Trijang Rinpoche was born to an aristocratic Tibetan family in 1901 and quickly recognized as the reincarnation of a very important high lama. Eventually appointed a mentor to the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Trijang became one of his most trusted confidants. His status gave him a front-row seat to many of the momentous historical events that befell Tibet. Rinpoche observes the workings of Tibetan high society and politics with an unvarnished frankness, including inside details of encounters between the Dalai Lama and Mao Tse Tung, Jawarlal Nehru, Pope John Paul II, and Indira Gandhi. Most widely known as a yogi with deep and profound, lifelong religious training, Trijang was also a statesman, a preserver of culture, a poet, writer, and artist. His autobiography is a beautifully written tour-de-force account of Tibetan life in the twentieth century, including intimate details about the upbringing of the Dalai Lama.

Magical Play of Illusion: The Autobiography of Trijang Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 504 pp, $34.95

Trijang Rinpoche (1901-81) was the foremost student of Pabongka Rinpoche, the Junior Tutor of the present Dalai Lama, and the root lama of many of the first generation of great Gelug masters to teach in the West.

Sharpa Tulku Tenzin Trinley was born in Lhasa, Tibet, into the Rampa family, whose members served in Tibet's Ganden Phodrang government until 1959. He left Tibet following the Chinese occupation, and in India he spent time at the monastic settlement in Buxa and at Freda Bedi's Young Lamas Home School before being sent to the United States in 1962 for Western education along with Geshe Lhundub Sopa and two other tulkus. In 1966, he returned to Dharamsala, where he served on the Tibetan Council for Religious Affairs. Subsequently he joined the newly established Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, where he translated for Dharma classes and worked on many translations of Buddhist texts, including the Yamantaka Cycle Classics published by Tibet House, New Delhi, in 1990. He has translated orally for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Assistant Tutor Serkong Rinpoche, the Ninety-Eighth Ganden Throneholder Jampal Shenphen, Lati Rinpoche, and many other lamas and geshes. He moved to the United States in 1976 and currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin, with his family.

Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama	xv
Preface	xxvii
Translator's Introduction	1
Homage and Preliminary Remarks	13
1. The Beginning of My Life	17
2. Ordination and Early Education	27
3. Earning the Geshe Degree	45
4. Travels and Travails in Kham	81
5. A Period of Gain and Loss	123
6. Black Clouds on the Horizon	167
7. To China and Back	199
8. Storm Clouds Gathering	221
9. The Storm Breaks	243
10. Early Years of Exile	253
11. Distant Travels and Tragic News	291
12. Planting Roots of Virtue	319
13. Twilight Years	349
Translator's Colophon	377
Epilogue	379
Appendix: The Incarnation Lineage of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche	397
Notes	399
Glossary	423
Index	429
About the Translator	477