The Treasury of Lives

Dondrub Gyel (don grub rgyal) was born in the water snake year, 1953, in the small village of Gurong (dgu rong) in the Nangra (snang ra) district of Amdo (a mdo). His father's name was Bante (ban te) and his mother was called Mingme (mying med), a not uncommon name in Amdo which means 'nameless'. Bante died not long after Dondrub Gyel was born, leaving his family in poverty. They relied on Dondrub Gyel's uncle, a monk named Sonam Tsering (bsod nams tshe ring), for protection and support. Later, looking back on his childhood, Dondrub Gyel would tell people, "numerous patches once bloomed like flowers on my clothes."

From 1960 to 1965 Dondrub Gyel studied in a local school in Nangra. His mother married a second time and effectively deserted him to the care of his uncle, who sent him to a boarding school where food and clothing were provided. This was the Malho Prefecture Nationalities Teacher Training School in central Rebkong (reb kong) in Amdo. Graduates from this school were guaranteed a job with the Chinese Communist government. The school was about twenty-five miles from his home, and for the winter and summer holidays he walked home and back. While in school he suffered from a serious illness and had to take a year off from studying.

The majority of the students at the school were from agricultural areas. At the time the Cultural Revolution, which had begun in 1966, was then at its most frenzied and violent period. Most graduates preferred positions in the nomadic areas as salaries there were higher, the nomads were more respectful of government staff and teachers, and there was better food and meat, whereas the agricultural regions had food shortages.

As Dondrub Gyel had a good voice and spoke well, the Tibetan section of the Qinghai Radio Broadcasting Station selected him just before his graduation in 1969 and took him to Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. Working at the radio station gave him practical knowledge of Tibetan and Chinese languages which he had not received at school. After a time the director of the Radio Station sent him to the Central Nationalities Institute in Beijing to pursue further studies. The Institute's official curriculum was concerned only with Chinese politics, but it did expand and deepen Dondrub Gyal's knowledge of Tibetan and Chinese. He studied for three years and then returned in 1976 to the Qinghai Radio Broadcasting Station, taking a position translating and editing broadcasting material.

In 1976 three top leaders of the Chinese communists – Mao Zedong (b. 1893), Zhou Enlai (b. 1898), and Zhu De (b. 1886) – died. With the announcement of the end of the Cultural Revolution, people were allowed a little freedom, and Tibetans began to hear, for the first time in decades, their own songs and the famous Gesar epics on Tibetan radio broadcasts. The culture that Tibetans had always possessed was now permitted to be viewed, heard, and displayed. For Dondrub Gyel, it was an opportunity to not only watch and listen to the works of others, but to launch his own literary career. During that period, through to 1979, Qinghai Tibetan News published a number of his works under the penname "Radio Victory" (rlung 'phrin rgyal). Soon thereafter, other publications began to publish his Tibetan writings.

In 1979 Tibetan research students were accepted for the first time since the Cultural Revolution to Beijing's Central Nationalities Institute under the direction of Dungkar Lobzang Trinle (dung dkar blo bzang 'phrin las, 1927-1997) and to Lanzhou's Northwest Nationalities Institute under Tseten Zhabdrung (tshe tan zhabs drung, 1910-1985). Dondrub Gyel passed the entrance exam and entered the Institute in Beijing where he studied with many famous Tibetan and Chinese scholars, foremost among them being the great scholar Dungkar Lobzang Trinle.

In January 1981, while he was still a student, the Nationalities Publishing House in Beijing published his The Dawn of Clear and Simple Writing (bol rtsom zhogs pa'i skya rengs), a selection of sixteen of his best pieces from the previous two years. This was the first book of collected works by a young Tibetan published since the end of the Cultural Revolution. The book consisted mostly of poems in the literary tradition of earlier scholars, but also included a few attempts at modern short stories. The Dawn of Clear and Simple Writing revealed Dondrub Gyel's genuinely innovative talents, and represented an important first step towards the development of modern Tibetan fiction.

As Dondrub Gyel's reputation spread throughout Tibet, some among the older generation in his area became convinced that he was the reincarnation of a lama; a tantric priest from Gurong went expressly to Beijing to encourage him to adopt that title. Dondrub Gyel refused the honor. He began to use the pen name "Rangdrol" (rang sgrol) meaning "Self-Liberated," which led some to believe that he was the reincarnation of a lama named Rangdrol.

