Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West

by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Book Overview

Prisoners of Shangri-La is a provocative analysis of the romance of Tibet, a romance that, even as it is invoked by Tibetan lamas living in exile, ultimately imprisons those who seek the goal of Tibetan independence from Chinese occupation.

"Lopez lifts the veil on America's romantic vision of Tibet to reveal a country and a spiritual history more complex and less ideal than popular perceptions allow. . . . Lively and engaging, Lopez's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226493113
• ISBN13: 9780226493114
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Backstage pass

to one of the biggest gigs touring the world right now. The book, written in the best academese, presents a clear view of the West's distortion, and the history of that distortion-making, vis-à-vis Tibet and Tibet's version of Buddhism. The book is laid out into seven neat chapters, each bearing a single-word title that feels Borgesian in its cryptic minimalism. Each chapter deals with one of the events and objects that have structured for the West the illusion called Tibet. They are (and refer to): 1. The Name (the term `Lamaism') 2. The Book (The Tibetan Book of the Dead) 3. The Eye (the book, `The Third Eye' by T. Lobsang Rampa) 4. The Spell (the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum) 5. The Art (Thangkas, Mandalas, Wrathful Deities, Skull cups, etc) 6. The Field (of Buddhist Studies and Tibetology in the US) 7. The Prison (the collective illusion regarding "Tibet" and her mysteries) Yes, the debunking is sobering as well as entertaining, as it is done with solid scholarly information delivered with biting wit and even Wildean sarcasm at times. But the most interesting things the author mentions are questions and remain still as questions: Namely, the question of Tibetan clergy's willing "collusion" or co-option of the West's tendency to "psychologize" the Buddhist doctrine. For example, there is a marked tendency on the part of the Tibetan Lamas and American academics to veer away from interpreting the Six Realms as anything more than so many "psychological states" in this present incarnation but that is certainly NOT the way most Tibetans have been taught. Moreover, there is a Dalai Lama approved move to present to the West a user-friendly version of Tibetan Buddhism that is totally devoid of the really weird stuff that "formerly" took up (and still takes up for the average Tibetan) the bulk of what that faith used to be all about "back home": exorcism, magic, animistic rituals, etc., stuff that would be totally unacceptable in the modern West. The last chapter deals a bit with the so-called Shugden Affair that may have played a part in the murder of an old Lama and his two students who supported the Dalai Lama's new policy (after consulting an oracle) to outlaw Shugden (a protecting deity of the Geluk sect) worship. This was not widely reported in the media but apparently this was/is a big deal among the Tibetans in the dressing room backstage even as they continue to put on a great show on stage. No doubt, Tibetan Buddhism, even in its Americanized (low fat, low salt, Stuart Smalley) version has something to offer to some people - if not to the West as a whole, then at least to the Tibetans' image. But are we in the West willing, ready, and daring enough to meet the Tibetans on their own religious turf and do what they do and eat what they eat, so to speak? If not, maybe going back to church and listening to a familiar sermon may not be entirely a bad idea for those who must have religion. Let's not forget, nobody in China has ever hear

Tibetology Deconstructed

This is a very unique analysis of how the idea of Tibet has been constructed by outsiders, especially those of far different Western cultures. Tibet has been described as everything from a backward haunt of crude barbarians to a paradise of pure thought and devotion. Lopez shows us that neither of these is accurate, and that Tibet is possibly the one location and culture on Earth that has been most heavily analyzed by outsiders who have never been there, or talked to its natives or leaders. Lopez tackles this subject from a purely academic angle, and his writing tends to get bogged down in esoteric theory (lighten up on the hermeneutics, sir), along with occasional egghead professor-speak like "Tibetan Buddhism was then constructed as the other of this other ('original Buddhism')." Apart from those difficulties, we do get a mostly fascinating debunking of inaccurate Western pontifications about Tibet, like an exhaustive deconstruction of the West's misunderstanding of the familiar "om mani padme hum" mantra, or a treatise on why the European fraud Lobsang Rampa (not a real Tibetan) could be taken seriously. Of course Lopez has much to say about our modern celebrity Buddhists and the popular Free Tibet movement, all of which are riddled with inaccuracies. Lopez also gives us the true responsibilities and goals of the Dalai Lama, who is a worthy international icon but not necessarily the undisputed God of his people. Other books provide the background on Tibetan history, religion, and geography. But this book is a must-read for anyone interested in attaining accurate knowledge of the Tibetans and their struggles. [~doomsdayer520~]

Iluminating...

It seems to me that the unblinking and unforgiving light of rationality and critical deconstruction (such as textual criticism) has already been shining for a century or more on Christianity. This kind of examination of other religions is just beginning; this book is an example. I disagree that it is "too scholarly" -- I was engaged pretty much from beginning to end. If you need to counterbalance years of overly-romantic information about Tibet, this book fits the bill.

Sentimentality Is The Enemy Of Truth

As worthy as the Tibetan people's cause is, Lopez demonstrates that Western sentimentality and condescension aren't the ways to help. Tibetan Buddhism is not just a fashionable metaphor, as so many celebrities and intellectuals take it. It's a *religion* that is taken literally and seriously by its adherents. As such, it has customs and beliefs that shouldn't be shrugged off by upscale college kids looking for their worldview-of-the-week. People who are too quick to judge any religion, for good or ill and whatever their motives are, just get in the way. This book should be required reading for anyone who assumes they know something about Eastern thought.

Life following Art

This is a most interesting account of the reception and influence of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. Towards the end of his book, Professor Lopez discusses Oscar Wilde's paradoxical maxim that "Life imitates Art" and views this as summarizing in a nutshell the West's attitude towards Tibet. Professor Lopez shows how the West's fascination with Tibet is of long duration and stems from a need to project to this esoteric little-known culture a spiritual search the West, or some people in it, are making for themselves. Tibet and its Buddhism thus become vehicles for the transmission of ideas that sometimes are only remotely related to this source.Thus, most broadly, in the late 19th century, the Victorians viewed Buddhism as a form of rational religion under which one could live ethically and spiritually without a theology, a frightening God, or revelation. (This remains one of the attractions of Buddhism today for Westerners.) Tibetan Buddhism, with its mantras, its many divinities, its paintings and chants was viewed by many as in derogation of the teachings of "original Buddhism."Later writers, influenced by Theosophy, the occult, the drug culture, or New Age, found in Tibet materials to support their predelictions, sometimes on the most questionable bases. What was missing in all of this, according to Professor Lopez, was an attention to Tibetans themselves and to Tibetan sources.Thus we learn about the Tibetan "Book of the Dead", the Tibetan mantra "Om Padhe... Hum", its art, as reflected through different Western eyes. We learn about the Tibetans in exile and about the Dali Lama's attempts to hold his people together while creating a world-wide basis of support. I was particularly interested in Professor Lopez's discussion of the growth of Tibetan Buddhist studies in the Universities and of his discussion of the sometimes uneasy alliance between the worlds of scholarship and reflection on one hand and popular culture on the other hand.This book is valuable for what it shows about distortions of Tibet and of how we mold reality to suit our needs. There is some spritual quest, though, or need that underlies the interests that many bring to Tibetan Buddhism and to Buddhism in general. That seeking, and the message that one may find in Buddhism of an analysis of the human condition that is separate from particularities of time and culture, is what is of value, I think, in the revival of interest in Buddhism. It will survive distortions or cultural fads of the moment.