Thubten Jigme Norbu | |
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 Norbu with his brother, the14th Dalai Lama, in 1996 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1922-08-16)August 16, 1922 |
| Died | September 5, 2008(2008-09-05) (aged 86) Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
| Nationality | American[1] |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Tibetan Buddhism |
The 6thTaktser Rinpoche[3]Thubten Jigme Norbu (Tibetan:ཐུབ་བསྟན་འཇིགས་མེད་ནོར་བུ་,Wylie:Thub-stan 'Jigs-med Nor-bu) (August 16, 1922 – September 5, 2008),[4] was aTibetanlama, writer,civil rights activist and professor of Tibetan studies and was the eldest brother of the14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. He was one of the first high-profile Tibetans to go into exile and was the first tosettle in the United States.
Thubten Jigme Norbu was born in 1922 in the small, mountain village ofTaktser in theAmdo County of EasternTibet.
In 1995, Norbu cofounded theInternational Tibet Independence Movement (ITIM). He led three walks for Tibet's independence, starting in 1995 with a week-long walk 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Bloomington, Indiana toIndianapolis, Indiana. In 1996 he led a 300-mile (480-kilometer), 45-day walk from the PRC embassy in Washington, DC to theHeadquarters of the United Nations in New York City. The following year, joined byDadon with her three-year-old son, he led a 600-mile (970-kilometer) walk fromToronto to New York City, beginning on March 10 (Tibetan Uprising Day) and ending June 14 (Flag Day).
Norbu lived at the Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center with his wife Kunyang. They have three sons, Lhundrup, Kunga and Jigme Norbu, all born in New York. In late 2002, Norbu suffered a series of strokes and became an invalid.
Norbu died at the age of 86 on September 5, 2008, at his home in Indiana in the United States having been ill for several years. His body wascremated in a traditional Buddhist ceremony.[5] His youngest son, Jigme, died at the age of 45 on February 14, 2011, while carrying on his father's work. He was hit by a car in Florida during a walk to promote Tibetan independence and raise awareness of Tibet.
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| National | |
| People | |
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