Description:

The suppression of Tibet’s cultural heritage has the potential to set a precedent for all oppressed peoples of the world. Perched on the top of the world, changes in Tibet’s ecosystem affect the entire global climate. And, most importantly, Tibet is the spiritual and physical home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, though he can never return.

But why should Tibet matter to you? Tibet is more than its mountains, its monks, and its martyrs. Robert Thurman, renowned Tibetan scholar, teacher, and activist, presents his provocative, five-point plan that will enable China to win the respect of the entire world by allowing Tibet to regain its cultural, economic, and political autonomy. Thurman shows how the Dalai Lama’s tireless work is the harbinger of peace for the world and essential for human survival.

The book outlines several key factors that will educate and empower readers to take action: What is the history of Tibet, and how do the political, religious, ecological, and social factors affect each other?- Who is the Dalai Lama, and why does his work matter to the world? What does the China-Tibet relationship mean to the global community? What can individuals do to bring attention to this issue, and make a change where they are? How can the five-point plan be used as a model of peaceful change throughout the world?

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Tibetan scholar Thurman paints a splendid portrait of the Dalai Lama and masterfully elucidates the 50-year-old conflict between Tibet and China in this timely analysis. The author presents an eloquent introduction to Buddhism and the Tibetan concept of the Dalai Lama before focusing on the current living embodiment of the Buddha—a man born as Tenzin Gyatso—the 14th Dalai Lama. Thurman sympathetically renders his lifelong friend as a simple Buddhist monk, a teacher, philosopher, scientist and the political representative of the Tibetan people, who has achieved renown for holding together a large refugee community and preserving its culture. Promulgating a common human religion of kindness, the Nobel Peace laureate lobbies for a peaceful resolution to the question of Tibetan autonomy within China, while espousing love, altruism and spirituality as the forces that will lead mankind into a kinder, happier twenty-first century. The book concludes with a five-step plan to broker peace between Tibet and China—an agenda simultaneously pragmatic and idealistic, demonstrating truly the talent and power of faith. (June)
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From Booklist

Thurman’s commitment to Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, and Tibet reaches back to 1964, and now inspires a bold blueprint for a solution to the China-Tibet conflict and a host of world problems, from environmental degradation to poverty, political tyranny, militarism, and the abuse of women. What’s needed, Thurman writes, is a “cool” revolution guided by the Dalai Lama, a universally revered religious figure and “secular ethical leader.” Thurman makes his case by providing a fascinating overview of Tibetan Buddhist culture and the roles previous Dalai Lamas played in times of social upheaval, and by documenting the current Dalai Lama’s deep, encompassing knowledge and remarkable achievements. Thurman then presents an elegantly commonsensical and wildly improbable road map to a kinder, saner, and sustainable future that begins with China reinstating the Great Tibet Autonomous Region and designating this land of soul-stirring beauty and precious biodiversity “the largest environmental preserve in the world.” Thurman’s ideas are cogent if utopian; perhaps just imagining such a dream state would do us some good. --Donna Seaman