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A live online dialogue with Harvey Rice and Jackie Cole, authors of Flight of the Bön Monks: War, Persecution, and the Salvation of Tibet’s Oldest Religion. Hosted by Alejandro Chaoul.
Join us for a special conversation about the making of an award-winning 2024 book that tells the remarkable true story of three Bön monks — Tenzin Namdak (who later became known as H.E. Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche), Sangye Tenzin (H.H. Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche), and Samten Karmay — who left Tibet after Chinese forces entered, and went on to rebuild their nearly extinguished spiritual tradition in exile. Their journey of survival, resilience, and cultural renewal offers a rare inside account of Tibet’s oldest religion at a moment of profound upheaval.
In this conversation, the authors will share both the narrative of the monks’ heroic escapes and their own experiences researching and writing the book, which weaves together history, testimony, and the preservation of the ancient, unbroken indigenous spiritual tradition of Tibet.
Flight of the Bön Monks received the 2024 International Book Award in Nonfiction – Creative Category.
About the Presenters
Authors Harvey Rice and Jackie Cole are a husband-wife team. Rice is a retired journalist who worked for UPI, the Clarion Ledger, The News in Mexico City, and Pacific Beach Sentinel in San Diego. His last assignment was an 18-year tenure as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Cole, a retired veterinarian, has studied and practiced in the Bön tradition for more than two decades and serves as a board member of Ligmincha Texas. The authors live in Galveston, Texas. More about the book.
Alejandro Chaoul (host) serves as director of research for Ligmincha International. He has studied in the Tibetan traditions since 1989, and since 1991 in the Bön Tradition with Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. He holds a Ph.D. in Tibetan religions from Rice University and is scholar and founding director of the Mind Body Spirit Institute at the Jung Center of Houston. He is the author of Chöd Practice in the Bön Tradition (Snow Lion, 2009), Tibetan Yoga for Health & Well-Being (Hay House, 2018), and Tibetan Yoga: Magical Movements of Body, Breath, and Mind (Wisdom Publications, 2021).
The authors with Yongdzin Rinpoche, 2018