Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land in Read by Theme

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Sep 25, 2011 Shomeret rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, my-reviews, travel

The historical aspect of this book is very noteworthy. I learned that the first ruling lama of Tibet to carry the title of "Dalai" was a Mongol Khan and that Dalai is a Mongol word that means "ocean". From a Mongol cultural standpoint this is very interesting because Mongols had a longstanding historical aversion to the ocean. This also lends credence to the idea, mentioned in this book, that the Dalai Lama as a single reincarnated being (tulku) is not an actuality, but a political strategy. It The historical aspect of this book is very noteworthy. I learned that the first ruling lama of Tibet to carry the title of "Dalai" was a Mongol Khan and that Dalai is a Mongol word that means "ocean". From a Mongol cultural standpoint this is very interesting because Mongols had a longstanding historical aversion to the ocean. This also lends credence to the idea, mentioned in this book, that the Dalai Lama as a single reincarnated being (tulku) is not an actuality, but a political strategy. It can't be a coincidence that this tulku reincarnated as a Mongol twice while the Mongols were politically ascendant in Tibet. The other possibility that I find equally believable is that this is a very political tulku who reincarnates to preserve the interests of Tibet. On the other hand, French cites the current Dalai Lama's political ineptness in his dealings with the Chinese. I'm not sure that French is correct that the Dalai Lama doesn't understand politics. Perhaps he has realized that the best chances for the survival of Tibetan Buddhism lie with an alliance with sympathetic Westerners. French later says that a free Tibet isn't possible without a free China, and I think that's very evident. Yet a radical change in China's political system isn't likely within the forseeable future.

French contextualizes the Chinese invasion of Tibet within Chinese history. His evaluation of Mao was very illuminating for me. He characterizes Mao as an individual who enjoyed causing turmoil. If this was his goal, he was very successful at it. But he was no benign Trickster figure from some sanitized fairy tale for children. His mischief caused death and destruction on a gargantuan scale.

Right after I read this book, I read an article in Smithsonian magazine that seemed like a supplement to this book. French had observed that the Chinese have been incredibly bad at projecting a positive image of their occupation of Tibet. I agree that PR wasn't a priority for China in the past, but I believe that this is changing and that they have grown much more sophisticated about it. This Smithsonian article called "Lucky Bird" is about a Tibetan monk named Tashi Zangpo devoted to bird conservation in Tibet. He works very closely with a Chinese graduate student and tells Tibetan children "As Buddhists, this is something we have to do--we have to protect the birds and animals that don't have any other protection." So we are supposed to think that Tibetan monks have complete religious freedom, and that Tibetans and Chinese are one big happy family. Why do I suspect that this is very similar to Chevron's greenwashing TV ad campaign in which they congratulated themselves for their token environmental activities? But this article does represent a very good piece of PR. I am quite sure that the author couldn't have conducted interviews with anyone in Tibet without the total cooperation of the Chinese authorities.

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Jan 17, 2012 Gaijinmama marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Oct 05, 2011 Manish Gosalia marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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