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Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West Paperback – February 27, 2018

by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (Author, Preface)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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To the Western imagination, Tibet evokes exoticism, mysticism, and wonder: a fabled land removed from the grinding onslaught of modernity, spiritually endowed with all that the West has lost. Originally published in 1998, Prisoners of Shangri-La provided the first cultural history of the strange encounter between Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Donald Lopez reveals here fanciful misconceptions of Tibetan life and religion. He examines, among much else, the politics of the term “Lamaism,” a pejorative synonym for Tibetan Buddhism; the various theosophical, psychedelic, and New Age purposes served by the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead; and the unexpected history of the most famous of all Tibetan mantras, om mani padme hum. More than pop-culture anomalies, these versions of Tibet are often embedded in scholarly sources, constituting an odd union of the popular and the academic, of fancy and fact.

Upon its original publication, Prisoners of Shangri-La sent shockwaves through the field of Tibetan studies—hailed as a timely, provocative, and courageous critique. Twenty years hence, the situation in Tibet has only grown more troubled and complex—with the unrest of 2008, the demolition of the dwellings of thousands of monks and nuns at Larung Gar in 2016, and the scores of self-immolations committed by Tibetans to protest the Dalai Lama’s exile.

In his new preface to this anniversary edition, Lopez returns to the metaphors of prison and paradise to illuminate the state of Tibetan Buddhism—both in exile and in Tibet—as monks and nuns still seek to find a way home. Prisoners of Shangri-La remains a timely and vital inquiry into Western fantasies of Tibet.
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  1. Print length
    312 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Chicago Press
  4. Publication date
    February 27, 2018
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    022648548X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0226485485
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lopez lifts the veil on America's romantic vision of Tibet to reveal a country and a spiritual history more complex and less ideal than popular perceptions allow. . . . Lively and engaging, Lopez's book raises important questions about how Eastern religions are often co-opted, assimilated and misunderstood by Western culture." ― Publishers Weekly

"Prisoners of Shangri-La is a tour de force across the multi-faceted imaginary that is Tibet. . . . Lopez is one of the pioneers uncovering the entangled histories of 'east' and 'west.'" ― Religious Studies Review

About the Author

Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; Enlarged edition (February 27, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 022648548X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226485485
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.02 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

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Donald S. Lopez

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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Saul Boulschett
5.0 out of 5 stars Backstage pass
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2004
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to one of the biggest gigs touring the world right now.

The book, written in the best academese, presents a clear view of the West's distortion, and the history of that distortion-making, vis-à-vis Tibet and Tibet's version of Buddhism.

The book is laid out into seven neat chapters, each bearing a single-word title that feels Borgesian in its cryptic minimalism. Each chapter deals with one of the events and objects that have structured for the West the illusion called Tibet. They are (and refer to):

1. The Name (the term `Lamaism')

2. The Book (The Tibetan Book of the Dead)

3. The Eye (the book, `The Third Eye' by T. Lobsang Rampa)

4. The Spell (the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum)

5. The Art (Thangkas, Mandalas, Wrathful Deities, Skull cups, etc)

6. The Field (of Buddhist Studies and Tibetology in the US)

7. The Prison (the collective illusion regarding "Tibet" and her mysteries)

Yes, the debunking is sobering as well as entertaining, as it is done with solid scholarly information delivered with biting wit and even Wildean sarcasm at times.

But the most interesting things the author mentions are questions and remain still as questions: Namely, the question of Tibetan clergy's willing "collusion" or co-option of the West's tendency to "psychologize" the Buddhist doctrine. For example, there is a marked tendency on the part of the Tibetan Lamas and American academics to veer away from interpreting the Six Realms as anything more than so many "psychological states" in this present incarnation but that is certainly NOT the way most Tibetans have been taught.

Moreover, there is a Dalai Lama approved move to present to the West a user-friendly version of Tibetan Buddhism that is totally devoid of the really weird stuff that "formerly" took up (and still takes up for the average Tibetan) the bulk of what that faith used to be all about "back home": exorcism, magic, animistic rituals, etc., stuff that would be totally unacceptable in the modern West.

The last chapter deals a bit with the so-called Shugden Affair that may have played a part in the murder of an old Lama and his two students who supported the Dalai Lama's new policy (after consulting an oracle) to outlaw Shugden (a protecting deity of the Geluk sect) worship. This was not widely reported in the media but apparently this was/is a big deal among the Tibetans in the dressing room backstage even as they continue to put on a great show on stage.

No doubt, Tibetan Buddhism, even in its Americanized (low fat, low salt, Stuart Smalley) version has something to offer to some people - if not to the West as a whole, then at least to the Tibetans' image. But are we in the West willing, ready, and daring enough to meet the Tibetans on their own religious turf and do what they do and eat what they eat, so to speak? If not, maybe going back to church and listening to a familiar sermon may not be entirely a bad idea for those who must have religion.

