The Beggar Lama

The Life of the Gyalrong Kuzhap

Jinba Tenzin

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English

Columbia University Press
21 November 2023

Biography: general; General & world history; Asian history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Tibetan Buddhism

"The Beggar Lama is the story of the Gyalrong Kuzhap, a Tibetan Buddhist polymath and reincarnated lama who has led a remarkable life through the vicissitudes of the twentieth century. Born in 1930 in Tsanlha, Gyalrong, on the easternmost fringes of the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, he would go on to become a monk, a Communist official, a professor of Tibetan studies, and a leader in the Tibetan cultural survival movement in China.

Drawing on hundreds of hours of in-depth and open-ended conversations over more than a decade, Tenzin Jinba presents the Gyalrong Kuzhap's life story. The Beggar Lama chronicles his journeys-from Gyalrong to Lhasa, from steadfast Communist to critic of the Chinese regime, from scholar to activist-painting a compelling portrait of an influential and unconventional figure. In so doing, the book shows how the Gyalrong Kuzhap's tale intertwines with larger social and political developments, providing a wide-ranging history of Tibet, the Sino-Tibetan borderlands, and China over the past century.

The Beggar Lama shares the Gyalrong Kuzhap's insightful and often critical views on Tibetan cultural and religious institutions, the Chinese Communist Party's social and political agendas, Tibetan studies in China, and the prospects for Tibetan cultural rebirth. Above all, it is a story of hope in dark times, as the Gyalrong Kuzhap seeks with his ""last breath"" to prevent Tibetan culture and memory from vanishing."

By: Jinba Tenzin
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780231209359
ISBN 10: 0231209355
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 21 November 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration Note on the Maps Introduction Act I: Childhood (1930–1941) 1. Birth and Recognition 2. Special Education 3. Just a Kid Act II: The Lhasa Trip and Monastic Life (1941–1948) 4. On the Road 5. Life at Drepung 6. On Freedom Act III: Heaven and Hell in the New China (1949–1976) 7. Reshuffling Powers 8. New Society, New Life 9. The Calm Before the Storm 10. The Democratic Reform 11. Riding the Revolutionary Tides Act IV: An Intellectual Life (1966/1977–) 12. From Cowshed to College 13. The Closing Age of Giants 14. The Last Breath Notes Bibliography Index

Tenzin Jinba teaches anthropology and sociology at the National University of Singapore. He is the author of In the Land of the Eastern Queendom: The Politics of Gender and Ethnicity on the Sino-Tibetan Border (2013).

Reviews for The Beggar Lama: The Life of the Gyalrong Kuzhap

This is an extraordinary oral history of a Tibetan incarnate lama who lived through Tibet’s twentieth-century transformation and its incorporation into the People’s Republic of China. The astonishing depth of the Kuzhap’s memories which Jinba has elicited and the sympathy and sophistication of the contextualization he provides make this a memorable read. -- Henrietta Harrison, University of Oxford