touches my heart because it brings back memories of life in Old Tibet. It tells the world exactly what it means to be a Tibetan refugee who loves her homeland deeply but at the same time is capable of adapting to life in the Western World. The courage and integrity and endurance of Kunsang are astounding. I thank Kunsang Dolma for telling her story. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to know about the real situation in Tibet.

We witness the first years of Chinese occupation - destruction, sacrilege, violence, killing, and propaganda: "One after another the soldiers led them [the villagers] up onto the podium and ordered them to exercise 'self-criticism'. They were supposed to tell their life stories, describing the traditional Tibetan ways as feudal and backwards, and praising everything Chinese as correct, progressive, and promising a bright future."

We travel with Kungsang on foot across the Himalayas, and live with her in a refugee camp, where she battles illness, living under open tarpaulin shelters in monsoon season and enduring backbreaking work. But there they also re-unite with friends from the past and revered Tibetan lamas.

Author Kungsang Dolma is skilled in weaving the texture of Tibetan culture into her narrative - the practice of kora (walking around a sacred place absorbed in prayer), the chod ritual of "cutting through the ego," sky burial rites, healing practices ("Carry our child four times around the holy lake Basum Tso and she will recover"), the eating of barley-based tsampa, the celebration of the Tibetan New Year (Losar), and dedication to building "good karma" through selfless action.
I give it my highest recommendations.

I was given this book by NetGalley. www.netgalley.com… (mais)