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Towards the end of my master’s degree, I did make a trip to study Tibetan but I didn’t go to Sichuan or Tibet. Instead, I travelled to Nepal. What I wound up studying wasn’t Eastern Tibet’s Kham dialect but Modern Standard Tibetan. One of the effects of the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s is the bifurcation of the Tibetan world. If you were to think of it in terms of mandala, the circle of activity surrounding a guru or Buddha, it’s as if there are now two parallel mandalas. One is in China, on the Tibetan plateau and in provinces like Sichuan and Qinghai, and the second is abroad, in places like India, Nepal, Europe and North America.

As a student of Tibetology, Buddhology, and a practicing Buddhist, this presented a host of challenges. Think of it like climbing Mount Everest. Whether you climb the Sino-Tibetan face or the Nepali face, neither way is safe. Each poses hidden dangers. Tibetans and Nepalis drape Everest with prayer flags for a reason. Lungta, the famous multi-coloured flags seen fluttering in so many photos of Everest and Tibet are believed to spread blessings on the wind. They are there to protect. Climbing should only be attempted with preparation and the assistance of experienced guides. You shouldn’t attempt it blindly. Note to my younger self: Woops.

From a historical perspective, the split in the Tibetan world is like the 2 faces of Everest. One face looks to the East towards China while another looks to the South and Southwest, towards Nepal, India, and beyond. To some degree, this duality preceded the invasion of the 1950s. Put another way, you could say the Tibetan world has had its feet in China and its heart and head in India.

Tibet’s political and cultural world can be traced back to the contours of the Tibetan empire in the 7th to 9th centuries. The Tibetan empire covered the entire Tibetan plateau, comprising the central province of U-Tsang and the eastern and north-eastern provinces of Kham and Amdo. For centuries, the kingdoms of the Tibetan plateau had traffic with the dynasties of imperial China. Tibet’s butter tea, for example, a staple in the diet of many Tibetans, uses black tea imported from China, not India. It was so popular and indispensable a staple in Tibet that it was often used as currency.