Return To Tibet Summary

The book “Love and Honor in the Himalayas: Coming to know another culture” is ethnography by Ernestine McHugh. In the beginning of the book, the author talks about how she developed her interest in the field of anthropology during her undergraduate study since “at that time [she] knew little about [it,] but [she] had mapped out a project relating to culture and the aesthetics of life” (McHugh). It was her mentor Gregory Bateson, under whom she had developed this project who inspired her to carry out this project in Nepal. Although her attempts at writing about her experience failed the first time, during her graduate schooling she was encouraged by her advisor Roy D’Andrade to continue. This book revolves around the ethnic Gurung community who live at the foothills of the Annapurna Mountain; just about thirty miles up from the famous tourist destination in Nepal called Pokhara. At the age of twenty-one, the village where the author lived was called “Tebas.” Although Nepal is a country filled with people who follow Hinduism and the official language is Nepalese, she chooses a place in north central Nepal where people mostly spoke in their own ethnic language which is very similar to Tibetan on contrary to the popular Nepalese language. In this book she talks about how she fully immerses herself in the field work and in the process tells the story of the people who let her in their house and more importantly made her a part of their family. Throughout her stay she was treated

The Soldier’s Tale is a very bloody account of what life was like. For twenty-five years, Seg Lhaton, a Tibetan soldier, had been at battle. The Silk Road was his home during this time. The Tibetan army controlled a large region of the Silk Road between Sogdiana and China. They blocked all trade and diplomatic missions through that region. They only way trade could persist was to go another route through Uighur territory. They, however, charged tolls for safe passage. China and Tibet were at war for years. Many battles were fought that resulted in much blood shed. The story of these battles gives a better insight as to what happened, rather than simply spitting out facts about who won.

Hugh's persistence strengthens his curiosity to learn more about this mysterious temple on top of the Himalayas. On the other hand, his three acquaintances are urging to get off this island and go back to their normal lives, and he refuses to go. After refusing to go they are invited in to temporarily live inside the temple with the monks. They are served as if they were in a five star hotel, and to their surprise the temple has modern day, at the time, appliances. Mallinson ,being the party pooper he is, urges the monks and orders them to tell him when the ships of supplies comes by so they can take the four of them back to where they came from. The monks give him no answers and they are forced to stray another two months.

"This was a tough, heart-breaking read, but essential for an important ""West to East"" perspective on the costs to American Indians associated with 19th century America's ""manifest destiny"" approach to its West-ward expansion.

The novel “The Dancer”, by Ahmad Tohari and the memoir “Across Three Wildernesses”, by Ken McCullough, are first hand accounts of what it was like to be living during the cold war era in Southeast Asia. Although, both the novel and the memoir exam the treatment of the people on the local level they also examine the effects of the struggle between communism and capitalism on the larger global level.

Peter Hessler and a fellow Peace Corp. volunteer were placed in Fuling, and poor town on the Yangtze River in rural China. River Town is more or less a journal of what it was like being in Fuling on a day to day basis. He illustrates his experience through stories of trips he took, people that he became close with, and situations that required an open mind. Peter’s job was teaching English literature at a small college in the town; and through this was able to learn both about the tightly controlled nature of being a foreigner in China, as well as some of the thoughts of the younger generation through various assignments. He was greeted as a “hero” and was lavished upon, but at the same time found it very difficult to be “accepted” by the locals, cadres or not.

The Dalai Lama’s political dealings with Communist China and his rule of the exile community exemplify the changed role of the institution of the Dalai Lama.

Tibet is located at the western part of China into the Himalayas with disputed country origin (Crowe 2013). In addition to the central Tibet, it also forms the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) along with Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces composed of a total population of approximately 5 million (Crowe 2013). There are also Tibetans living in regions of India composed of different religions and Sikkim, Bhutan, and Nepal (Crowe 2013). The relationship between Tibet and China has drawn significant attention worldwide as each state view themselves as the superior state. In Tibetans’ perspective, they are the “agents of their own civilizing project with regard to the spiritual life of the Mongols.”

Before the Tibetan alphabet was devised in the 7th century, Tibet began to flourish economically as well as politically. During this time Tibet began to trade with other areas around Tibet, including China. The first emperor of Tibet, Emperor Srongston, thought it was necessary to construct an alphabet to increase foreign trade, make legal documents, as well as translate religious texts. So the emperor sent Thomni Sambhota, a Tibetan minister, to India to study with many master scribes where he learned the local Indic Script, Devanagari as well as other scripts. The master scribes in India thought very highly of Thomni, as he was known as the noble Tibetan. After Thomni’s return from India after becoming a master scribe himself, he then devised

Harrer’s expedition takes him through physical challenges to escape from prison, travel and survive in the Himalayan region. He has to conquer mental obstacles relating to his failed marriage and son that he has never seen as well as his desire to live or die. After he arrived in Tibet, in the sacred city of Lhasa, Harrer eventually became friends with the Dalai Lama. Foreigners in Lhasa were rare and Harrer became well known by many. The Dalai Lama was fascinated by their culture and so he requested a meeting with Harrer, which was the beginning of a unique friendship. The Dalai Lama asked Harrer to build him a movie theatre. Harrer agreed and from that point on, their relationship grew with Harrer tutoring the Dalai Lama with knowledge of the world, cultures, and geography. Their relationship developed with Harrer mentoring the Dalai Lama and becoming an advisor and confidant. During the time that Harrer was in Tibet, China invaded Tibet attempting to gain control of the country. China’s attack influenced the Dalai Lama’s decisions and he relied on Harrer rather than his own

Even though religion has evolved throughout the years, the way in which religions are formed has not changed. Through every religion, there comes a story, or a myth, a society and experience, rituals, a doctrine, and ethnics. These are the six dimensions that form a religion. In this essay, I will utilize the Buddhist 1994 movie of The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation to analyze and explain how Buddhism calls for the unity of these six dimensions in order to form a religion.

” In the wake of the invasion, the Dalia Lama, Tibet spiritual and temporal leaders, and nearly 100,000 Tibetans fled into exile in India. Prior to Chine invasion in 1950, Tibet maintained unique culture, religion and language for many centuries. However; this didn’t last for long time. Tibet is governed by the Chinese Communities Party with active support of military. The party rules through branch offices in each

Tibet is a region in Central Asia inhabited by indigenous Tibetan people. With a height of 4,900 meters (16,000 feet) above sea level, Tibet is the highest land on Earth that is often called: World Bumbung. "

When looking at what can only be defined as modern history (the last 200 years), the world has never had a moment where there was no conflict on the globe. But while some of the best studied and most memorable wars were long ones, like both world wars or the cold war, the real thought provoking conflicts are the ones that history passed over, for a multitude of reasons. Perhaps the war in question wasn’t very long, or had no relevance to western interests. Whatever the cause, the shortest wars potentially have the greatest impact and the clearest reflection on the current state of humanity. Following this vein, the war with the greatest social and cultural implications in the last 200 years was The Battle of Chamdo.

For this assignment, I chose to read The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse because the title was interesting and got my attention. I became curious to know what actually The Journey to the East is about. The story opens with H.H. who was one of the leaders of “The League”, describing the journey and his experience. One of the member of this league was Leo who described as a servant, happy, pleasant, noble, beloved by everyone, even animals; “he could tame birds and attract butterflies to him” (11), asserted in the text. This evidence shows the character and nature of Leo. H.H. met Leo for the first time at a park bench. “He turned into the small park at St. Paul’s Gate, disappeared amongst the tall round bushes, and I hurried so that I should not lose him. There he was again: he was sauntering slowly alongside the lilac bushes and the acacia” (24).