GETTING TO KNOW US

-About the TCC
-Thubten J. Norbu
-Our mission
-Getting Involved
-Gift Shop
-Map to TCC
-Pets at the TCC 

THE TCC GROUNDS

-Jangchub Chorten
-Kalachakra Stupa
-Chamtse Ling
-Retreat Cottages
-Grounds stroll

EVENTS -PAST & FUTURE

-Event Schedule
-Kalachakra 1999
-HHDL's 1996 Visit
-Medicine Buddha Mandala
-Dorgyka Fire Puja
-Event Scrapbooks

TEACHINGS & SPEECHES

-Norbu's 1996 Speech to HHDL
-HHDL'S 1996 Teaching
-Aspirational Bodichitta 1996
-Heart Sutra

Tibetan Refugees

Important Links

Kunyang and Thubten Norbu

| Thubten Norbu's 1996 Welcoming Speech to His Holiness the Dalai Lama | back to sitemap |

President of the Tibetan Cultural Center, Thubten Jigme Norbu, Taktser Tulku, was born in 1922 in the mountain village of Tengster in the province of Amdo. As a young child, he was recognized as a reincarnated lama. When he was eight years old, he began his training as a monk in Kumbum Monastery.

In 1939 because of the discovery and recognition of his young brother as the new Dalai Lama, his family moved to the capital of Lhasa where Norbu eventually joined them to recommence his studies at the great Drepung Monastery.

After ten years of study and travel, he returned to Kumbum in 1949 to become Abbot. His life, however, and that of his people were being steadily overwhelmed by the political changes forced upon their country by China. Refusing to cooperate with the Chinese, Norbu traveled to Lhasa to warn his brother of the impending danger of the Chinese invasion.

Forced into exile in 1950, he eventually settled in America where he married the younger sister of Sakya Dagchen, the head of the Sakyapa sect. Soon after, Norbu became assistant curator of the Tibetan collection at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. In 1965, Norbu and his wife, Kunyang, and their three young boys moved to Bloomington, Indiana where he became Professor of Uralic and Altaic Studies at Indiana University. He retired from teaching in 1987.

During his 46 years in exile, Norbu has worked devotedly for the Tibetan cause, travelling and talking throughout the USA and the world on behalf of his people, making clear their undeniable right of self-determination as a nation.

In 1996, Rinpoche led the 45-day day trek from the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. to the United Nations in New York City, protesting Chinese human rights violations and demanding full independence for the sovereign nation of Tibet.

In 1997, he led a walk from Toronto to New York City with members of the International Tibet Independence Movement. This freedom march began on Tibetan Uprising Day--March 10. It ended on Flag Dag--June 14 when the walkers reached the United Nations Building.

SPEAK UP FOR FREEDOM FOR TIBET!
Thubten J. Norbu and Monks speak up for Tibet