Breaking the spell

"Prisoners of Shangri-La" is a book exposing both pro-Tibetan and anti-Tibetan myths common in the West. The author, Donald Lopez, is a professor of Buddhist and Tibetan studies and a supporter of Tibet's right to independence. However, he seems to be frustrated about the misrepresentations Tibet common in the United States and Europe, including well-meaning ones. "Prisoners of Shangri-La" wants to set the record straight.

One chapter deals with the curious fate of a Tibetan mortuary text, known in the West as "The Tibetan Book of the Dead". The book has been interpreted and used by Theosophists, psychedelic freaks, the New Age and even a Western supporter of the Dalai Lama. The latter is particularly ironic, since "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" belongs to a competing tradition within Tibetan Buddhism. Quite a strange journey for a sectarian mortuary text from Tibet. Another chapter deals with "The Third Eye", a bestselling novel published in 1956. It's purportedly an autobiography of a Tibetan lama, Tuesday Lobsang Rampa. Actually, the book is a hoax. The real author was a very confused Englishman strangely obsessed with cats. His real identity was exposed by a group of angry scholars, who had hired a private eye to find the elusive author!

Lopez also reveals that Tibetan Buddhist studies in the United States are dominated by believers in Tibetan Buddhist religion. The "education" at times looks more like recruitment. Buyer beware.

There is also a section on the conflict between the Dalai Lama and the devotees of Shugden, a demon traditionally worshipped by the Dalai Lama's followers. The present Dalai Lama, however, wants the worship of Shugden to be suppressed, much to the consternation of true believers. Lopez also analyzes Dalai Lama's threefold role as political leader of the Tibetan nation, religious head of the Geluk sect within Tibetan Buddhism (which also has followers in Mongolia and Russia), and prominent representative of Buddhist modernism and ecumenic dialogue, something not traditionally associated with Tibetan Buddhism.

Finally, there are chapters on anti-Tibetan myths, such as the weird claims often made about Tibetan art (apparently, it's ugly - and this we are forced to hear from an artworld that gave us Duchamps, Pollock and Warhol).

"Prisoners of Shangri-La" is written in a boring, scholarly style and can be hard to read for the general public. It is, however, very interesting. It's also interesting to note that Lopez, despite his disclosures, nevertheless says very little about the more bizarre Tibetan traditions, including secret ritual sex, the use of corpses in nightly demon worship, etc.

Perhaps that would break the spell once and for all...