Customer Reviews

Tibetan Rescue: The Extraordinary Quest to Save the Sacred Art Treasures of Tibet

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I highly recommend this book. Clearly, it will resonate
with anyone who has ever been to Tibet, but even more so,
with those who care about the Dharma and about the
treasures associated with it. The book is well written,
balanced -- a marvelously crafted tale of adventure and
caring.

This book is about an enormous effort by someone who has devoted many years in helping Tibetans in the eastern part of Tibet called Kham. She is Pamela Logan, who could easily have enjoyed a comfortable life with her Ph.D degree in physics, but chose to spend many months per year in her cause, including disaster relief, schooling of rural children, bringing wheelchairs to remote villges, and restoration of Tibetan Art. This book is about the challenges in restoring art in a remote area where travel had to be done by horseback and supplies are very limited, not to mention the bureaucratic problems with the officials.

It's a fascinating book for anyone interested in that part of Tibet, and not just about the art, but about the daily life of Khampa Tibetans, and the land. The author also included some history of that area . There are very few books about this part of the world, which was opened up for foreigners travel only since 2000. I myself travelled there that year and the trip was an eye-opener.

The author's writing is easy to read, even when it comes to technical things about the preservation of murals. If there is anything I have to wish for better, it would probably be that some of the photos are not as clear as it can be, but that just demonstrated one of the challenges the author had to deal with. She did not even have freedom to document the restoration project. Many of her films were confiscated by the police for the silliest of reasons.

Normally, art conservation is not high on my list of exciting subjects to read about. Pamela Logan has changed my mind. This personal and dramatic story about her commitment to the preservation of a small, remote monastery in the Tibetan region of Kham is unique. Interwoven with short paragraphs on the Buddhist interpretation of the major paintings that "protect" the temple, she tells us a story of how a small group of dedicated "experts", led by a woman who would not give up, and accompanied by an eclectic band of monks, government overseers, and trainees gave new life to the ancient murals of a monastery that were almost forgotten. Filled with the challenges of bringing technical expertise to a remote region where much needed materials are brought in on the backs of horses and supplies mysteriously disappear, the book inspires, entertains, and educates. There are very few books about the mysterious land of Kham. Logan once again takes us there and gives life to a people and a place that few of us will see, but all of us will remember. I give it five stars.