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O J A I M AG A Z I N E | WINTER 2025
“My life is like a roller coaster. I see the Heaven and I see the Hell.” — Dargyal Jamyang For years, Ojai resident Dargyal Jamyang (Jamyang) has been approached by prestigious publications, screenwriters and publishing houses for his story, but he wasn’t ready to tell it, until now. The former Tibetan political prisoner is working on his memoir, determined to give voice to the suffering of his homeland and its people. Jamyang’s path has not been easy. A childhood in Chinese-occupied Tibet, almost two years of torture in Chinese prisons, and a healing journey that led to serving as the Dalai Lama’s chief of security fuel him. “My father always told me we had two missions: to tell the true story and to protect the Tibetan people and land,” he said. “We are Buddhist and believe in karma, but I think people need to know this really happened.” When Jamyang speaks to groups, he acknowledges the sensitivity of the information he is about to share: “Some stories carry a weight that must be understood with the heart.” Endless vignettes could serve as powerful starting points, but perhaps it makes sense to begin in the mid-1990s at the life-altering moment when Jamyang, then 17, was questioned by Chinese Communist Party border officials. He’d spent a year studying in India and was crossing back into Tibet since his mother was unwell. “I told them the truth about what I see and believe,” Jamyang said. “I spoke about freedom of speech and freedom of thought. They asked a lot of questions
DaRgYaL JaMYaNg The true story of the Dalai Lama’s chief of security by ERIN LABELLE