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IT is perhaps natural that the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader who is revered as a spiritual guru, should inspire writers from all over the world. Despite there already being over 100 biographies and other books on the monk, writers continue to queue for an audience with him.
Officials of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, which is based in Dharamsala, say that more biographies have been written on their spiritual guru than on any other spiritual leader in the world. "I feel that there are more than 100 biographies written on His Holiness (the Dalai Lama). Of course, he is an idol of writers both in the Orient and the West. His writings and ideas have had a powerful impact on millions of people worldwide," said Thubten Samphel, secretary of the department of information and international relations of the Central Tibetan Administration. The Nobel Peace laureate himself has written two autobiographies – My Land and My People and Freedom in Exile. "The Dalai Lama’s autobiography My Land and My People and his spiritual teachings are quite popular among the Buddhist scholars, foreign travellers, historians, philosophers, teachers and social reformers," Samphel said. Written by the Dalai Lama as a young man in exile, My Land and My People is a dignified testament that recreates the miraculous search that identified him as the reincarnated leader of Tibet. And it reveals the evolution of a man from a gentle monk to a world leader, struggling to win freedom for his country. "Besides biographies, books on Buddhist inspirational teachings, religion, culture and world peace are much sought after. Every day we are selling eight to 10 such books. The buyers are mostly foreigners," Lhasang Tsering of The Bookworm, a bookstore at McLeodganj, which deals with books only on Buddhism and the Dalai Lama, said. The books that are much in demand include Man, Monk, Mystic, written by Chicago-based Indian origin journalist Mayank Chhaya; In My Own Words: An Introduction to My Teachings and Philosophy by His Holiness the Dalai Lama edited by Rajiv Mehrotra; 365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the Heart, published by HarperCollins India; Great Ocean, written by Roger Hicks and Ngakpa Chogyam and Portrait of a Dalai Lama, written by Sir Charles Bell. Born on July 6, 1935 at
Taktser hamlet in northeastern Tibet, the Dalai Lama, 74, was
recognised at the age of two as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai
Lama Thubten Gyatso. He fled Tibet after a failed uprising against
Chinese rule in 1959, basing his Tibetan government-in-exile in
Dharamsala. — IANS
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