In 1980 and 1981 two Tibetan literary journals were founded: Tibetan Literature (bod kyi rtsom rig sgyu rtsal) in Lhasa, and Light Rain (sbrang char) in Xining. Both published modern Tibetan fiction and poetry. Among Dondrub Gyel's more famous compositions that appeared in these were Yak and Tiger Field (brong stag thang), Tulku (sprul sku) and The Frost Bitten Flower (sad kyi bcom pa'i me tog). Tulku, which criticized the Tibetan custom of identifying reincarnations of famous lamas, was controversial, and he was accused of damaging Buddhism. He received a razor blade in the mail, a not so subtle death threat.

His fame brought him additional criticism. He was considered arrogant and less than respectful towards other scholars, both past and contemporary. He is known to have remarked that people should not be surprised when seeing the size of the collected works of the early scholars; "Even the letters they sent to their relatives, teachers and students were included in their collected works. If letters are literary works, we too could have enough for a one-volume [collected works]."

In 1983, the second issue of Light Rain published Dondrub Gyel's poem Waterfall of Youth (lang tsho'i rbab chu), written in a new style. The poem, a rousing ode to Tibet that celebrated the vitality of Tibetan youth, had an enormous impact on the landscape of Tibetan literature. It inspired not just writers and intellectuals to read and write poetry, but even many young ordinary Tibetans. The poet Ju Kelzang ('ju skal bzang) remarked on the tremendous spread and impact of this poem: "University students write modern poetry. Middle school students also write modern poetry. The educated write modern poetry. Even the uneducated write modern poetry."

After finishing his graduate training at the Central Nationalities Institute in Beijing, Dondrub Gyel began teaching there. He started an advanced language class for Tibetan teachers from the middle schools in Amdo. He taught the Commentary on the Ramayana (rA ma Na'i rtogs rjod) written by Zhangzhung Chowang Drakpa (zhang zhung chos dbang grags pa, 15th century), the History of Tibet (bod kyi deb ther dpyid kyi rgyal mo'i glu dbyangs) by the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyaso (tA la'i bla ma 05 ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617-1682) and the Biography of Milarepa (mi la ras pa'i rnam thar) by Tsangnyon Heruka (gtsang smyon he ru ka, 1452-1507). In 1984, Dondrub Gyel and his second wife Yumkyi (yum skyid), were transferred to the Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai and he began to work at the Nationalities Teacher Training School in Chabcha (chab cha). He did not get along with the other staff and became effectively isolated from the school administration and faculty. It was during this time that he wrote the lyrics for the song Oh Blue Lake (e ma mtsho sngon po), for which the famed composer Makye Chopathar (ma khye gcod pa thar) wrote the music, as well as the famous essay The Small Footpath (rkang lam phra mo).

Dondrub Gyel's poor relationships with the school administration, colleagues and local officials made it difficult for him to stay in Chabcha. In 1985 he informed the director of the school that he planned to transfer to China; the director was so pleased to get rid of him that he offered to continue paying him from the time he left work until he had found a new position. Dondrub Gyel contacted the Qinghai Education College, the Qinghai Social Science Academy and the Southwest Nationalities Institute in Chengdu but none offered him a position; he was thought to be too difficult, too innovative, and too liberal.

He was having problems with Yumkyi, and on November 29th, 1985, after years of enduring beatings, she left him, taking their daughter with her. That night, Dondrub Gyel committed suicide. When the school authorities entered his staff quarters the next morning, they saw that he had died on his bed; next to the bed was an iron stove filled with coal. He had asphyxiated to death. His final letters to his wife and his close friend Dawa were on a desk.

As news of Dondrub Gyel's death spread throughout Amdo, different rumors began to circulate about the cause of his death. Those who valued his Tibetan ethnic pride said that the Chinese had murdered him. Those who saw in him a reformer and innovator claimed the conservatives had killed him. Those who were superstitious said that curses, which were placed on him because he was a blasphemous unbeliever, had finally destroyed him. There were also those who said that Dondrub Gyel had not died but had in fact escaped to India where people soon claimed to have seen him.

Dondrub Gyel was only thirty-two years old when he died.