"Surviving the Dragon" by Arjia Rinpoche

A Tibetan Lama’s Account of 40 Years Under Chinese Rule

 

Published in March 2010 by Rodale Books, Surviving the Dragon is the life story of Arjia Rinpoche. At age two, Arjia Rinpoche was recognised as the incarnation of the founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism and was made the abbot of Kumbum Monastery. He relates witnessing the torture and arrest of his monastic family as a young boy. In the years to come he managed to survive under harsh Communist rule, as he was forced into hard labour and had to endure public humiliation as part of Mao’s Communist “reeducation”.
After the death of Mao he rose to prominence within the Chinese Buddhist bureaucracy with the help of the Panchen Lama. In doing so, he was coerced into publically supporting China’s increasingly anti-Tibet agenda, including taking part in carefully orchestrated rituals engineered to undermine the authority of the Dalai Lama. Spiritually and morally depleted, Rinpoche eventually escaped and now lives in America. Read an extract from the book here.
Buy the book on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/12zDakJ

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*