My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet: Amazon.ca: The Dalai Lama: Books

Product Description

Review

"A narrative that gains in drama by the simplicity of its telling." -- -The New York Times Book Review

"MY LAND AND MY PEOPLE is, without a doubt, one of the most moving memoirs I have ever read." -- -Stanley Gosh, Saturday Review

Book Description

Schooled behind ancient palace walls to become the leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama has become a spiritual leader to the world and a leading civil rights advocate. My Land and My People tells the story of his life.

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
I was born in a small village called Taktser, in the northeast of Tibet, on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Wood Hog Year of the Tibetan calendar-that is, in 1935. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book, Aug 9 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet (Paperback)

H.H.the Dalai Lama, as he is known to we Tibetans, is an amazing personality. I have read this book in Tibetan when I was about 16 years old. His sincerety will touch you, his genorisity will move you and his compassion will transform you into a better human being. I live in Taiwan now. One of my Taiwanese journalist friends went on to interview him. She had prepared lot of questions for His Holiness. She later told me that when she met him in person, she forgot all her questions and just felt like asking him one question: "What is the purpose of life and why we are here on this earth?" Such is the power of his presence and the charm of his compassion. The book is one of his earliest works. A must read for anyone willing to be a better human being.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

3.0 out of 5 stars A little disappointed, but still a good and important read, Mar 4 2002

By

Brian Pressman (Honolulu, Hawaii United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet (Paperback)

I am a college student who has studied China extensively in school. I can speak Chinese and have traveled to China several times and to Tibet once. While I have never agreed with many of the Chinese governments policies in the areas of religion, personal freedom, Tibet, and Taiwan, I think this book could have done more for its cause.

I decided to read this book after I spent 2.5 weeks in Tibet last year while studying in China. Tibet was one of the most fascinating places I have been to and I really wanted to know more about what happened there after China invaded. This book tells the Dalai Lama's story very well. Up until the last 15 pages or so, I really loved the book. However, before closing, the Dalai Lama makes several accusations about Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet (beatings, child abductions and the like) but provides no evidence of their existence.

While I personally feel Tibet was and still is a sovereign country and what China has done is wrong in many ways, the charges made in the last few pages don't belong in this book. While the Dalai Lama's story of his life and last days in Tibet are very powerful, I really think it would have been even better had the those last parting shots been omitted. Charges of human rights abuses such as these are very important and would be better served in a book of their own.

I think most Americans will enjoy this book but not share the same reaction I had to the last few pages. I have studied China for several years now and have heard accusations from both China and the world on countless occasions on a wide range of issues. Maybe this is why I get turned off when I don't see concrete evidence included when someone makes a charge such as the Dalai Lama does at the end of his book. I still think the Dalai Lama is a wonderful man and has an important story to tell, but feel this one could have come across a little better.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

5.0 out of 5 stars the failure of genocide, Dec 14 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet (Paperback)

The cry to "free Tibet" takes on new meaning and a more personal conviction after reading this book. This original autobiograhpy, published in 1962, is an intimate narrative of the Dalai Lama's life from his humble beginnings as the son of a Tibetan farmer to his evolution as the greatest spiritual leader known to the modern world.
It is also the story of a young man struggling with responsibilities that are unimaginable for someone so young and of a remarkable people who were willing to give up their lives in order to protect their unique way of life.
But, more importantly, this book tells the story of an attempt by a mighty military power to eliminate a small peace-loving culture thus eliminating it's religion, a religion based simply on having compassion for all living things. In this regard, the efforts of the mighty power failed. The government of China may have been successful in taking the beautiful land from the Tibetans (thanks in part to the rest of the world turning a blind eye to what was happening) but the culture and religion is still thriving thanks to the efforts of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his government in exile.
In conclusion, this book reminds us that we all need to be aware of how frangible freedom is and that all peace-loving people must join hands throughout the world, regardless of cultural and religious beliefs, to protect that precious thing called freedom.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 7 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 14 reviews 4.7 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A memoir that stirs up compassion and feeling
I started this book with the thought that I would gain a better sense of the history surrounding the current events in Tibet, where I recently visited. Read more

Published on Aug 24 2001 by ah-ling

5.0 out of 5 stars Dalai Lama inside
A very honest and personal but also historical and buddhist account of the Dalai Lamas life written in his very own words. Read more

Published on April 18 2001