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Buddha’s Not Smiling
Uncovering Corruption in Tibetan Buddhism Today
By Erik D. Curren, PhD
Since the 1960s, many Westerners have idealized Buddhism, particularly in its Tibetan form, as the world’s most enlightened spiritual path. Yet recent findings have exposed an underlying hotbed of political and religious controversy. Buddha’s Not Smiling offers a balanced, open-minded approach to discovering the truth behind Buddhism’s darkest struggle.
The Dalai Lama, called "the greatest living human," is revered worldwide as the spiritual leader of Tibet. Yet to many Tibetans this title rings false. For 800 years, the largest school of Tibetan Buddhism has chosen a lama known as the Karmapa, without incident. But in 1992, a disagreement over the identity of the seventeenth Karmapa caused a schism in Tibetan Buddhism that is still raging today—pitting the Dalai Lama and his supporters against hundreds of thousands of Buddhists internationally. Erik Curren’s well-researched and documented book offers an in-depth exploration of the shocking, often violent history and current politics behind this ongoing battle that poses the greatest challenge Buddhism has ever faced, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.
"Curren does an exemplary job of chronicling the historical development and present-day consequences of the dogma concerning the reincarnating master in Tibet."
—Sankara Saranam
Author of God Without Religion and founder of The Pranayama Institute
"Curren's work adds another important piece to the Karmapa puzzle. . . . Honest, straightforward, and calmly written, Buddha's Not Smiling is a valuable contribution both to knowledge about the Karmapa controversy and to the intricate workings of Tibetan religious politics."
—Lara Braitstein, PhD
Assistant Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, McGill University
"A must-read . . . [Buddha’s Not Smiling provides] great new historical information and doctrinal background throughout."
—Alex Shoumatoff
Author and publisher of www.DispatchesFromTheVanishingWorld.com
Erik Curren has been a practicing Buddhist for ten years. A writer, scholar, and teacher, he has been active in politics since his teens and earned his PhD in English from the University of California at Irvine. After teaching in the Czech Republic and India, he settled in the United States, where for the past ten years he has served as a communications and political consultant to major corporations and the state of California.
Rights available in all languages except Polish, German, Dutch, and Russian
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| Categories | Current Affairs |
| ISBN | 0-9772253-0-5 |
| Format | 51/2 x 81/2, 296 pages |
| Price | $19.95 |
| Pub Date | December 2005 |
| Publisher | Alaya Press |
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