Nineteen-year-old Tenzin Chogyal is a student at the Jiangsu High School in Lhasa. When he walks around campus, he does not get noticed; he blends in as an ordinary student, but he has an extraordinary dream: He wants to be a poet who writes in Tibetan. His teacher has also noticed his talent and encourages him to work hard on his dream.

What attracted a kid to Tibetan literature? What kind of stories are there between Tenzin Chogyal and Tibetan literature?

Genesis of Tibetan: The Castle on the Rock

When Tenzin Chogyal was 7-years-old, he started school in Lhasa. Far from Shigatse, his birth place, he began learning Tibetan. The language gave the introverted Tenzin a new window on life; he could say what was in his heart with elegant words on paper.

The genesis of Tibetan has not been definitely decided. Folklore says that 1300 years ago, in northwest Lhasa, inside a castle built on top of a huge rock, at a place called Phabongkha, the scholar Thonmi Sambhota used the essence of Sanskrit to invent the language of Turfan. He was dispatched by Songtsen Gampo to study in India and other countries and had just returned to Tibet. This language eventually became the modern version of Tibetan.

Zala Dawa Zangpo, a researcher at the Tibetan Ethnic Arts Research Institute said, “Early Tibetan was called the Shang Shung language, and has a history of almost 3000 years. Modern Tibetan was all invented by Thonmi Sambhota, which uses elements of Shang Shung and also some parts of the Ranjana and Awar languages of India.”

First Creation: “My Hometown”

The train between Shigatse and Lhasa has operated for a while, but Tenzin has not been back home.

In the past ten years at school, just like other students, Tenzin could now expertly write in Tibetan for schoolwork, and understand all Tibetan textbooks. He came to Lhasa when his parents arrived to look for work. He was once lost in the transition from rural village to bustling city, but after he learned to write, he started to journal his feelings.

When he was 16-years-old, Tenzin wrote an essay titled “My Hometown,” which won praise from his teacher. It was his first literary creation in Tibetan. In the essay, Tenzin described the beautiful sights of Shigatse, his childhood pleasures, and how he missed his hometown. At the end, he wrote, “After all these years, I’ve not been back home.”

Art comes from life. Tenzin’s writing was full of his insight from life. The deep emotion, more mature than his years, and his expert use of Tibetan, really touched his teacher, and also led to his joining the Tibetan Literature Club in high school.

Transformation: A Tibetan Poem with Hidden Words

Jiangsu High School is an all-new school, equipped with advanced and comprehensive facilities, all the teaching staff are from Jiangsu and in Lhasa to help with education. The 18-year-old Tenzin has continued his pursuit of literature by joining the Tibetan Literature Club called the “Langcuo Metog Tibetan Literature Club.”

The club organizes students in reading and discussing Tibetan literature, Tibetan calligraphy, and Tibetan typing competitions. Most important is the writing contest among students from all schools.

In the last contest, Tenzin won the highest honor with a Tibetan poem featuring a hidden word at the beginning of each line. “This poem starts each line with the 30 letters of the Tibetan alphabet, and describes how on campus, some students waste their life and fall into bad habits, and encourages them to study.” Said Tenzin.

Mr. Namgyel, the founder of the Tibetan Literature Club, said, “To be able to write in this format and express a deep idea in Tibetan is an incredible accomplishment for a kid. Tenzin has what it takes to be a poet.”

By first learning Tibetan, then writing poems in Tibetan, Tenzin is getting closer and closer to his dream of Tibetan literature.