Dalai Lama: The Revealing Life Story and His Struggle for Tibet by Mayank Chhaya
IB Tauris, £9.99

THERE is, perhaps, no religious or political leader who embodies his nation as completely as the 14th Dalai Lama which is why Mayank Chhaya’s book is as much a history of Tibet as a straightforward biography of the man. Or, at least, as straightforward as a biography about a re-incarnated mystical monk can be.

From his discovery as the Dalai Lama at the age of two, little about Tenzin Gyatso’s life has been ordinary. For a start, he has, apparently, been here 13 times before. How else could he have known as a small boy where the 13th Dalai Lama kept his dentures?

Believe that and you are well on the way to understanding the mysterious power he holds not only over six million Tibetans but also, seemingly, over those in the West who have joined his lifelong struggle to liberate Tibet after the occupation by the Chinese almost 50 years ago.

Combining the life of a celibate, meditative man of God with the life of the jet-setting head of a government in exile was never going to be easy. But this was the Dalai Lama’s destiny and, from an early age, he has fulfilled his role with extraordinary vigour and an astonishing charisma which has allowed him to put Tibet’s case to world leaders, Hollywood A-listers and the ordinary people who flock to hear him pronounce on everything from neuroscience to world peace, all of which saw him awarded the Nobel Prize in 1989. Throughout what appears to be an unwinnable struggle against the Chinese he has also managed to retain an enviable sense of humour. He puts his success in the West, and in America in particular, down to his good looks.

Chhaya begins by trying to unravel the mysteries of the Dalai Lama that form part of the apocrypha from his Indian childhood. Was the Lama really the living Buddha? If so, where was his magical third eye and could he conjure catastrophe to fell his enemies by opening it? And why do the Chinese still occupy Tibet?

Despite the mysticism, despite growing up in the 4,000-room Potala Palace, and despite stage appearances around the world with Richard Gere, the Lama remains a realist, under no illusion about the immensity of the struggle or the prospect of returning home in this particular lifetime. He is also sanguine about the future of the institution he represents. Notwithstanding a Tibetan prophecy that there will be 17 Dalai Lamas, many people believe Gyatso will be the last. However, according to Tibetans, it is entirely up to him whether or not to reincarnate and I suspect that if his struggle to free Tibet does not bear fruition in this life he will simply come back and have another crack at it. He may also name a successor, although it is not clear how this would work. Perhaps this is why Chhaya’s book is successful without being hagiographic; he explains the Dalai Lama while allowing the Lama to remain unexplained.

“Religion” says the Lama, is “science with faith” and “science is religion in search of faith”. Six million Tibetans have put their faith in him. It is a tall order and not the life the Lama chose for himself. There is no reason to believe he will win his fight against the Chinese, at least not in this life time, but if by living among mortals he has imparted a little compassion, a word he uses frequently, and spread peace around the world then this life will have been worth it.

Cary Gee