A cool head observes 'this sad reality' of Tibet

The author claims the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Tibetans were alike in striving to re-create their lost lands. Both, too, saw returning to claim their just inheri-tance as their ultimate goal. Unfortunately, because the KMT consi-dered all of China, including Tibet and Mongolia, as part of its rightful domain, good relations with the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile at Dharamsala proved problematic. Yet both shared a common enemy in China, and both also shared a common predicament, the threat of eventual international isolation.

Things improved under President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the author relates, and in March 1997 the Dalai Lama made his first official visit to Taiwan. "Summit of the splittists!" wailed Beijing.

During the Dalai Lama's second visit here, in the spring of 2001, Tsering Namgyal, who worked on Taipei Times at the time, was lucky enough to enjoy a 10-minute audience with His Holiness during which the great man suggested that, as he knew some Mandarin, he might like to go to Tibet and "observe the developments ... and try to help the Tibetans there."

It seemingly didn't happen, but instead the author has written this sane and balanced book on aspects of the life of exiled Tibetans, in India and elsewhere.

Another eye-opening topic covered is the Tibetan presence on the Internet. There are some 45 Internet cafes in Dharamsala (the greatest concentration in India, Tsering claims) and he lists many Tibet-related sites. In the first feature film by a Tibetan emigree, We're No Monks, the main character spends most of his time on-line.

Searching for Buddha's Tooth deserves to reach far more readers than simply those living in Taiwan and India. Indeed, it should be essential reading for the large numbers of Tibet-lovers worldwide. It's sane, balanced and well-informed. There are no strident re-workings of China's crimes and no demands for Tibetan independence. Instead Tsering observes the scene close-up, but with a cool head -- the loss of Tibet to China is called "this sad reality" -- and a detached amusement.

His is a tone of moderation and an educated, international perspective. Let's hope that this temperate book has already found a place in the literature of the Tibetan diaspora.