Escape To India
Jamdrak set off with his brother in a party of 300 to flee Tibet. As the Chinese occupied Lhasa the party was forced to take an alternative route which involved a perilous journey across the Himalayas. The arduous journey involved high altitudes, raging rivers, evading capture and near starvation. Of the three hundred that set off only thirteen, including Jamdrak and his brother Akong Rinpoche arrived safely in India. The others were killed, captured or died of starvation.
Even in India the refugees were not safe. Another of Jamdrak's elder brothers died of tuberculosis, and he suffered from smallpox and tuberculosis himself. He survived but only after major surgery involving the removal of one of his lungs.
He continued his education at the Young Lamas Home School in Dalhousie, where he was groomed for a well paid post as an administrator of a large Tibetan settlement in India.
He did indeed briefly take up this post before leaving in 1967 to serve as Private Secretary to His Holiness the 16th Karmapa at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. All though still a layperson he had a privileged position receiving teachings from high lamas.
Read more about this topic: Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche
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