Description
Book SynopsisThe Beggar Lama is the story of the Gyalrong Kuzhap, a Tibetan Buddhist polymath and reincarnated lama who has led a remarkable life through the vicissitudes of the twentieth century.
Trade ReviewThis is an extraordinary oral history of a Tibetan incarnate lama who lived through Tibet’s twentieth-century transformation and its incorporation into the People’s Republic of China. The astonishing depth of the Gyalrong Kuzhap’s memories that Tenzin Jinba has elicited and the sympathy and sophistication of the contextualization he provides make this a memorable read. -- Henrietta Harrison, University of Oxford
Tenzin Jinba’s first-person biography of a reincarnate lama who lived through the pivotal events of twentieth-century Tibet is a gripping story. An assiduously researched and beautifully written combination of history and biography, this book gives an invaluable eyewitness account of decades of transformation in the "convergence zone" of the Sino-Tibetan frontier. -- Erik Mueggler, University of Michigan
The Beggar Lama is an extraordinary work of ethnographic writing that spans biography and memoir, political and cultural history, and critical reflection on the nature of identity and belonging on the Tibetan periphery. In recording the singular life story of a scholar, teacher, and former Communist Party official, the Gyalrong Kuzhap, Tenzin Jinba has also crafted a sensitive and complex narrative of Tibet as it shifts from the 1930s to the post-Mao era. -- Andrew Quintman, Wesleyan University
This account provides an insider’s view of a Tibetan recognized as a reincarnate lama who sided with the Communist Party, worked closely with the United Front, and survived long enough to thrive in post-Cultural Revolution Tibet. Tenzin Jinba’s critical memoir of Tsanlha Ngawang Tsültrim holds out hope for the future while acknowledging the very real despair and difficulties of a lived experience on the margins of both Tibet and China. -- Gray Tuttle, Columbia University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Note on the Maps
Introduction
Act I: Childhood (1930–1941)1. Birth and Recognition
2. Special Education
3. Just a Kid
Act II: The Lhasa Trip and Monastic Life (1941–1948)4. On the Road
5. Life at Drepung
6. On Freedom
Act III: Heaven and Hell in the New China (1949–1976)7. Reshuffling Powers
8. New Society, New Life
9. The Calm Before the Storm
10. The Democratic Reform
11. Riding the Revolutionary Tides
Act IV: An Intellectual Life (1966/1977–)12. From Cowshed to College
13. The Closing Age of Giants
14. The Last Breath
Notes
Bibliography
Index
