His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama is known to the world for his efforts to preserve Tibetan culture and for his inspiring spiritual teachings. Often unnoticed, however, is the long, colorful history from which this most beloved of holy men has emerged. In Secret Lives of the Dalai Lama, Alexander Norman tells this story in full for the first time, from Tibetan Buddhism's foundational narratives to the present-day crisis faced by Tibet.
And what a story it is. Along with dedicated monks selflessly serving the Tibetan people, among His Holiness' spiritual forebears there are a Dalai Lama who waged wars, a womanizing and inebriated poet, and several who wound up dead following disputes over temporal power. Also, while Western practitioners focus on Tibetan Buddhism's liberating vision of enlightenment, it simultaneously contains ritual practices of prophecy and magic, as well as a vivid pantheon of deities and demons.
In the end, although Tibet falls short of the Western myths of a Himalayan utopia, by illuminating the historical struggle toward compassion and selflessness embodied in the Dalai Lama lineage, Secret Lives of the Dalai Lama ultimately reveals a reality that is vastly more compelling than any romance of Shangri-La and provides deeper reasons for admiring Tibetan tradition.
Alexander Norman has known HIs Holiness the Dalai Lama since 1988 and has previously worked closely with him on his bestselling books Freedom in Exile and Ethics for the New Millennium. He is currently a member of Blackfriars Hall at the University of Oxford.
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Contents: SECRET LIVES of the DALAI LAMA: The untold story of the holy men who shaped Tibet, from pre-history to the present day |
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Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama |
ix |
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Acknowledgments |
xiii |
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A Note on Spelling and Pronunciation |
xvii |
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Introduction |
1 |
| 1. |
The Tragedy of Lobsang Gyatso
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5 |
| 2. |
Chenrezig: The One Who Looks Down in Compassion |
15 |
| 3. |
Of Silk, Spice, and the Way of the Buddha |
26 |
| 4. |
A Lion Among Men |
33 |
| 5. |
The Later Dharmarajahs |
53 |
| 6. |
Like a Beggar Saying He Is King, Like a Donkey Dressed in Lion's Skin |
69 |
| 7. |
Lama Drom and the Followers of the Doctrine |
79 |
| 8. |
Ozer and the Treasure-Revealers |
92 |
| 9. |
The Nameless Religion: Tibet's Folk Tradition |
99 |
| 10. |
Priests and Patrons, Phagpa, and the Sakya Ascendancy |
112 |
| 11. |
The Lineage of the Sacred Words: An Alternative Tradition |
137 |
| 12. |
Tsongkhapa and the Dance of the Yellow Robe |
151 |
| 13. |
Gendun Drub, the "First" Dalai Lama |
162 |
| 14. |
A Mad Beggar Monk |
171 |
| 15. |
Sonam Gyatso, the Ocean Lama |
181 |
| 16. |
Yonten Gyatso, Son of the Eastern Hor |
192 |
| 17. |
Lobsang Gyatso and the Unification of Tibet |
200 |
| 18. |
The Great Fifth |
215 |
| 19. |
The Tibetan God the Father Who Puts to Death Such as Refuse to Adore Him: An Interlude |
245 |
| 20. |
The Scandalous Sixth |
258 |
| 21. |
A Puppet and a Pretender |
280 |
| 22. |
The Manchurian Candidate |
287 |
| 23. |
The Reluctant Eighth |
306 |
| 24. |
Rule by Regent |
317 |
| 25. |
The Great Thirteenth |
332 |
| 26. |
Tenzin Gyatso |
356 |
| 27. |
Freedom in Exile |
376 |
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Notes |
389 |
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A Note on Sources |
402 |
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Bibliography |
404 |
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Index |
426 |
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