Lost in Tibet
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Flying 'the Hump'
First Americans in Lhasa
British Mission in Lhasa
Chinese Mission in Lhasa
Tibetan independence
Chinese invasion
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Richard Starks
Miriam Murcutt
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Along The River
that Flows Uphill
Lost in
Tibet
by Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt
The Dalai Lama
Tibetan history has three main figures who tower above all others.
The first is Songsten Gampo, who unified Tibet in the 7th century, and introduced writing to the country, along with a code of law, and the even-then-ancient Buddhist religion, which he hoped would displace the shamanistic faith of Bon.
The second is a monk named Tsong-khapa, who, in the 15th century, founded the monasteries of Sera and Ganden, and began construction of the Potala. More importantly, he also founded the Gelugpa order, from which future Dalai Lamas would be drawn.
The third towering figure is the fifth Dalai Lama - the so-called 'Great Fifth' - who, in the 17th century, cemented the Gelugpa grip on power and, for the first time, united Tibet's secular and spiritual authority, bringing them together in his own person.
Unfortunately, the Great Fifth also bequeathed the Tibetans a major problem - that of succession.
As explained in Lost in Tibet:
"Celibate rulers like Dalai Lamas do not leave natural heirs, so when one of them dies, a search must be mounted to find a successor. But because a Dalai Lama is not just a secular leader, but is also a spiritual one, Tibetans must first discover his reincarnated spirit in the body of a child, and then wait up to eighteen-or-so years while the infant matures. Only then can the country once more enjoy legitimate rule. Inevitably, there is a gap - filled by a Regent who might not be suitable, or who might not be willing to surrender his powers once his charge comes of age.
"Since the time of the Great Fifth, Tibet has been ruled more by Regents than by Dalai Lamas, and many of those Regents have been thoroughly corrupt. So, too, have a significant number of Dalai Lamas. Selected as infants when their characters were unknown, they have occasionally developed into adults of questionable merit. When the Great Fifth died, Tibetans waited fifteen years for his successor to mature - only to discover that their new leader had no interest in his temporal duties, and preferred to express the spiritual side of his nature by way of alcoholic binges and sexual orgies."
The current - 14th - Dalai
Lama is notably different. He was born in 1935 as Tenzin Gyatso, and
was proclaimed as the reincarnation of Avalokiteswara, the Bodhisattva
of Compassion, two years later, when it was discovered that he
exhibited many of the qualities that marked him out as the next
god-king."He had the sign of the conch imprinted on one of his hands," says Lost in Tibet. "His eyes, and his eyebrows, sloped back at the correct angle - upwards. And his ears were both of the requisite size - large. Furthermore, when he was shown a selection of apparently random household objects - a teacup, prayer wheel, and bell - he was able to pick out those that had belonged to his immediate predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, because, of course, the objects had once been his, during his previous incarnation."
The Dalai Lama (shown above as a child) was in Lhasa when the five American airmen - whose story is told in Lost in Tibet - arrived in that city in 1943. He was then eight years old, and saw the Americans from his home in the Potala.
In 1959, after the brutal suppression of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama was forced into exile. Since then, he has lived in Dharamsala, the seat of Tibet's government in exile in northern India.
In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He continues to be a major figure on the world stage, but describes himself as a 'simple Buddhist monk'.
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©
Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt
Lost in Tibet
"An entertaining and well-written book. The authors tell this story with an exemplary understanding of the issues, and prove themselves masters of the Himalayan terrain. An amazing story, still remarkably fresh 60 years after the fact." - National Geographic Adventure.
"This is a fine story of courage and diplomacy that presents invaluable information on a little-known theater of WWII and insight into the Tibet-China political situation." - Booklist.