Talk:Surmang

Monastery names

Anyone know the names (with Wylie) of all nine or ten monasteries in the traditional complex of monasteries? We have two mentioned here but not the others. Thanks. - Owlmonkey (talk) 01:15, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

do gompa; doka gompa; kyere gompa.TASHI GONPA, DEGA GONPA Surmangfoundation (talk) 15:16, 11 July 2008 (UTC)Surmangfoundation

“Chinese invasion and subsequent Cultural Revolution”

The article claims:

• “The Surmang monasteries were again largely destroyed during the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the subsequent Cultural Revolution.”

That's a rather sweeping statement. “Chinese invasion”: Qinghai was conquered by the Qing dynasty in 1724 and had been a province of the Republic of China since 1928. Maybe “Chinese invasion” is supposed to mean 1951, the beginning of the honeymoon between the Dalai Lama and Mao Zedong? Or March 1959? Anyways, the Cultural Revolution did not begin until 1966. That's hardly “subsequent”.

But let's also have a look what the three sources that are given have to say to support that claim:

• “The Surmang shedra is known as Surmang Düdtsi-til. It was part of the complex of monasteries of Surmang until the destruction of much of the site in the 1950s.” (The Surmang Project, Konchok Foundation)

Anonymous author, no sources quoted, but the site clearly sides with Tibetan political groups in exile. No details, and not mentioning the “Chinese invasion”. Not a proper source.

• “The monastery was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt poorly in the 1980's.” (Trungpa RInpoche XII and Surmang Monastery)

Same as above. Not a proper source.

And this is what Chögyam Trungpa writes in the third source quoted, his book Born in Tibet:

• On p. 153 the author alleges that Chinese troops plundered the monastery: “The Chinese army stayed at Düdtsi-til for about a month. They had intended to make it a permanent centre, but on receiving orders from army headquarters they evacuated the place, carrying away everything which might be of value to themselves.” He doesn't say that they destroyed it—quite the contrary: “My bursar ... had gon to Düdtsi-til himself with a few monks and found all the buildings intact, so he had arranged with some poor herdsmen still living in the neighbourhood to take charge of them.” (p. 154, emphasis added).

Nothing about the Cultural Revolution. And the author is clearly biased. Not a proper source.

The three sources are not very reliable, they contradict each other and presentation in the article is either not based on the sources quoted or deliberately distorting them.

If no reliable sources (see also: questionable sources) are found and/or a historically more accurate presentation will be given, I'm going to remove the sentence (see burden of evidence). —Babelfisch (talk) 07:30, 30 October 2008 (UTC)