Theos Bernard, the White Lama

Tibet, Yoga, and American Religious Life

Paul Hackett (Columbia)

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English

Columbia University Press
07 January 2014

Biography: historical, political & military; Biography: religious & spiritual; Asian history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Tibetan Buddhism

In 1937, Theos Casimir Bernard (1908–1947), the self-proclaimed ""White Lama,"" became the third American in history to reach Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. During his stay, he amassed the largest collection of Tibetan texts, art, and artifacts in the Western hemisphere at that time. He also documented, in both still photography and 16mm film, the age-old civilization of Tibet on the eve of its destruction by Chinese Communists.

Based on thousands of primary sources and rare archival materials, Theos Bernard, the White Lama recounts the real story behind the purported adventures of this iconic figure and his role in the growth of America's religious counterculture. Over the course of his brief life, Bernard met, associated, and corresponded with the major social, political, and cultural leaders of his day, from the Regent and high politicians of Tibet to saints, scholars, and diplomats of British India, from Charles Lindbergh and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Gandhi and Nehru. Although hailed as a brilliant pioneer by the media, Bernard also had his flaws. He was an entrepreneur propelled by grandiose schemes, a handsome man who shamelessly used his looks to bounce from rich wife to rich wife in support of his activities, and a master manipulator who concocted his own interpretation of Eastern wisdom to suit his ends. Bernard had a bright future before him, but disappeared in India during the communal violence of the 1947 Partition, never to be seen again.

Through diaries, interviews, and previously unstudied documents, Paul G. Hackett shares Bernard's compelling life story, along with his efforts to awaken America's religious counterculture to the unfolding events in India, the Himalayas, and Tibet. Hackett concludes with a detailed geographical and cultural trace of Bernard's Indian and Tibetan journeys, which shed rare light on the explorer's mysterious disappearance.

By: Paul Hackett (Columbia)
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 624g
ISBN: 9780231158879
ISBN 10: 0231158874
Pages: 520
Publication Date: 07 January 2014
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul G. Hackett is an editor for the American Institute of Buddhist Studies and teaches Classical Tibetan at Columbia University. He is the author of A Tibetan Verb Lexicon and numerous articles on Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy.

Reviews for Theos Bernard, the White Lama: Tibet, Yoga, and American Religious Life

His writing is fluid and at times witty, and the density of the book's detail calls for a close reading...a lively and significant study... -- Michael J. Sweet * Buddhadharma * Well-written * Library Journal * A 'must-read' book * Practical Matters * A detailed and engrossing story about this enigmatic figure's life. -- David M. DiValerio * Journal of Buddhist Ethics * Hackett's sympathetic account is a page-turner, meticulously documented over a number of years... Well-written... A readable intellectual account of the life of an ambitious Tibetological pioneer. * Asian Ethnology * Hackett's work is excellently detailed... [his] construction of Theos' story is so interesting it reads both as a novel and as an academic biography. * Nova Religio *