The Dalai Lama
The Biography
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- £12.99
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- £12.99
Publisher Description
'Impressive in its clarity this biography [is] the most detailed and accurate to date. Written in an engaging prose, [it] ends with an insightful prediction of the legacy of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, and a cleareyed assessment of the challenges that the fifteenth will face' The New York Times
The Dalai Lama’s message of peace and compassion resonates with people of all faiths and none. Yet, for all his worldwide fame, he remains personally elusive. Now, Alexander Norman, acclaimed Oxford-trained scholar of the history of Tibet, delivers the definitive biography—unique, multi-layered, and at times even shocking.
The Dalai Lama illuminates an astonishing odyssey from isolated Tibetan village to worldwide standing as spiritual and political leader of one of the world’s most profound and complex cultural traditions. Norman reveals that, while the Dalai Lama has never been comfortable with his political position, he has been a canny player—at one time CIA-backed—who has manoeuvred amidst pervasive violence, including placing himself at the centre of a dangerous Buddhist schism. Yet even more surprising than the political, Norman convinces, is the Dalai Lama’s astonishing spiritual practice, rooted in magic, vision, and prophecy—details of which are illuminated in this book for the first time.
A revelatory life story of one of today’s most radical, charismatic, and beloved world leaders.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Norman, who collaborated with the Dalai Lama on Freedom in Exile, debuts with this significant exploration of the life work of Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader. Norman situates the Dalai Lama, first and foremost, as a powerful leader within the context of Tibetan history and culture. To this end, he begins with the prophecies of the Dalai Lama's predecessor, and embeds the Lama's life within his larger role as a spiritual guru. Norman runs through the major events of the Dalai Lama's life: his birth in 1935 as Lhamo Thondup, recognition as the Dalai Lama four years later, his upbringing in the palaces of Lhasa, the Chinese occupation of Tibet, and his subsequent life in exile always portraying his subject sympathetically, but also never shying away from controversies, such as accusations that the Dalai Lama infringed upon religious liberty by restricting worship of the protector deity Dorje Shugden. Because of the strong emphasis on religious context, Norman often shirks providing scrutiny of the contemporary political situation in Tibet, but this remains a thorough catalogue of the Dalai Lama's thinking and worldview. Despite Norman's disclaimer that he writes as a non-Buddhist outsider looking in, anyone interested in the Dalai Lama's spiritual influence will enjoy this insider biography.
