Tashi Jong, a Tibetan Community in Exile

This is a film made by Barbara Green for the Tibetan Video Project in 1998 about the Tashi Jong community, which is situated around 50km east of Dharamasala, the seat of the Dalai Lama.

The Tashi Jong (Auspicious Valley) community was founded by the 8th Kamprul Rinpoche, after he was forced to flee Tibet in 1959, with the idea of preserving Tibetan culture in exile. To this end the Rinpoche promoted traditional arts and crafts, and especially the ritual dance associated with the Drukpa Lineage.

The Rinpoche is now famous as the root guru of Ven. Tenzin Palmo, the most senior western monastic in the world. He passed on in 1980. The film concentrates on an insider’s look at the community, its traditions, beliefs and practices, both amongst the lay and monastic communities. To this end we see young novices training in ritual dance, preparations for festivals and artists and craftsmen at work, amongst other things.

By now the film stands as a historical record of the community at the turn of the 21st century, and this also has great value in documenting the ability of the community to maintain its traditions, despite losing their homeland.