Prisoners of Shangri-La

Readers of the controversies in Buddhist newsgroups over the nature of Tibetan Buddhism will find that this book set out many of the arguments expressed, and discussed them with rather more clarity and evidence than is usually found there.

Controversialists may be advised to consult Lopez before launching their polemics into cyberspace: you may find that your argument has been already put, more clearly, by Professor Lopez somewhere in this book.

Lopez' concern in this text is not Tibetan Buddhism per se, but with its reception in the west. It seems the first westerner to encounter the specifically Tibetan (or Mongol) form of Buddhism was a Flemish monk called William of Rubruck in 1254 and since then westerners have been trying to understand and write about Tibetan Buddhism with varying degrees of success and accuracy.

Lopez deals with specific issues: the term 'lamaism', the 'Tibetan Book of the Dead', Lobsang Rampa, 'om mani padme hum', Tibetan religious art, western academic study of Tibetan Buddhism, and recent events. Each of these is a narrative of its own, but they share common themes, mainly that (in Lopez' opinion) most commentators have got it wrong (e.g. 'om mani padme hum' doesn't mean "the jewel is in the lotus").

I'm hardly in a position to say whether Lopez has got it right, but anyone who wants to understand this area better should read this book.

I must admit I only borrowed it from the city library. But readers may find it interesting. If nothing else, they will find that a lot of the stuff about Tibetan Buddhism that appears on Buddhist newsgroups (no names mentioned) has already been said many times over the past century or so.

Lopez, Donald S.. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West.. 1998, University of Chicago Press, place of publication. {paper|hard}back. number of pages pages.