Reviews of Why The Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet and the World, by Robert Thurman.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Tibetan scholar Thurman paints a splendid portrait of the Dalai Lama and masterfully elucidates the 50-year-old conflict between Tibet and China in this timely analysis. The author presents an eloquent introduction to Buddhism and the Tibetan concept of the Dalai Lama before focusing on the current living embodiment of the Buddha—a man born as Tenzin Gyatso—the 14th Dalai Lama. Thurman sympathetically renders his lifelong friend as a simple Buddhist monk, a teacher, philosopher, scientist and the political representative of the Tibetan people, who has achieved renown for holding together a large refugee community and preserving its culture. Promulgating a common human religion of kindness, the Nobel Peace laureate lobbies for a peaceful resolution to the question of Tibetan autonomy within China, while espousing love, altruism and spirituality as the forces that will lead mankind into a kinder, happier twenty-first century. The book concludes with a five-step plan to broker peace between Tibet and China—an agenda simultaneously pragmatic and idealistic, demonstrating truly the talent and power of faith. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Thurman’s commitment to Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, and Tibet reaches back to 1964, and now inspires a bold blueprint for a solution to the China-Tibet conflict and a host of world problems, from environmental degradation to poverty, political tyranny, militarism, and the abuse of women. What’s needed, Thurman writes, is a “cool” revolution guided by the Dalai Lama, a universally revered religious figure and “secular ethical leader.” Thurman makes his case by providing a fascinating overview of Tibetan Buddhist culture and the roles previous Dalai Lamas played in times of social upheaval, and by documenting the current Dalai Lama’s deep, encompassing knowledge and remarkable achievements. Thurman then presents an elegantly commonsensical and wildly improbable road map to a kinder, saner, and sustainable future that begins with China reinstating the Great Tibet Autonomous Region and designating this land of soul-stirring beauty and precious biodiversity “the largest environmental preserve in the world.” Thurman’s ideas are cogent if utopian; perhaps just imagining such a dream state would do us some good.

–Donna Seaman

“No one has worked harder to bring Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism and the special power of the Dalai Lama to American audiences than Robert Thurman. Long may he write and, as in this latest work, bring learning and spirit, great vigor and close knowledge, together.”

— Pico Iyer

“In this moment of crisis, with the world’s attention on Tibet and China, the huge signficance of the Dalai Lama’s role can scarcely be exaggerated, since this revered figure is pointing the way to world peace and environmental sanity. In his keen analysis of China’s great chance to make history, Robert Thurman offers an urgent and very important book.”

— Peter Matthiessen

“I could not put this book down. I found it powerfully inspiriting to imagine a positive alternative to the sixty-yearlong tragedy wrought by China in Tibet. As Robert Thurman shows us, by reversing its colonialist cultural genocide in Tibet (and so inspiring a reversal of the murderous policies of the regimes in Myanmar and Sudan), China could truly emerge as a responsible world power and take its place within the moral community of nations.”

— Mia Farrow

“Dr. Thurman clearly describes how the 14th Dalai Lama can forge a path to a far better world in our time. As Albert Einstein urged, we must engage a different level of thinking to help solve the signifi cant problems we face, problems often caused by our ordinary assumptions. The Dalai Lama is a unique exemplar of a different, vital, inclusive, and powerfully effective way of thinking. This wonderfully written, compelling book invites us to freedom.”

— Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness

“This book kindles hope for Tibet, for China, and for peace. It listens deeply to the Dalai Lama, making clear what he offers and can accomplish. It vividly envisions the freedom the Tibetan people urgently need and the respect China desires from the entire world.”

— Uma Karuna Thurman, actor, and activist

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