AHP 45: REVIEW: THARLO AND THE SACRED ARROW

Pema Tseden was born in 1969 in, at that time, the relatively remote Mdzo sna (Zuona) Village, La zhi ba (Laxiwa) Township, Khri ka (Guide) County, Mtsho lho (Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Mtsho sngon (Qinghai) Province, China in an area of great natural beauty on the banks of the Rma chu (Yellow River). Pema Tseden recalls his grandfather as an adept lay tantric practitioner whose compassion and warm-heartedness deeply affected him: My grandfather believed that I was the reincarnation of his grandfather. He told me that my previous life was that of a meditator. Grandfather showed me the scriptures that his own grandfather had used in his life and my great-grandfather's meditation place in our home. My grandfather's grandfather was very good to him and he felt that he owed him a debt. Grandfather insisted my previous life had gained a great deal of religious knowledge. Thus, he also wanted me to be well-educated. At that time, you could be employed after junior middle school so very few students continued to senior middle school, let alone attended college (Feng 2015).1 Pema Tseden continued schooling after graduating from his village school and completed a college education, thanks to significant financial and emotional support from his grandfather. This was at a time when many rural Tibetans questioned the value of formal statesponsored education