Jonathan Mirsky

The Lama’s Dilemma

The Dance of 17 Lives: The Incredible True Story of Tibet's 17th Karmapa

By

Bloomsbury 304pp £16.99 order from our bookshop

Mick Brown’s basic story is true, well known and, despite his book’s subtitle, perfectly credible. In January 2000, Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the spiritual leader of a major Tibetan Buddhist school, and the only supreme incarnation to be recognised by both the Dalai Lama and Beijing, escaped from Tibet into India.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • Why did the 'bold and determined' Empress Matilda never manage to become Queen regnant? Peter Marshall reviews a n… ,
    • From the Archive: Martyn Bedford on Ian McEwan's 'Atonement' ,
    • In 'Silenced Voices' reports the ongoing story of the human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has been… ,
    • The mystery of Jack the Ripper's identity has long been agonised over. But what do we know about his victims?… ,
    • A piece of Literary Review history from way back in 1983: John Haffenden talks to the great Iris Murdoch. ,
    • Britain’s only travelling lit fest, the Garden Museum Literary Festival is heading to Houghton Hall, Norfolk, for a… ,
    • 'The 19th-century German sage is not my idea of a pleasant travel companion' goes hiking with Friedr… ,
    Follow Us