Customer Reviews

The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey Into Tibetan History

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3 star:		(1)
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of Tibetan history than one often finds in Buddhist-authored books on the subject. The author combined known Near Eastern/Asian ancient and medieval history with personal observations of the land and its archaeology to arrive at some very interesting conclusions about (1) the pre-Buddhist religious history and cultures of Tibet, and (2) the development of Buddhism in this milieu. The frequent transitions in writing style, from travelogue to historical discourse and back, were sometimes awkward. But if you like books on comparative religion, anthropology, mythology, religious history, or ancient history, and are interested in Tibet, you'll have fun with this one! Overall rating: 4 stars

The author, a writer and oral historian with long experience in the Indian subcontinent, here describes his re-examination of the complex history of Buddhism in Tibet and India. He intersperses colorful chapters about traveling in Tibet among drier chapters on religious history. The mix does not quite work. While Allen's travel writing generally holds the reader's attention, only people with a serious interest in Asian religions would stay with the scholarly presentations all the way through. Even though I lived in South Asia for four years, I found the religious history heavy going. While the color photographs bunched in the center of the book are of good quality, I wished that they had covered more of the sites described by the author. Overall rating: three stars.

Though the author brings about some important facts like the connection between the Bon religion and Parsis somehow the book does not really jell. It could be because the author does not speak of his own experiences - one gets a teeny weenie feeling that he is writing under some duress or pressure. May be asked by Chinese Govt. not to mention the unmentionables or that the book has been edited, rather severely, by the publishers. Something is wrong somewhere! Only those who're interested in the Bon religion can refer this book! Vacuous! Ineffective! Though the subject matter is really very good.

Il titolo è fuorviante. Il libro di Allen è la ricerca letteraria e filologica del mitico regno di Sham Shung, probabilmente posizionato nell'area del regno di Guge, fra il Ladakh ed il monte Kailash (cui Allen aveva dedicato un libro nel 1982: A mountain in Tibet). Ho compiuto un viaggio al Kailash nel 1997. Con sorpresa ho trovato che l'autore aveva effettuato lo stsso percorso pochi mesi dopo. La stessa agenzia (TIST), lo stesso albergo (Himalaya Hotel a Lhasa, gli stessi episodi (come la morte di un pellegrino indiano per mancanza di acclimatazione). Ma anche la piccola personale soddisfazione di vedere che il gruppo da me organizzato era riuscito a raggiungere i luoghi (Toling e Tsaparang) per cui Allen aveva invano chiesto il permesso.