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Article: Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism.
- Article from:
- The Women's Review of Books
- Article date:
- June 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Old City Publishing, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As the only country in the world ever to be governed by Buddhist monks, Tibet has had a singular hold on the Western imagination. After the fifth Dalai Lama was made king in 1642, and until the Chinese invasion in 1950, young men in Tibet entered monasteries instead of the military. Monastic culture was intellectually rich and vibrant; enlightenment was the order of the day. After the annexation in 1959, Tibetan lamas began to fan out all over the world, writing books and founding hundreds of meditation centers. As its culture and religion took root in the West, Tibet's reputation for holiness only increased.
That the Rinpoches who authored these books, founded these ...