Theos Bernard, the White Lama

Tibet, Yoga, and American Religious Life
Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-0-231-15887-9
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 520 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 146 mm x 221 mm, Gewicht: 636 g

In 1937, Theos Casimir Bernard (1908;1947), the self-proclaimed "White Lama," became the third American in history to reach Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. During his stay, he amassed the largest collection of Tibetan texts, art, and artifacts in the Western hemisphere at that time. He also documented, in both still photography and 16mm film, the age-old civilization of Tibet on the eve of its destruction by Chinese Communists.

Based on thousands of primary sources and rare archival materials, Theos Bernard, the White Lama recounts the real story behind the purported adventures of this iconic figure and his role in the growth of America's religious counterculture. Over the course of his brief life, Bernard met, associated, and corresponded with the major social, political, and cultural leaders of his day, from the Regent and high politicians of Tibet to saints, scholars, and diplomats of British India, from Charles Lindbergh and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Gandhi and Nehru. Although hailed as a brilliant pioneer by the media, Bernard also had his flaws. He was an entrepreneur propelled by grandiose schemes, a handsome man who shamelessly used his looks to bounce from rich wife to rich wife in support of his activities, and a master manipulator who concocted his own interpretation of Eastern wisdom to suit his ends. Bernard had a bright future before him, but disappeared in India during the communal violence of the 1947 Partition, never to be seen again.

Through diaries, interviews, and previously unstudied documents, Paul G. Hackett shares Bernard's compelling life story, along with his efforts to awaken America's religious counterculture to the unfolding events in India, the Himalayas, and Tibet. Hackett concludes with a detailed geographical and cultural trace of Bernard's Indian and Tibetan journeys, which shed rare light on the explorer's mysterious disappearance.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hackett, Paul (Columbia)

Hackett, Paul

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionssoziologie und -psychologie, Spiritualität, Mystik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Biographien & Autobiographien: Historisch, Politisch, Militärisch
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgments1. Life in the Desert2. New York and New Mexico3. Two Parallel Paths (I)4. Two Parallel Paths (II)5. On Holy Ground6. Pretense and Pretext: Studies in India7. A Well-Trodden Path: Studies in Darjeeling and Sikkim8. Tibet, Tantrikas, and the Hero of Chaksam Ferry9." The Clipper Ship of the Imagination"10. Yoga on Fifth Avenue11. Tibetland and the Penthouse of the Gods12. To Climb the Highest Mountains13. The Aftermath14. Postscript: The View from Ki, Sixty Years LaterNotesBibliographyIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Paul G. Hackett is an editor for the American Institute of Buddhist Studies and teaches Classical Tibetan at Columbia University. He is also the author of A Tibetan Verb Lexicon and numerous articles on Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy. He is the author of A Tibetan Verb Lexicon and numerous articles on Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy.