Acclaimed Oxford-trained scholar of the history of Tibet, Alexander Norman, delivers the first definitive biography of the Dalai Lama. Norman reveals that, while the Dalai Lama has never been comfortable with his political position, he has been a canny player who has maneuvered amidst pervasive violence, including placing himself at the centre of a dangerous Buddhist schism. Yet even more surprising than the political, Norman convinces, is the Dalai Lama's astonishing spiritual practice, rooted in magic, vision, and prophecy - details of which are illuminated in this book for the first time.
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