Interview: Preserving Tibetan Culture and Knowledge
From Asia Rising by La Trobe Asia
April 30, 2026 · 20 min
About this episode
The episode features an interview with Geshe Lhakdor discussing the preservation of Tibetan culture and knowledge in the context of exile and modern challenges.
Tibet's story is one of the most profound of the modern era — a civilisation forced into exile, carrying its language, philosophy, and sacred texts across the Himalayas in an act of collective survival. Preserving that heritage, while also engaging the modern world, has become one of the defining challenges for Tibetans in diaspora. Few people embody that challenge more personally than Geshe Lhakdor. Born in Tibet in 1956, he fled to India as a child, went on to spend sixteen years as the personal English translator and religious assistant to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and has since become the Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala — one of the most important repositories of Tibetan knowledge in the world. Guest: Geshe Lhakdor Recorded 23rd March, 2024
People in this episode
Guest: Geshe Lhakdor
Topics covered
- Tibetan culture
- exile
- diaspora
- preservation of heritage
- modern challenges
Keywords
- Tibet
- Tibetan culture
- Geshe Lhakdor
- Dalai Lama
- cultural preservation
- diaspora
- Himalayas
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
Places: Tibet, India
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