Tibetans in India. The road to freedom 

I first met Tibetans in India 10 years ago, when I came to Dharamsala to attend the Dalai Lama’s teachings. I was struck by the Buddhist way of life and became an active student of Buddhism. I also heard the first stories of Tibetan refugees. Soon after, I started photographing their lives in India and recording their stories.

After Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1959, more than 80,000 Tibetans followed the Dalai Lama to northern India. Most of them were deeply religious, with many taking monastic vows. The inability to be close to their spiritual teacher, the difficulties of practising and studying their religion in their homeland, and the oppression of China forced people to leave their homeland. As China severely restricted the maximum number of monks in many monasteries, the only way for many people to follow the path of their hearts was to migrate to India. The journey was very difficult. To get to India, a guide was hired to lead people through the mountains for many days at a time. As the participants themselves recall, they walked through the mountains at night and slept during the day, hiding from the Chinese. If the refugees were caught, they were imprisoned. Many people we spoke to in India did not want to be photographed because they had family in Tibet and feared for their fate if someone in Tibet saw their photos.

China has done much to destroy the foundations of Tibetan culture and religion. Monks who want to continue their studies and their families are being persecuted. The number of monasteries in Tibet is being reduced. Education and basic communication in Tibetan schools is in Chinese. As one of the girls sent by her parents to live and study in India told us, it was only here that she learnt that she was not Chinese, as she thought she was in Tibet. That Tibetans are a separate nation, with their own culture, language, traditions and way of life. In Tibet, it’s all been completely wiped out. Only those who leave Tibet have a chance of preserving their culture. That is why the flow of refugees to India has not stopped.

Today, new monasteries are being built in India, and there are Tibetan schools and centres for the preservation of Tibetan culture and crafts, where masters pass on their knowledge to their students. Northern India has become a centre for the preservation and development of Tibetan culture. And most importantly, it is the centre of Buddhism, which is a very important part of Tibetan culture. Because of this, even in such a difficult situation and having experienced a lot of sorrow, Tibetans have been able to keep an open and kind heart, love and compassion for all people without exception. This is what gives them the strength to live and survive. And it is an important lesson for all of us in the difficult conditions that the whole world is going through.