It's little wonder the Dalai Lama is so popular with the leaders of the rich nations. He can be guaranteed not to upset the apple-cart. He makes the right noises about China, strongly supports Taiwan (for which, of course, he deserves the greatest credit), and doesn't ask anyone to protest about having to do any kind of work whatsoever.
It seems to me that the Dalai Lama is in danger of being maneuvered into being no threat to anyone, a harmless emblem we can pin on our lapels to convince ourselves that we have support on the high moral ground when we take a conservative view on almost anything. He disarms us with his smiles and his jokes, is capable of being all things to almost all men, and when really knotty problems arise tends to resort to formulas such as, "This is a very complicated question."
I cannot therefore recommend this book. It is true that it represents an advance on earlier items such as The Many Ways to Nirvana (reviewed in Taipei Times Oct. 17, 2004). This time he has a co-author who narrates the whole book, describing his conversations with the great man and using ample quotations. Howard Cutler follows his subject from India to Washington, collecting comments and answers to questions wherever he can. This is preferable to collections of lectures -- the Dalai Lama is not a born writer, and anyway English is not his mother tongue.
But Cutler shapes the narrative, creating in the process what the likes of Rupert Murdoch call "product." It's a story, and it begins with the Dalai Lama claiming that what he does himself, in his many hours of meetings and so on, is actually "nothing." Cutler initially claims not to understand this, but by the book's end he finally comprehends what the wise, smiling presence really means by this enigma. But I'll leave you to find out for yourself the exact nature of this particular jewel in the heart of the lotus.
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