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Title: Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity by Melvyn C. Goldstein, Matthew Kapstein ISBN: 0-520-21131-6 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A fair and balanced look
Comment: Having traveled extensively through Tibet and Sichuan and Qinghai provinces, and lived in Beijing, I was interested in reading a book recommended to me as "a true look". First of all, the comments of the first reviewer are absolutely dead wrong. Having read the Chinese propaganda, and really lived the Chinese propaganda, this is not it. Rather, it is one of the only pieces of scholarship about Tibet in recent history that doesn't fall victim to the Western agenda of portraying Tibet as sympathetically as possible. This is a complex issue, and both sides have done their best to skewer public opinion in their favor; however, to accuse these men of simply being mouthpieces of the Communist party is doing a great disservice to what is truly a breath of fresh air. For a good look at propaganda, go to a Beastie Boys concert. I applaud the editors for keeping politics out of their writing. I highly recommend this text to anyone curious about the real situation in Tibet.
Rating: 4
Summary: Informative and challenging academic analysis
Comment: Having read the preceding comments, I find myself in sympathy with all of them to a certain extent (some more than others). Goldstein and Kapstein's informative and challenging edited collection is precisely that - a collection, and includes viewpoints from a variety of academic researchers on Tibet. AS a result, it does not constitute the accepted 'word' on Tibet, nor in fact does it present ANY single viewpoint. Certainly, it does not deserve the accusations heaped on it by the first reviewer, but at the same time, the editors DO come to a particular view of Tibetan political consciousness that not everyone wouyld agree with. That view, if I might summerise, is roughly that the national identity generated around Tibetan Buddhism is not necessarily a prelude to full-blown Tibetan nationalism, and therefore that Tibetan Buddhism can be allowed to flourish by the Chinese authorities without it necessarily generating sympathy for the independence movement). Personally I do not agree with this perspective, and it is clear that the writers are attempting to produce an academic analysis which, as the Tibetan writer Tsering Shakya has recently argued for, cuts a path between the various absolute "black-or-white" political positions that surround the Tibet issue. At the same time, the authors take odds with the widespread view that ALL Buddhism in Tibet is forbidden, and argue that (thankfully) many Tibetans are capable of negotiating a meaningful Buddhist revival despite Chinese communist rule (the extent to which this holds true in the 2 years since this book was published is another issue). As a result, it IS possible to read this collection as proposing an analytical agenda which is not exactly "on-message" in terms of the position of certain pro-Tibet groups, but that is a LONG way from saying that it is Chinese political orthodoxy.
Rating: 4
Summary: Goldstein provides an informed and intellectual assesment.
Comment: I am surprised by a reader's comments regarding this book as being one of misinformation considering that Melvyn Goldstein is one of the (if not THE) foremost scholar on Tibetan buddhism in the country. One aspect of this book, and Dr. Goldstein's point of reference that must be kept in mind, is that Goldstein separates political Tibet from what he refers to as "ethnic Tibet". He is neither pro-communist China nor pro-political Tibet in his stance, but rather gives an educated and informed look at a political situation that, through a lack of reasonable compromise, has escalted to the point that the Dalai Lama will be forced to make some difficult choices in the next few years. This book outlines both the political and the ethnic situation in Tibet and explains how buddhism has played a major role in both. I feel if you want an informed and balanced view of the situation, than any of Goldstein's books would provide you with the necessary information to form an intelligent argument.
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Title: Prisoners of Shangri-LA : Tibetan Buddhism and the West by Donald S. Lopez Jr. ISBN: 0226493113 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947 by Tsering Shakya ISBN: 0140196153 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 03 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers ISBN: 1559390263 Publisher: Snow Lion Publications Pub. Date: 01 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Tibetan Civilization by R.A. Stein ISBN: 0804709017 Publisher: Stanford University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1972 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Imagining Tibet : Perceptions, Projections, and Fantasies by Thierry Dodin, Heinz Rather ISBN: 0861711912 Publisher: Wisdom Publications Pub. Date: 15 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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