[Buddha-l] "Western Self, Asian Other"

[Richard Hayes]

On Jan 1, 2010, at 4:12 PM, Alex Wilding wrote:

> I never did read "Prisoners of Shangri-La, so I can't comment directly.
> There is, however, a reason why I decided not to invest that much of my
> short life in it

If you are not averse to entertainment, you might nevertheless enjoy reading "Prisoners" for its entertainment value. It is enormously fun to read, but it also has quite a serious message. The message, I think, is that no one is particularly well served by delusion and illusions. There are times when one is better off being disillusioned. The romantic elements of the Tibetan mystique do not really serve the Tibetans well either, since they raise unrealistic expectations that can lead only to disappointment. As Lopez points out, the politically vulnerable Tibetans are hardly likely to be served well by the disappointment in them that is inevitable as people who had glorified them discover that they, like all peoples on the earth, have feet of clay. The book is completely benign in intention, and I cannot detect even a trace of any sort of contempt for anyone in Lopez's work. Add to that the fact that his work is well written and fun to read, and I think one might find that reading it is not a bad investment. At least consider treating yourself to the chapter called "The mantra." 

Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes
rhayes at unm.edu