Let's not forget, nobody in China has ever heard of, let alone eat, Chop Suey.
31 people found this helpful
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C. Derick Varn
5.0 out of 5 stars The construction of Tibet in the Western mind
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2021
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This is a great book on the construction of Tibet in the Western mind and the feedback loop effects it has had on Tibetan religion and culture itself. From the construction of Tibet as a mythical place to the varying perceptions of "Lama-ism" to the various myths surrounding Tibetan culture, Lopez's gift for pointing how the recent mythology of various forms of Buddhism and popular culture really standout here. While by no means exhaustive, it is a good introduction to the problems of the construction of Tibetan Buddhism in European and American popular culture.
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Magalini Sabina
3.0 out of 5 stars Are we still prisoners of Shangri-la?
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2008
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At ten years from its publication that flared many a fire from other Tibetan scholars and Buddhist adepts, Lopez's demystifying and deconstructive work can be coolly judged for its positive and negative aspects. The book was issued in 1998 at the peak of American "Tibetmania" by an academician who was probably greatly annoyed by the many interpretations and transformations of what he deemed a field o knowledge worthy of a "scientific" study. With a solid even if slightly arrogant and according to some "biased" approach, the Author analyzes the cardinal points of Western misinterpretation of the Tibetan culture. Starting from the pejorative term of "Lamaism", leading us through the Hippy and New-Age popularity of the "Tibetan Book of the Dead", across Lobsang Rampa's global and successful hoax he shows us how, with a typical "Orientalism" approach, we tend to see in Tibet and its culture either a paradisiac or demoniac reality that does not exist and a great part of the confusion is due to the tools used for the interpretation of ancient texts. Eviscerating the formula "Om manipadme hum", attempting an esthetical and epistemological analysis of Tibetan art works and depicting, this time in severely personal perspective, the scenario of Tibetan studies in the US and in the rest of the world, he lands us in a territory where with clean an virgin eyes we can try to really look and appreciate a culture so different form ours.
The last part of the book deals with the apparent complacency of Tibetan religious authorities with the Western misreading of a "Buddhist modernism" and a "diluting of dharma", in order to enforce anti-Chinese politics in the attempt of finding patrons in exile. Naturally this idea is strictly personal and has to re-evaluated today that somehow the illusion of a Free Tibet seems as far away as ever before.
Another point to make at a distance of ten years is the constant updating of the translations of the original sources of Tibetan knowledge, that have greatly contributed on their own to the demystification of this academic discipline and widespread religion.
The book is easy to read also because the innumerable bibliographical citations are helpfully all at the end and can be consulted at wish (don't miss them for clues to further reading) and represents a milestone for the layman that is interested in this field.

P.S. The apparently incomprehensible and complicated Shugden affair is still going on now!
21 people found this helpful
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EternalSeeker
5.0 out of 5 stars Rewriting History From the Roof of the World
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2001
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A thought provoking and well documented look at how Tibet and its people have been reformulated by the media for the West's consumption for nearly 200 years. It's isolation has made it the victim of spiritual and political charletans selling a romantic and impossible image of it in the West, later to be followed by the total silence imposed by the Chinese as they carried out a ruthless policy of social genocide, further distorting the image of Tibet as a nation and a people.
Anyone interested in the future of central Asia, and that is to say Asia, China and the world itself, should read this book, as should all those currently bewitched by Tibetan Buddhism. The historical reality of Tibet has much more to offer the world, than the fairy tale we have wistfully imposed upon it.
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

atc
5.0 out of 5 stars If you would like to understand some of the cultural influences contributing to ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 22, 2018
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If you would like to understand some of the cultural influences contributing to the rise of Buddhism, this could be the book for you.
A useful guide for students of contemporary culture
One person found this helpful
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K. R. Holliday
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend reading this book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2015
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Highly recommend reading this book. It looks at the lost lotus eaters in the mystical traditions of a romantic East from one perspective and from another explores the impact that transcendental philosophy has had on the Western mindset. It's a book that you will want to read more than once.
One person found this helpful
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Harping On
3.0 out of 5 stars Debunks the myths.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2014
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Not a great book, but a very useful one. I was surprised to find how old it was. The author recognises that interest in Tibetan Buddhism usually starts with an interest in the fantasy Tibet that the West has purveyed since the early 1900's. Real study of Tibet and its ways came after the 1970's in the provision of courses of Tibetan Buddhism in American Universities. Latterly we are left with a kind of "cloud" Tibet, as its culture and leadership are in exile.

Not many of us were taken in by the books of T Lobsang Rampa, but all probably asked, "Could it be true?" Prof Lopez describes him as a "mystifier" of Tibet. Those whose imaginations were tickled by this often moved on to books that were linked to the Theosophists and their passion for the mystic and esoteric (they manufactured some of their own "mystical manuscripts"), or were written by people who may have visited Tibet but were in no position to have made a serious study of Tibetan Buddhism. These were all people from the west, who put their own western cultural "spin" on their commentaries. Only later came serious scholars, some of whom were Tibetan Buddhists who came to the west.

The book outlines how Tibet ranges in popular thought from "the only place on earth to have kept alive the Atlantean mysteries" (!) to "a home of true human spirituality". The dream may change and become more realistic, but it frequently just escapes reality. The dream seems set to live on in some form, while the spread of Tibetan Buddhism can possibly enhance our Western lives. Sadly for the Tibetans, they seem to be always, to some extent, in our dreams.
One person found this helpful
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