The Search for the Panchen Lama (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Choekyi Gyaltsen, more widely known as the tenth incarnation of the Panchen Lama, died on a freezing night in January 1989 in his own monaster..." (more)
Key Phrases: panchen lama, democratic management committee, senior religious figures, Chadrel Rinpoche, Golden Urn, Cultural Revolution (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While working on a documentary film, British journalist Hilton was permitted to accompany the Dalai Lama as he sought to identify the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual authority of Tibet's ruling Buddhist sect. This excellent and artfully written book (part of which has appeared in the New Yorker) tells the complicated recent history of the Panchen Lama. The 10th incarnation died under mysterious circumstances in 1989 and is considered by many Tibetans to have been a traitor. The 11th--still a child--is missing; the six-year-old boy was detained along with his family in the mid-'90s by Tibet's Chinese rulers and has not been heard from since. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities have offered another child as the spiritual leader incarnate. Although she reveals the end of the story in the early pages of the book, Hilton relates this history with great drama and subtle wryness (for Westerners, she says, Tibet is "a kind of religious Disneyland"). Her wonderfully detailed writing illustrates the spiritual and political contours of these events. She describes, for example, a group of Tibetan lamas' two-day journey to Lhamo Latso Lake, where they went to gain insight that helped them find the reincarnated Panchen Lama; their trek, which involved 20 yaks, a video camera and a set of binoculars, was also monitored closely by Chinese spies. Hilton reports the story of the quest with great skill, weaving the history of Tibet with visits to monasteries in Tibet, China and India and conveying the power of a religion to survive the destruction of its institutions, the imposition of martial law, jailings and death in labor camps and prisons.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

An excellent primer on Tibetan history and ....a chilling picture of the brutality of Chinese repression in Tibet. -- Wall Street Journal

Lively and vastly entertaining.... Hilton has seen—and participated in—one of the final moments of a lost Tibet. -- Boston Sunday Globe

Riveting ....captures the panoramic scope of a remarkable story.... The ending is heartbreaking. -- Los Angeles Times

[A]n outstanding book, well-researched, lively, scholarly, humorous, sympathetic, and eminently readable. -- The Tablet, 18 September 1999

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393321673
• ISBN-13: 978-0393321678
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #889,887 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written! Highly recommended!, May 15, 2000

By	B. Pua "bp888" (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Search for the Panchen Lama (Hardcover)

Have you ever read a book and afterwards felt like jumping up from the sheer joy of enjoyment? This book did that. It is part Tibetan history, part travelogue, part adventure story, part politics. But the sum is greater than the parts. Ms. Hilton's unprecedented access to some of the main protagonists and her meticulous research show in her insightful writing. This is such a timely book in understanding the tragedy that is modern-day Tibet. My only wish is that the author had provided a glossary and a timeline because some of the Tibetan terms and names can be quite confusing.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Troubling times for Tibet., May 22, 2000

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Search for the Panchen Lama (Hardcover)

Although Hilton's SEARCH FOR THE PANCHEN LAMA is not easily classified, it is outstanding. Since the 7th century, the Dalai and Panchen lamas have acted as Tibet's spiritual and temporal leaders, the Panchen Lama second in importance to the Dalai Lama. When the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled Tibet in 1959, the Chinese government then recognized the 10th Panchen Lama, Bskal-bzang Tshebrtan, as the leader of Tibet.

Based in part on Hilton's own interviews with the Dalai Lama and others, on one hand her book follows the fascinating search for the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died at age 50 on January 28, 1989, a search "of the keenest religious and political importance inside and outside Tibet" (p. 7). On the other hand, Hilton's book provides a well-researched, scholarly history of Tibet and its political struggle with communist China. It is a fine book in both respects, and allows the reader challenging access to one of the most inaccessible areas of the world, giving Tibet's political and religious struggles the attention they have long deserved.

Hilton's own access to Tibet can be enjoyed also as an adventurous travel narrative, as she invites her reader to accompany her on rattling buses and taxis, down the dirty roads of the highest region on earth, and then into cold, damp hotels, some barely clinging to the mountains on which they're built. High mountain passes separate the people of Tibet from the spiritual authority of the Dalai Lama, now living in exile in Dharamsala, India. Travelling with Hilton, we find old Tibet demolished by the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and absorbed "into the uniformity of China" (p. 1), where it is now an offense to possess even a photo of the Dalai Lama. We discover the simple, whitewashed buildings of old Lhasa, Tibet's capital, are now karaoke bars (p. 30).

Hilton's SEARCH is filled with many memorable details, ranging from interesting (e.g., we learn the Dalai Lama wears Doc Martens and flip flops), to curious (e.g., reports of a talking fetus). When Hilton's SEARCH ends with one Tibetan boy enthroned in 1995 as the 11th Panchen Lama, and another boy held as "the world's youngest political prisoner" by the Chinese government, we realize the end of this book is only the start of another chapter in Tibet's unfolding history. More troubling, however, is the real question raised by Hilton's book: who will now have the political and spiritual authority to select the successor to the 14th Dalai Lama upon his death, the repressive Chinese government that prompted his flight from Tibet, or the Tibetan people, many of whom now live in exile?

G. Merritt

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, and Much More Than the Title Suggests, August 25, 2001

By	doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This outstanding book covers not just the search for the Panchen Lama - currently the biggest struggle in Tibet/China relations, but offers an extensive history of Tibetan Buddhism's struggle with the Chinese communists. Isabel Hilton has become a trusted correspondent of the Dalai Lama, and has gained his confidence in accurately reporting his conflicts with China. Thus Hilton not only gets many interviews with the big guy himself, but also extensive access to the intricate world of Tibetan Buddhism.

The search to find the current Panchen Lama, the reincarnation of the previous Panchen Lama who died in 1989, is not covered in detail until you are two-thirds through the book. In the meantime, Hilton interrupts descriptions of her travels through Tibet, China, and India (which serve as an enjoyable travelogue in themselves) with extensive forays into the history of the numerous Dalai and Panchen Lamas, as well as Tibetan Buddhism itself and the Chinese invasion and continuing suppression of the religion. The late Panchen Lama is covered in great detail, and his lifetime of persecution by the Chinese government occupies much of the book.

Hilton delivers many keen revelations about the current situation. She debunks the view of our American celebrity Buddhists that Tibet is a shangri-la in which everyone deeply meditates in pure devotion, and a serene life of deep thought is enjoyed by all. We learn instead that they have their factionalism and infighting like everyone else. We also learn that the Dalai Lama does not have the universal devotion of all Tibetan Buddhists (there are some dissidents), and that he may be losing his spiritual grip on his people, from his continuing exile in India.

The heartbreaking conclusion of the book reveals the cruel fate of the little boy who was found by the Dalai Lama to be the reincarnated Panchen Lama. He was taken into custody by the Chinese and hasn't been seen since. The Chinese have spent the past fifty years suppressing all religious activity, but now are trying to convince the world that they are better able to perform a profoundly religious ritual, the search for the Panchen's reincarnation, than the spiritual leader himself (the Dalai Lama). The actions of the Chinese have lead to scorn and derision from the rest of the world, as they have imprisoned one small boy indefinitely and installed another boy as the spiritual leader of a religion that doesn't accept him, and condemned him to life as a puppet. Yes, the Chinese government has egg on its face, but that doesn't alleviate the sad fate in store for those two young boys.