Tibet glossary and library

Glossary

Ache Lhamo ཨ་ལྕེ་ལྷ་མོ་

Tibetan opera.

Amban

Representative of the Manchu emperor in Lhasa, closer to an ambassador than a governor, from the 18th century until Manchu troops and officials were expelled in 1912.

Amdo ཨ་མདོ་

North-eastern Tibet.

Bon བོན་

Tibetan religion with roots before Buddhism.

Bö བོད་

Tibet, in Tibetan.

Cholka-sum ཆོལ་ཁ་གསུམ་

‘The three provinces’: Ü-Tsang, Kham and Amdo, together the whole of Tibet.

Chomolungma ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ་

Tibetan name for Mount Everest.

Chorten མཆོད་རྟེན་

Stupa; a reliquary monument.

Chö-yön མཆོད་ཡོན་

‘Priest and patron’; the relationship between Tibetan lamas and Mongol or Manchu rulers.

Dalai Lama ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་

From Mongolian dalai, ‘ocean’; Tibet’s spiritual leader, and head of the Tibetan government from 1642 until 2011.

Gaden Phodrang དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་

The Dalai Lamas’ government from 1642; also the name of the Dalai Lama’s trust.

Gang Rinpoche གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་

‘Precious snow mountain’; Mount Kailash.

Gompa དགོན་པ་

Monastery.

Gyalwa Rinpoche རྒྱལ་བ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་

‘Precious Victor’; how Tibetans usually speak of the Dalai Lama.

Jokhang ཇོ་ཁང་

Lhasa’s most sacred temple, founded in the 7th century.

Kashag བཀའ་ཤག་

The cabinet, in independent Tibet and in the Central Tibetan Administration today.

Kham ཁམས་

Eastern Tibet; its people are Khampas.

Khata ཁ་བཏགས་

White ceremonial scarf offered as a greeting or blessing.

Lama བླ་མ་

Spiritual teacher.

Lhasa ལྷ་ས་

‘Place of the gods’; the capital of Tibet.

Losar ལོ་གསར་

Tibetan New Year.

Lungta རླུང་རྟ་

‘Wind horse’; prayer flags.

Miser མི་སེར་

Commoners or subjects of old Tibet, whom Chinese propaganda calls ‘serfs’.

Norbulingka ནོར་བུ་གླིང་ཀ་

‘Jewel park’; the Dalai Lamas’ summer palace, where Tibetans gathered on 10 March 1959.

Panchen Lama པཎ་ཆེན་བླ་མ་

Senior lama traditionally based at Tashilhunpo, Shigatse. The Eleventh, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has been held by China since 1995.

Potala པོ་ཏ་ལ་

The Dalai Lamas’ palace and seat of government in Lhasa.

Rangzen རང་བཙན་

Independence; freedom.

Saga Dawa ས་ག་ཟླ་བ་

The fourth lunar month, marking the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and passing.

Shoton ཞོ་སྟོན་

‘Yoghurt festival’ of late summer.

Sikyong སྲིད་སྐྱོང་

‘Political leader’; the elected head of the Central Tibetan Administration.

Sowa Rigpa གསོ་བ་རིག་པ་

Tibetan medicine; ‘the science of healing’.

Thangka ཐང་ཀ་

Painted or appliquéd religious scroll.

Tsampa རྩམ་པ་

Roasted barley flour, Tibet’s staple food.

Tso Ngonpo མཚོ་སྔོན་པོ་

‘Blue lake’; called Qinghai Lake in Chinese.

Tsongdu ཚོགས་འདུ་

Assembly; the national assembly of independent Tibet.

Tulku སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་

A recognised reincarnation of a lama.

Umaylam དབུ་མའི་ལམ་

The Middle Way Approach, seeking genuine autonomy for all three provinces of Tibet.

Xizang

Chinese name for the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region, pushed in official English since late 2023 in place of ‘Tibet’.

