{"product_id":"prisoners-of-shangri-la-donald-s-lopez-jr-9780226485485","title":"Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West","description":"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, \u003ci\u003ePrisoners of Shangri-La\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eTibetan Book of the Dead\u003c\/i\u003e; and the unexpected history of the most famous of all Tibetan mantras, \u003ci\u003eom mani padme hum\u003c\/i\u003e. 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Upon its original publication, \u003ci\u003ePrisoners of Shangri-La \u003c\/i\u003esent 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003ci\u003ePrisoners of Shangri-La\u003c\/i\u003e remains a timely and vital inquiry into Western fantasies of Tibet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Donald S. Lopez Jr\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022648548X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226485485\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/27\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d","brand":"Donald S. Lopez Jr","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43913434595583,"sku":"9780226485485","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_44190b4d-ebce-4bdd-82c3-4c17c095b474.jpg?v=1680620395","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/prisoners-of-shangri-la-donald-s-lopez-jr-9780226485485","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}