Subject: [Homestead] Review - The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:22:28 -0700
by Pico Iyer
Ceaseless striving providing hope
I heard an interview on NPR with Pico Iyer about this book. Iyer
mentioned that the Dalai Lama was 72, which is my age as I write this.
I was suddenly struck by the overwhelming thought that I had become
this old with my spiritual values still unsettled.
By all measures, Pico Iyer is your basic everyday genius, world
traveler and visionary writer. He has written eight books plus
hundreds of essays, columns, articles and book reviews for Time, New
York Times, National Geographic, Harpers, The Financial Times and
more. He also happens to have known the Dalai Lama for over thirty
years. I had held Pico Iyer on my “authors-to-read” list for too long
to miss this opportunity.
Illustrated with many meetings and occasions over a period of decades,
the author shows the enormous range of a seemingly simple man. The
three sections of the book are titled: In Public, In Private, In
Practice. Chapters are titled: The Conundrum, The Fairy Tale, The
Icon, The Philosopher, The Mystery, The Monk, The Globalist, The
Politician, The Future.
The fourteenth Dalai Lama is “built like a middle linebacker” but is
nonviolent. He is deeply religious--he rises at 3:30am and meditates
and prays for four hours--but advises others to find their own way. “A
religious teacher who is telling people not to get confused or
distracted by religion.” He is considered a living god but insists
over and over that he is “just a man.”
He often says, “I don’t know.” At the end of a talk in Canada he says,
“I will remain, to serve.” He is famous for his laughter; he has a
solid sense of humor but one suspects also he sees much silliness in
the antics of those who ask him their profound questions or give him
their worldly viewpoints.
The author succeeds in illuminating “one of the most visible figures
on the planet,” a man of wide talents and considerations, whose people
revere him and hope to learn through his actions. Young Tibetans are
impatient with his policies but are dumbstruck in his presence. He is
a doctor of metaphysics but appears childlike to many. A living
contradiction of superlatives.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
[Homestead] Review - The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama,
Gene GeRue, 03/31/2008