Yarlung Tsangpo ཡར་ཀླུང་གཙང་པོ་

Tibet’s great river, the Brahmaputra in India.

Ü-Tsang དབུས་གཙང་

Central and western Tibet.

Learn More

A starting library for students, supporters and journalists: Tibetan and advocacy sources, UN and legal documents, histories, archives and language tools. Every link was checked on 11 October 2026.

Central Tibetan Administration

CTA

The official site of the Tibetan administration in exile: news, statements and reports.

Glimpses on History of Tibet

Central Tibetan Administration

CTA

A short Tibetan history from the CTA.

Tibet Was Never a Part of China but the Middle Way Approach Remains a Viable Solution

Department of Information and International Relations

CTA

2025

Free PDF (2nd edition): the CTA’s case on history, human rights and the Middle Way.

2008 Uprising in Tibet: Chronology and Analysis

Department of Information and International Relations

CTA

2010

Detailed record of the 2008 protests and the crackdown.

Map of Tibet

Central Tibetan Administration

CTA

The three provinces of Tibet and how China has divided them.

Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People

Central Tibetan Administration

CTA

2008

The Tibetan proposal presented to Beijing in 2008.

The Middle Way Approach

Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

dalailama.com

The Dalai Lama’s own account of his policy.

Statement Affirming the Continuation of the Institution of Dalai Lama

Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

dalailama.com

2025

The 2025 statement on succession.

Self-immolations fact sheet

Central Tibetan Administration

CTA

2022

Names and details of Tibetans who self-immolated inside Tibet since 2009.

International Campaign for Tibet

ICT

News, research and advocacy from Washington, D.C. and Europe.

About Tibet

Students for a Free Tibet

SFT

Key facts and the case for Tibetan independence, from a youth-led movement.

1960

The jurists’ finding of acts of genocide against Tibetans as a religious group.

The Question of Tibet and the Rule of Law

International Commission of Jurists

1959

The ICJ’s preliminary report of 1959.

UN General Assembly resolution 1353 (XIV): Question of Tibet

United Nations General Assembly

United Nations

1959

The first UN resolution on Tibet.

UN General Assembly resolution 1723 (XVI): Question of Tibet

United Nations General Assembly

United Nations

1961

Names the Tibetan people’s right to self-determination.

UN General Assembly resolution 2079 (XX): Question of Tibet

United Nations General Assembly

United Nations

1965

The third resolution, as an official UN PDF.

'Educate the Masses to Change Their Minds'

Human Rights Watch

2024

China’s coercive relocation of rural Tibetans.

'Start with the Youngest Children'

Human Rights Watch

2026

How Chinese-only preschools threaten the Tibetan language.

Tibet: Freedom in the World 2026

Freedom House

2026

Annual rating of political rights and civil liberties in Tibet.

The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947

Tsering Shakya

Columbia University Press

1999

The standard history of Tibet under Chinese rule, by a Tibetan historian.

A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951

Melvyn C. Goldstein

University of California Press

1989

Detailed archival history of Tibet’s years of independence.

Tibet: A History

Sam van Schaik

Yale University Press

2011

A readable history from the empire to the present.

The Tibet-China Conflict: History and Polemics

Elliot Sperling

East-West Center

2004

Free PDF examining the history behind China’s claims.

Tibet Oral History Project

Filmed testimony from elders who lived through the invasion.

Tibet Oral History Archive Project

Melvyn C. Goldstein

Case Western Reserve University

Hundreds of interviews on life before and after 1950.

The Tibet Album: British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950

Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum

University of Oxford

Thousands of photographs of independent Tibet.

The Tibetan and Himalayan Library

University of Virginia

Dictionaries, language tools, maps and reference works.

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives

LTWA

LTWA, Dharamsala

Archive, library and Tibetan language courses.

The major scientific assessment of the region’s ice and water.

The Nobel Peace Prize 1989

Norwegian Nobel Committee

NobelPrize.org

1989

Citation, lecture and biography of the Dalai Lama.