NEWS

King of Tibet coming to Randolph Tuesday

Lorraine Ash
@LorraineVAsh

RANDOLPH – The 22-year-old king of Tibet will share his short film, "My Country Is Tibet," and answer questions from the public at County College of Morris on Tuesday.

The king of Tibet, Namgyal Wangchuk Lhagyari Trichen, now a sophomore at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, is pictured a decade ago at his coronation with the Dalai Lama, his personal mentor.

Lhagyari Trichen Namgyal Wangchuk - the first two names are ancestral - is descended from Songtsän Gampo, a seventh-century king revered for helping his country prepare to receive Buddhist teachings from India.

"I tell everyone to please not call me a king," Lhagyari said. "His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is the king for the Tibetan people for those who live outside and inside Tibet. I call myself a Tibetan man who is descended from the kings of Tibet."

His presentation is part of The Legacy Project at the college—an initiative started in 2013 to highlight, outside a classroom setting, social movements, time periods, and people of influence.

The 27-minute documentary, though made by Lhagyari, was produced by BYkids, a nonprofit group that pairs experienced filmmakers with children who have globally relevant stories to tell.

The two spend a month filming together, explained Holly Carter, the group's founder and executive director. During that time, the mentor teaches the child the medium and the art of storytelling.

"My Country Is Tibet," filmed in 2008, mostly in north India, is narrated by Lhagyari. It highlights life among young Tibetan refugees in northern India and the stark choices they must make about where to live, what language to speak, and the erosion of their identity as Tibetans.

Trichen Lhagyari, king of Tibet, is pictured in his residence hall at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where he is a student.

Lhagyari, now a student at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, told the Daily Record that he jumped at the chance to work with German filmmaker Dirk Simon, who had created "When the Dragon Swallowed the Sun," a movie about Tibet.

"I thought it was a great opportunity to talk about myself as a Tibetan refugee, about my family, about my father, and about my country," Lhagyari said. "My story is the story of the Tibetan people."

Yet it is Lhagyari's lineage, which has led to a difficult yet remarkable life, that has drawn viewers to his film.

His father, Lhagyari Trichen Namgyal Gyatso, had enjoyed a ceremonial role as king in Tibet until the Chinese invaded the country in 1949, according to an account in Indian media. At that point, the family palace was pillaged and the king imprisoned for 20 years.

"At least here, there's some level of human respect in prison, but not in Tibet, sadly," Lhagyari said. "Once my father was released, he moved to India. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama told him to stay there and serve the Tibetan Parliament-In-Exile. He did that."

Years after being released from prison, Lhagyari's father died at the age of 74. At the time, his only son was 11 years old. A year later, Lhagyari, the current king, was coronated by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Today, Lhagyari, who is personally mentored by the Dalai Lama, calls his father one of his heroes.

"Of course, His Holiness is an inspiration for all the Tibetan people and for me, too," he said, "but for me, my father is equally important. I want to work for the Tibetan people, like my father did."

For now, that means talking about his film and spreading awareness about the plight of the Tibetans and to be sure that Americans know the Tibetan and Chinese peoples are not enemies.

"The Tibetan people respect China's great culture, long history, and hard-working people," he said. "We are only against the Chinese government, Chinese leaders, Chinese policy. To be against those does not mean we hate the Chinese people."

After graduation, Lhagyari doesn't know how he'll continue his mission. Then again, he didn't expect the turns his life has taken in the past seven years after the Dalai Lama directed him to get a Western education.

"Trichen's life in America all started with what we were doing," said Carter, of BYkids. "The reason he's here is because we decided to help him make his film, and then, though it's far beyond our mission, we got him into boarding school and got him into college and made sure it was all paid for."

Lhagyari attended St. Andrew's School in Delaware, where the movie "Dead Poets Society" was filmed, before attending Gettysburg College, where is majoring in political science and minoring in religion.

These days, Lhagyari is thinking that, after graduation, he may attend a Buddhist university in India to learn more about the religion in which the lives of his father, and forefathers, were steeped. His father, he said, lived a spiritual life and died a spiritual death.

"My father died meditating," he explained. "In Tibetan society, some people who are really spiritual, like lamas, die without pain, by meditating. When my father died, he was holding the book of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He was like that, meditating for many hours, before he died."

The reason the film has been traveling on school circuits, according to Carter, has to do with the core mission of BYkids.

"We feel very strongly that this story, and stories like it, should be in front of American young people so they become more empathetic and knowledgeable about the rest of the world," she said. "Otherwise, we're doomed. Our democracy is not healthy if people abdicate knowledge."

"My Country Is Tibet" is the second of five that BYkids has made to date. All are being made into a PBS national series to air this fall.

Lorraine Ash: 973-428-6660; lash@njpressmedia.com

Learn more

WHAT: "My Country Is Tibet," film presentation/discussion with King of Tibet Lhagyari Trichen Namgyal Wangchuk

WHEN: 12:30 p.m. March 10

WHERE: County College of Morris, Student Community Center, Davidson Rooms, 214 Center Grove Road, Randolph

COST: Free

INFO: Call The Legacy Project at 973-328-5469

On the film

More about "My Country is Tibet," a BYkids film:

• BACKGROUND : www.bykids.org/tibet.php

• TRAILER : www.bykids.org/tibet-trailer.php

• AVAILABILITY FOR PUBLIC: On Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/kaxsgdv and on PBS in October

• AVAILABILITY FOR K-12 SCHOOLS : Through Discovery Education, http://tinyurl.com/nf4e9ur