Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother's Story (Compass Books) Summary and Reviews

Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother's Story (Compass Books)
by Diki Tsering

Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother's Story (Compass Books)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Diki Tsering
Contributor: Khedroob Thondup
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2001-05-01
ISBN: 0140196269
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Book Reviews of Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother's Story (Compass Books)

Book Review: Long Ago and Far Away
Summary: 4 Stars

This book relates some of the details of the life of Diki Tsering, the mother of the Dalai Lama. It begins with her childhood in early Twentieth Century Tibet, where she was born into a peasant family. She tells stories of her life as a child, explaining the special relationship she had with her grandparents, and describing the festivals in great detail. She describes her wedding ceremony as a 17-year-old bride, and her new life as stranger and household worker in her husband's family home. As a peasant, Diki Tsering was not rich, but she also was not from the bottom rungs of society, since her family always had a few servants or paid laborers working for them. When one of her children, Lhamo Dhondup, was recognized as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, her life changed dramatically. The family was moved to Lhasa, were they became acquainted with aristocratic society and were given large land holdings and servants. As the mother of the Dalai Lama, she was then able to live the life of an aristocrat and travel widely. However, she was also subject to the dangers of Tibetan and international politics, which eventually led to her flight from Tibet in 1958.

The beginning of the book is quite fascinating, with its descriptions of customs and peasant practices in rural Tibet. Her later descriptions of life in Lhasa and travels are not quite as detailed or engaging, but they do provide interesting documentation of Tibetan history at a crucial point in time.

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