by the Rev. Tad de Bordenave
In the mid 1850s two Moravian missionaries began the effort to translate the Bible into the Tibetan language. Before the long journey came to fruition, the path went through six cities, three countries, two wars, and ninety years. But mainly, the journey unfolded the story of God’s love for the Tibetan people–his passion for them to know his goodness and his mercy.
The translators did not lack determination, but they did face opposition. Tibetan religion merged ancient Buddhist teaching with influence of evil powers. These knew that the Bible was the enemy, for its story told the love of God and salvation through his Son. No surprise, then, to learn of satanic obstacles of war, death, fear, and storms. No surprise that the story includes a bomb dropped four feet away, a storm that deafened a courier, a manuscript destroyed, the death of another courier, and an escape through the lines of Indian and Pakistani fighters. And no surprise to learn of the perseverance of those Christians who wanted Tibetans to learn about Jesus Christ.
The Moravian missionaries traveled hundreds of miles searching for a city that would grant them entrance into the Forbidden Country. They were never permitted to cross the border, but eventually they did find sanctuary in a home hidden in a valley outside Tibet. The host, Tempu Gergan, gave them a place to stay and served as translation guide for their work. This continued for the next 13 years until they finished work on the Gospel of John. They had used the classic Tibetan dialect which only a small segment of the populace could read. They also found that their vocabulary was either outdated or obscure. Sadly their effort went to naught.
Although their work failed, they did get one convert—Yoseb Gergan, the son of the owner. As Yoseb heard the Bible stories from the missionaries, he became a believer and was baptized. Having a good mind and a strong faith, he went to Leh in Ladakh for further education. Despite his love for his mountains and valley, he followed God’s clear call to move to Leh permanently as pastor of the small congregation and do the work of translation. For 27 years Yoseb Gergan travailed over the text until the translation was completed. When he finished, he had prepared the first manuscript of the Bible in the language of Tibet.
Then came the process of printing it. Their script was unknown outside of Tibet, and the paper was difficult to produce. The London Bible Society received a copy and soon found this was new territory and would not be able to print it. Besides, London was being bombed at the time by Hitler’s air force. The manuscript was hidden below Ripon Cathedral, 200 miles north of London, but one bomb landed four feet from the manuscript. By divine mercy it did not explode.
From London the manuscript went to Lahore. There, the linguists realized it needed corrections. To do that they needed to get a copy to Leh. Gergan had died, but he had trained a disciple, Gappel, who could do the needed corrections. The church hired a courier to make the trip to Leh, but he was killed in an avalanche. The next courier made it to Leh, but in a ferocious storm the night before arriving, he lost his hearing from the thunder and the rains drenched the manuscript.
Gappel realized that he himself must make the trip to Lahore to complete the editing. The danger lay not just in the mountains and weather but also in the fighting of Indian and Pakistani troops. Gappel made it as far as the Indian lines and there had to sequester in a hut for weeks. He eventually made it through the Indian and Pakistani troops by God granting him favor with the leaders. In Srinagar friends had plans for him to get to Delhi by air and to Lahore by train–this for a man who only knew Himalayas and blizzards, donkeys and tents. Already frightened by the mysterious machines who transported him, he almost gave it up when the 110-degree heat in Lahore assaulted him. The only way he could concentrate was to have fans blow air on him past 50 blocks of ice. In those bizarre conditions Gappel finally completed the text and saw its first printing.
This was 1948, 90 years after the first efforts of a Bible in the Tibetan language. So the question arose: Why did God allow the delay? The workers knew the hardship and perseverance of the first translators; they knew the disappointments of years without a completed text. Why the risk of transporting the manuscript over dangerous gorges? Why the challenges of the paper and the script? Why years of corrections after Gergen finished his work? And why its final appearance not until 1948?
In retrospect, Tibetan leaders realize God’s wisdom in the timing. For consider: Had the work of the Moravians pushed to completion, and had the printing been done with hundreds or thousands of volumes in 1885, then the enmity of the lamas and their fear of other religions would have destroyed all copies. The Bibles would have been burned or buried, abandoned to heaps of other old discarded religious texts. The spiritual soil of Tibet was rock hard and gave no place for planting the Gospel.
Not so in 1950 and the years since. When the Dalai Lama escaped Tibet in 1959, thousands left their homeland. Over the next decade thousands more left Tibet to settle in Dharamshala, the place where the Dalai Lama had made his residence. They were uprooted and dislocated–spiritually, geographically, mentally, and emotionally. All that was sacred was defaced. They arrived impoverished, wounded by warfare, struggling with strange diseases, families split up, and with so many deaths. They were overwhelmed by their new world.
This was soil prepared for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bibles were printed by the thousands without opposition. They were distributed to homes and villages, portions passed out, messages preached, medical care administered. The message of God’s love took root. A great and holy convergence had occurred: When the Dalai Lama moved out of Tibet, when thousands followed him into India and Nepal, and when the Tibetans were torn from their sacred cultural and religious moorings, God moved. God spoke Tibetan.
