Journey For Peace: His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama - Hardcover

Ricard, Matthieu; Schmidt, Christian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3039390066 ISBN 13: 9783039390069

Publisher: Scalo Verlag Ac, 2005

Synopsis

Photographer Manuel Bauer has photographed the Dalai Lama for years. The privileged access granted him by His Holiness and his entourage have enabled Bauer to offer us these powerful images, oscillating between the spiritual and the personal, the public and the intimate, the epic and the anecdotal. About the Swiss-born photographer the Dalai Lama says: "Manuel Bauer is more than simply a professional: he is a close friend of mine. He also knows a great deal about Tibet, about the Tibetan community, and he has spent years making himself familiar with our culture. He understands Tibet comprehensively, as he does the exile community; and he knows me very well too. It is this knowledge that allows his pictures to say so much about their subjects." Bauer paints a unique and irreplacable portrait of one of the most remarkable figures in recent history. And the book contains numerous quotes from and interviews with the Dalai Lama, plus a full timeline about Tibet’s yesterday and today. "From the early morning until late into the night, and even in our dreams, we experience all kinds of perceptions. We go from being relaxed to being anxious, we feel sometimes anger, sometimes desire, sometimes compassion. Those are transitory states of mind that come and go, from moment to moment. But there must indeed be something that is aware of all this, a continuity of cognition that keeps on experiencing it even after we fall asleep. Yet that something is usually hidden to us, as if behind a curtain. So we need to remove that curtain.""Promoting science is very important. After all, it is looking for the same thing as Buddhism: the truth! I am more and more convinced that Buddhist monks, too, should study modern science. They could use science to help understand the nature of atoms and quarks, which would in turn help them to grasp the physical aspects of the Buddhist definition of the transitory nature of all things. That is very important. On the other hand, modern science is not very advanced in the understanding of consciousness, although consciousness, or awareness, is a major physical aspect."

There is no doubt that some Tibetans will appreciate this book which I have seen and approved, that they will like it. Others, of course, may be more disturbed by it, and that’s only normal. People are so different: just think of Buddha, or Jesus Christ, and of how many people have admired these great masters. And yet at the same time there have also been critical voices among the choruses of praise. This is simply human nature.—Dalai Lama

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Timed to be published on the Dalai Lama's 70th birthday, this coffee table book aims to provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of His Holiness. For the most part it succeeds, although more through the photographs than the text. The introductory essay is well-written and offers engaging tidbits that devotees will relish (e.g., that His Holiness says prayers while he walks the treadmill early each morning, or that his friends wish he would suspend his heavy travel schedule to protect his health). But it sometimes veers into hagiography, fawning over its subject and presenting the Dalai Lama's words in red letters so they leap off the page. In contrast, the photographs depict a more nuanced, fragile human being and portray the spiritual leader's humility and humor. Manuel Bauer, a Swiss photographer, followed His Holiness for three years on more than 30 trips, even recording the more intimate moments of the lama's day: his early morning private meditations, the oral transmission of his teachings, or his relaxation at mealtimes or in front of the evening news. The book concludes with a helpful chronology in which events in the lives of Tibet's many Dalai Lamas are juxtaposed against world events (although the American Revolution is incorrectly listed as occurring in the 1760s).
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About this edition

• Publisher: Scalo Verlag Ac
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 3039390066
• ISBN 13: 9783039390069
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 291