Beginning in a world that was so alien to our present society, the current Dalai Lama commences his autobiography 'Freedom in Exile' with a detailed description of life in pre-occupied Tibet; a society that had managed to remain untouched by the effects of modernization and secularism that have moulded our civilization into its present shape. He retails his own experience of living in monastic Tibet, from his `discovery' as the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, to his eventual enthronement as the supreme leader of the remote nation.

However, it was with the 1950 occupation of Tibet by the People's Liberation Army that forced Tibet into the eye of the international community. The invasion by China and the subsequent demolition of Tibetan society piece by piece, and life by life, is recounted in astonishing detail, as is the inspiring efforts by the Dalai Lama in attempting to challenge the actions of the Communist Party of China, which included several personal meetings with the seemingly amiable Chairman Mao. Engrossingly, he explains the chain of events which eventually led to his exile from his native land, and his life-long commitment to championing the people of Tibet against Communist oppression.

The Dalai Lama is clearly a formidable writer, and details his life in an immensely holding fashion. While the Dalai Lama is a religious leader, and while there are sections of the book which explain Buddhist thought, `Freedom in Exile' is not a religious work, nor even a book about religion. It is, however, the self-told life of an influential, and seemingly incorruptible, political figure who defends his homeland and its people with an all-too rare intensity While it an obvious fact that an autobiography by the Dalai Lama will be biased towards the Tibetan cause, it is a much maligned truth that not all situations have two equally opposing positions. Anyone who takes the time to read this book should conclude with the same opinion.

Since I will be seeing the Dahli Lama in September, I wanted to catch up on some of his story. He seems to be a very sincere and intelligent man with the well being of his people at heart. I was quite ignorant of the history of Tibet and found the book very interesting and well worth the read.

Don

Seeing the Cultural Revolution from the eyes of the Dalai Lama is very interesting and sets the stage for a very sad and imformative story.

Knowing nothing at all about His Holiness The Dalai Lama or Tibet/China relations I was eager to learn more. As a convert from Catholicisim to Buddhism, I was pleased to read that the Dalai Lama considers himself to be just a regular human, who was chosen to fulfill a specific role. After reading this book, you get the sense that he would be a very pleasant person to talk with.
On the downside, I was absolutely shocked to read about what the Chinese Government has done to Tibet and its people. Tibet is a peace loving country and to be in the army, was the lowest form of life. A 17 point 'agreement' was drawn up by the Chinese for Tibet. Members of the Tibetan delegation were forced under duress to sign the agreement and phony Tibetan state seals were used. Large Tibetan estates were confiscated and redistributed by the Chinese. After monks and nuns were arrested, they were forced, in public, to break their vows of celibacy with one another and even to kill people.
The Tibetan Freedom Fighters were no match for the Chinese army. Besides using bombers to obliterate towns and villages, the Chinese army also crucified, disembowelled, beheaded and buried many Tibetans alive. In order to prevent Tibetans from giving praise to the Dalai Lama on their way to execution, the Chinese tore out their tongues with meat hooks.
It was really disheartening to read about what happened to these people. I think this is a book that everyone at some point needs to read. It really opened my eyes.

This was the first book I had ever read by (or about) the Dalai Lama. I thought it was a great introduction to his life and his way of thinking. Overall I thought this was a great book. I think everyone should read it.

Not long ago, the question was posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as to why he penned his autobiography -- Freedom in Exile. To this query he responded with: `I am human being who had quite a lot of sad situation, yet my mental health seems not bad. I think some people might find some idea [in my tale], some small contribution for inner peace, for happiness.' The story starts in a small village in the roof of the world at an altitude of 3 miles deep in Eastern Tibet... Lhamo Thondup was only 2 when the monks came to fetch him 1937. The search party waltz right into his peasant parents' farmhouse and things were never the same again. Lhamo Thondup was eventually taken away to Lhasa -- the fabled capital in the Land of the Snows. He was God - recognized through the a dozen omens - skeptics will always question - (a) the way the head of the recently deceased 13th Dalai Lama had turned in its coffin toward the east, (b) the direction of the boy's home, and (3) the vision of the child's very house seen in the lake of Lhamo Lhatso by a Reting Rinpoche. When the young Lhamo was escorted to the late 13th Dalai Lama's room at the summer palace in Norbulingka, the toddler allegedly motioned toward a little case and announced nonchalantly, `My teeth are in there.' To the amazement of the accompanying monks a set of the late 13th false teeth were contained therein.

The Dalai Lama told Newsweek, `Exile has made me tougher.' Moreover, according to his younger brother Tenzin Choegyal, exile has `enabled him [the Dalai Lama] to realize his full potential.' This achievement did have a price -- in the Potala, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was both secluded and isolated. If one positive thing has resulted from his having to depart Tibet, was that he was brought closer to the plight of his own people and the rest of the world. Tenzin Gyatso, now the 14th Dalai Lama was given the chance to see things as they really are. In `Freedom in Exile' the message becomes a universal one - one that transcends a locality and that is what makes this book so compelling and necessary. From being the most secluded leader of the modern world, the 14th Dalai Lama is now among the most traveled, most celebrated and best known. The humble figure in maroon robes has become the locus of attention for the world's angst about Chinese authoritarianism and ideological expansion. The situation of the Tibetans - as penned by the Dalai Lama in `Freedom in Exile' is proof positive that despite Mao's utterances that `Religion is Poison' - we are left thinking perhaps the reverse is true - `Non-Religion is Poison'.

Ironically, this is not the role to which he was born. The Dalai Lama not have mixed with ordinary people in Tibet if it had not been for the Chinese invasion. I guess this statement may never be proven true nor false as it hinges on pure speculation. In `Freedom in Exile' the Dalai Lama does allude to the need form change j-but not at the pace and form that the Chinese used. As he outlines in his autobiography, `Freedom in Exile,' on the rare occasions he left his official residence -- the cold 1,000-room Potala palace in Lhasa -- he moved past his minions on a yellow silk palanquin, pulled by 20 army officers in green cloaks and red hats and surrounded by hundreds of men: monks and musicians, sword-wielding horsemen and `porters carrying my songbirds in cages and my personal belongings all wrapped in yellow silk.' To ensure the people didn't get too near, the monastic police encircled the whole entourage. `In their hands they carried long whips, which they would not hesitate to use,' he wrote. Sad for one so attuned now to the needs of his people.

The country over which he ruled was a land of people who believed the Buddha's tenet that one's action in this life determines one's fate in the next. Since the establishment of Buddhism as Tibet's chief religion in the eighth century, parents had inculcated into their children that all life, animal and human, is sacred. `I have never seen less evidence of hatred, envy, malice and uncharitableness [than in Tibet],' penned Hugh Richardson, British India's trade consul to the remote nation in the 1940s. However, that peace in the `Rooftop of the World' was violently destroyed when in 1950, 84,000 PLA troops launched a dawn offensive against six different positions along the border. According to his account, in 1959, the Dalai Lama, by then age 24, fled for his life through the snow across 17,000-foot Himalayan passes into India in an effort to preserve his nation, his people and his heritage. Since then, he has lived in the Indian mountain village of Dharamsala, the capital of the Tibetan government-in-exile. The book is full of references to a man with a sense of purpose -- rising at 4 a.m. daily to meditate, meet with cabinet members and refugees and pursue worldly interests that include Western neurobiology and physics.

Miguel Llora