Customer Reviews

A Cultural History of Tibet

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This is the best book I have read on the history of Tibet, especially as it pertains to religion. It fairly treats the BON as well as all four Sects of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism equally. Unlike other histories or recent art books on Tibet written by western converts, this work does not reflect a personal political agenda.

This earlier work seems mostly trumped by Geoffry's Samuel's more recent and comprehensive (and apparently more accurate) "Civilized Shamans". I'm just a lay reader so my assessment could be wrong, but Samuels provides evidence of a much richer non-clerical influence than Snellgrove and Richardson do.

Both books acknowledge the role of the Bon religion, but Samuels is more inclined to be skeptical of Bon claims to pre-date Buddhism. Samuels also seems more inclined to acknowledge at times limitations in our knowledge of Tibetan history.

Whereas Snellgrove and Richardson make only mention once of Dzogchen, Samuels refers to it in a number of passages, including one that ties it to Bon. To be fair to a "Cultural History of Tibet", it is less than half the length of Samuel's book.

What I don't know is how much has been learned since "A Cultural History of Tibet" was written around 1968 that might conflict with it. My impression is that most of it would withstand the test of time except the big challenge that Samuels presents in "Civilized Shamans" by digging into Tibetan history and uncovering a stronger non-clerical influence than Richardson and Snellgrove present.

Again, I am only a layman and I'm trusting that Samuels' presentation is based on the high level of scholarship it seems to reflect. There may be no "either/or choice" here: "A Cultural History of Tibet" is organized well and packed with facts and assessments.