Freedom in exile The autobiography of the Dalai Lama

This book gives some picture of Tibetan daily life and a few anecdotes, but because the reign of the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet has been conducted largely in exile, it is not surprising that much of his story is concerned with the tangled problem of Tibet's relationship with China over the past 40 years. One striking feature of the book is one's sense that the Dalai Lama is a fundamentally ordinary individual despite a life that--beginning with his being ``discovered'' as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama at the age of three--was always most out of the ordinary. His winning the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize will increase curiosity about this man and his world view, so perhaps more readers will explore the quiet wisdom of his philosophy and see the eloquent result of a tradition that has the abiding sense not to divorce statesmanship from true spirituality. Highly recommended.-- Mark Woodhouse, Gannett Tripp Lib., Elmira Coll., N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

With candor, great charm, and good humor, the winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize tells his life story. And what a life: born into a farming family only to be recognized at age three as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion; taken to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa to endure a painfully lonely youth as a ""god-king""; enthroned as Tibet's temporal leader at age 15 in response to an imminent Chinese invasion; fleeing through blizzard-swept mountain passes into exile in India at age 23; finding in that exile the ""freedom""--spiritual, of course--of the title, even in the face of the subsequent massacre by the Chinese of one sixth of the Tibetan population. Writing directly in beguiling, if slightly fractured, English, the Dalai Lama traces these events in only roughly chronological order, mixing his astonishing reminiscences (from ""blowing bubbles of spit"" onto prostrate worshippers at age seven to matching wits against Mao and Nehru 13 years later) with frank discussions of Tibetan Buddhist practice and belief (he scoffs at astrology, embraces the power of compassion, and wonders if he might next be incarnated as an insect); with accounts of his daily routine (up at 4:00 a.m.) and of his globe-trotting (high marks for the UK, less so for America, whose political system ""sometimes. . .does not live up to its own ideas""). Above all, however, he writes of Tibet and its suffering as a dismembered nation, of building a new life in India and preserving Tibetan heritage, of constant diplomatic jousting with the Chinese, and of his hope that a future free Tibet (which he envisions as a Buddhist-Marxist democracy) may be a ""zone of Ahimsa"" (peace and nonviolence) to ""help dispel the misery of the world."" From the supernatural marvels of Shangra-La to the life-and-death maneuverings of Realpolitik: an earnest, inspiring, and wholly captivating classic tale of spiritual adventure. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.