By Victoria Gómez
tuesday, 13 November 23 2018
The representative of the House of Tibet in the Principality, Kailash, once again wears the venerable Thubten Wangchen (Tibet, 1954) in Chaldea at the end of a small tour between Catalonia and Andorra. Saturday will offer a conference and dinner (for which prior reservation is required) and on Sunday he will present his first book, where the Tibetan monk resident in Spain reflects his life and thoughts.
–He came to Andorra last July and is coming back this weekend.
–Yeah, on Saturday evening I will be in Chaldea giving a talk about life and death and on Sunday I will present my book, what is title Far from Tibet.
–It is his first book. What will we find there??
–I explain my life, that of a Tibetan Buddhist monk. What my childhood was like, Chinese repression, the exile, the time when I had to beg on the streets of Kathmandu, the training in India and the subsequent stay with the Dalai Lama. I also talk about Buddhism, from his believing branch, spiritual and philosophical.
–It is an autobiography?
–A party, Yeah. But there are also chapters on the history of the Casa del Tibet in Barcelona or how democracy and Tibetan society work. A very special section is the one about Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama lives. I narrate what its landscape is like, the flora and fauna. Per cert, the mountains are a bit like those of Andorra!
–The foreword is written by the Dalai Lama himself.
–Yeah, having him summarize my personal and professional career is the best gift I have ever been given.
–Why did he write Far from Tibet?
–I have been living in Catalonia for years and I have the feeling that people think Tibet is very far away, there is a lot of ignorance. They think that Tibet is a small country, com Andorra, but in reality it occupies an area like Spain, France and Germany together. I try to bring our reality closer to the reader with references that everyone knows, with l’Himàlaia or l’Everest, to understand my culture and tradition. I think it is a very easy book to read.
–What do you expect from this book??
–I am not a famous or important person, but I believe that simply because I am a Tibetan Buddhist monk I must convey a message of peace and brotherhood. I respect all religions and consider Monsignor Ramon de Canillo and Monsignor Pepe de Sant Julià my friends. Whoever reads the book will find my heart wide open, a very human message, without any pretense of indoctrinating in Buddhism.
–What will Saturday's conference be like??
–The talk is titled Life and death. Dues cultures, two points of view, same reality. With Salvador Vaamonde we will deal with life and death from a Catholic and a Buddhist point of view.
–What is the relationship between one and the other?
–That everyone wants to die in peace, worthily with God or Buddha. Nobody wants to suffer.
