Ani Pachen, The Tibetan Joan of Arc

Born Pachen Dolma (1933-2002), became a Tibetan nun, Ani Pachen, which translates to “Nun Big Courage.” Courage falls short of describing her path of twenty-one years in a Chinese prison. From 1958 until 1960, she led 600 resistance fighters out of the mountains on horseback against an army of Chinese tanks. The odds earned her the nickname “The Tibetan Joan of Arc.”

The Chinese, who had invaded in 1950, were desecrating monasteries and killing Tibetans as they advanced toward Kham. In 1958, Ani Pachen sat at her father’s side in the war councils as the clan fought back. Later that year, her father fell ill and died. Since warfare was the only way to save the religion of Tibet, she decided her Buddhist pacifism must give way.

The Chinese captured Ani Pachen in 1960. Pachen suffered at the hands of the Chinese for her refusal to renounce the Dalai Lama. She was beaten and hung by her wrists for a week, spent a year in leg irons, and nine months in solitary confinement with no light. The Chinese also ransacked and burned the three great monasteries of Tibet, Drepung, Sera, and Ganden, as well as executing thousands of Tibetans or starving them to death for their “superstitious beliefs.” 

Ani Panchen, freed in 1981, shared her people’s suffering globally via small gatherings. Her story spread far and wide after she published her book “Sorrow Mountain” in 2002.

Ani Pachen lived in exile from 1988 until she died in 2002. The people of Tibet still struggle against Chinese subjugation.