The Dalai Lama - Claude B Levenson

This biography of the exiled leader of the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama, tells how a lively child from a modest peasant family came to be recognized as the fourteenth reincarnation of the Buddha of Infinite Compassion and became embroiled in world politics.;Claude Levenson's search for Tenzin Gyatso, the present Dalai Lama, led her from one end of the Himalayas to the other, until she eventually found him in his headquarters-in-exile in Dharamsala. After many hours of personal interviews a picture emerged consisting of the various facets of where his personal and public history coincide.;The book portrays an important civilization based on a sophisticated Buddhist tradition which has since been carried to a receptive Western audience but which faces extinction in Tibet itself as a result of the Chinese invasion in 1959. The author gives an evaluation of the recent riots in Lhasa and the highly publicized visit of the Dalai Lama to London where he stated his new political programme of the Middle Way, allowing for a limited autonomy of Tibet.;Claude B. Levenson is a French orientalist and journalist with a special interest in Tibet and Buddhism. Her articles have been widely published and her previous publications include "The Road to Lhasa, a Voyage to Tibet".