Contact is taking a holiday!

Contact is taking a break after 25 years of bringing you news of Tibet and Tibetan issues. We are celebrating our 25 years by bringing you the story of Contact and the people who have made it happen, and our archive is still there for you to access at any time, and below you can read the story of Contact, how it came into being and the wonderful reflections of the people who have made it happen over the years.

When and how Contact will re-emerge and evolve will be determined by those who become involved.

Tibet Environmental Author Michael Buckley Speaks to Contact

By Michael Buckley  /  September 22, 2021

Michael Buckley’s many years researching Tibetan issues has led to the publication of three new books. Here he speaks to Contact about his involvement with Tibet. Contact: Tell us briefly about yourself – your background, interests Michael Buckley: I am a very curious person with a wide range of interests. read more →

Lama Lobsang – a Social Worker

By Ben Byrne  /  September 1, 2021

Since 2019, Lama Lobsang  has been a regular on the circumambulation route around His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s temple in McLeod Ganj. He hauls his big muscular frame along the route nine times a day, all the while greeting friends and saying his prayers. When India closed its borders in read more →

Dr Richard J Davidson’s Wake-up Call

By Paulina Wrotynska  /  June 25, 2021

“Why can’t you use the same tools of neuroscience to study kindness and compassion that you use to study anxiety and depression?” The question posed by His Holiness disrupted and restructured Dr Davidson’s* life’s work. “And I did not have a very good answer for him”, he admits. Yet Dr read more →

Lhasang Tsering: Guerilla, Activist and Poet

By Ben Byrne  /  April 8, 2021

Listen to the recording of this interview here : Lhasang Tsering has been an outspoken advocate for Tibetan independence for half a century. Since turning down the opportunity to become a doctor in the United States in the early 1970s, Lhasang has gone on to live a kaleidoscopic existence worthy read more →

A Friend Remembered

By Jenny James  /  February 22, 2021

Tsering Wangyal – 6 March 1949 – 24 November 2000 Editor – Tibetan Review – Sep 1976 to Aug 1996 Author – Another Place – OUT NOW! I was lucky enough to call Tsering Wangyal – always affectionately known as Editor – a friend around 35 years ago. To me, he was read more →

Dhargye’s story: Singing for the love of it

By Ben Byrne  /  October 9, 2020

Thousands of people are gathered at an outdoor arena on the Tibetan plateau. School children sit waving Chinese flags. Tibetan prayer flags billow in a soft breeze. Among a throng of elated Tibetans stands a stone-faced Chinese police officer. On stage, entertaining them all, is Sherten, the famous Tibetan singer read more →

“Focus on the Teachings!”

By Ben Byrne  /  September 7, 2020

Bhante Dikshabhoomi is a Theravada monk from Nagpur in Maharashtra. Since 2018 he has travelled throughout India spreading the messages of Free Tibet and Universal Compassion. Recently he came to Dharamshala and spoke to Contact magazine. Bhante was born into a Buddhist family in the Mahar caste. He became a read more →

Tibet Charity Adapts in the Face of the Pandemic

By Ben Byrne  /  September 7, 2020

Tibet Charity was founded in Denmark in 1997 by Lakha Rinpoche, a lama and philosopher who is the spiritual leader of approximately 100,000 Tibetans in Batang, East Tibet. Mr Tsering Thundup, a former headmaster in Tibetan boarding schools in North India, fronts the NGO’s operations in Dharamshala. During the Covid-19 read more →

A Nomadic Feminist

By Ben Byrne  /  April 11, 2020

Sonam Paldon was born in Ngabring County in U-Tsang province in Tibet. Basking in the shadow of Mount Everest, 4,500 metres above sea level on the rugged plains between the Tsangpo and Chichu rivers, Sonam was raised in a semi-nomadic family. She was one of eight children, four girls and read more →

Falling in Love with Tibetan Culture

By Linus Haring  /  January 28, 2020

Volunteer job at Lha: English Teacher My name is Linus and I’m 19 years old. Back in Germany, I knew barely a handful of things about Tibetan culture, but for some reason it really attracted me. That’s why right after graduating from high school, I applied for a ten month-long read more →