Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet [Hardcover]

Mikel Dunham (Author), Dalai Lama (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 2004

Buddha's Warriors is the first book that brings to life Tibet before the Chinese communist invasions and depicts the transition of peaceful monks to warriors with the help of the CIA.

Tibet in the last sixty years has been so much mystified and politicized that the world at large is confused about what really happened to the "Rooftop of the World" when Mao Tse-tung invaded its borders in 1950. There are dramatically conflicting accounts from Beijing and Dharamsala (home of the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile). Adding to the confusion is the romanticized spin that Western writers and filmmakers have adopted in an effort to appease the popular myth of Shangri-La.

Buddha's Warriors is no fairy tale. Set in a narrative framework but relying heavily on the oral transcripts of the Tibetan men who actually fought the Chinese, Buddha's Warriors tells, for the first time, the inside story of these historic developments, while drawing a vivid picture of Tibetan life before, during, and after Mao's takeover. The firsthand accounts, gathered by the author over a period of seven years, bring faces and deeply personal emotions to the forefront of this ongoing tragedy. It is a saga of brave soldiers and cowardly traitors. It's about hope against desolation, courage against repression, atheism against Buddhism. Above all, it's about what happens to an ancient civilization when it is thrust overnight into the modern horrors of twentieth-century warfare.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mikel Dunham is a published mystery writer and an acclaimed photographer and painter. His photographs of the first Tibetan monastery, the Samye Monastery (circa 800 A.D.) have been published in a photographic book, Samye.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1ST edition (December 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585423483
• ISBN-13: 978-1585423484
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > History > Asia > Tibet

More About the Author

Although most of my time is currently devoted to writing and lecturing on college campuses, art and photography continue to be essential elements in my life. I have traveled extensively and lived in New York City, Paris, Munich and on the island of Crete, among other places. In the last 15 years, I have spent much of my time on extended trips to Central Asia. After my apprenticeship with Pema Wangyal of Dolpo, the late thankha master, I was made art director for the mural of two Nyingma Buddhist temples--one in Sarnath, India, and the other in upstate New York. My book-in-progress is about the political crisis in Nepal with particular emphasis on how it impacts women, children and the Tibetan and Bhutanese refugee communities. I now live in southern California with my wife, Margaret. We have two sons, Adrian and Zachary, who also live in the LA area.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! The story is told, and told well., January 26, 2005

By 

Nathaniel (Town, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet (Hardcover)

"Buddha's Warriors" is a story that needed desperately to be told -- what it took to turn thousands of non-violent Tibetan Buddhists into an armed rebellion, and how the CIA left them high and dry -- and Dunham tells it with expertise and flair. Somehow he has gathered an incredible roster of primary sources (including American insiders), and he wields them like a knife against the history of Chinese oppression and U.S. cowardice.
Dunham has a knack for pulling together the pieces of this somewhat obscure tale -- just try to find it in history books -- and making it coherent, exciting.
Few people seem to know how China's invasion drove so many dedicated pacifists to violent means. Even the Dalai Lama, who for so long has refused even to acknowledge violence as a viable method, gives these Khampa warriors their due respect in the book's foreward. That's quite something.
Dunham has done a great service to written history by publishing this book. But it's not hard work to read, like so many histories these days. Those who do not follow Tibet's latest struggle will surely enjoy it all the same, and those who regard the struggle with a certain degree of frustration and disbelief ("how can they not fight?!") will be infused with a good healthy dose of vindication and righteous anger.
Happy reading.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an exciting read with plenty of historical detail, February 18, 2007

By 

W. Osterberg (Cleveland,OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet (Hardcover)

I have read several books on the history of Tibet in the 20th century and this is certainly the most exciting of them all. It is a valuable telling of the story of Tibet's invasion by China from the perspective of those that witnessed it first hand and fought against it with the help of the CIA. It also has an extremely good list of references and painstakingly covers the historical literature of this period, providing a good starting point for readers who want more. My only gripe with the book is that it relies heavily on input from former CIA operatives. Although it is not clear to me whether this has skewed the picture that is presented, it is an unfortunate fact that the involvement of the CIA and other foreign intelligence agencies has provided the Chinese an excuse to view Western interest in the Tibetan cause with suspicion. So I have a bit of difficulty viewing the CIA as heroic although (as does the Dalai Lama) I have no doubt that there was genuine support for the Tibetans by some of the CIA people.
Another interesting aspect of this book is that it portrays the taking up of arms by the Tibetans as a positive development, contrasting with the nonviolent stance currently taken by the Tibetan government in exile. But that is a different topic; one that the author deals with to some extent.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story finally told, and told well., January 3, 2005

By 

M. Miller - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet (Hardcover)

Buddha's Warriors is an important book. It's also compelling, not to mention extremely well researched and well written. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Tibet, both historically and in the context of its present suffering. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Tibetan Buddhism, as it clarifies alot of misunderstanding about Buddhism as a "passive" culture or philosophy. This is a story that may be known, but not widely, and it needed to be told.
Mikel Dunham has spent years compiling a wealth of information as material for this book, and this research was largely gleaned from extraordinary interviews with individuals who needed to trust the author long before they would speak with him, let alone give him their stories. Long before this story was written, Dunham obviously became extremely close to his subject, and that intimacy, both with the people and the story, raises the quality far beyond a traditional academic treatise. You will feel that on every page. Buy it. Don't leave it on your coffee table. Read it.