A Journey Unimagined A Tibetan Story

Samten Karmay has acquired a well-deserved reputation as one of the most eminent figures in the field of Tibetan Studies. His many books and articles are a testimony to the extraordinary depth and breadth of his investigations, covering areas as diverse as the Gesar epic, the Bon religion, indigenous belief systems, the history of several different periods, biography – most notably a study of the life of the Fifth Dalai Lama – and numerous other topics besides. His PhD from the University of London, which he obtained in 1985, was the basis for the first book-length study of the origins and development of the spiritual system known as the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). Born into a moderately well-to-do family in northeast Tibet in 1936, from an early age Samten Karmay displayed an intellectual curiosity and scholarly aptitude that marked him down as a natural candidate for monastic training, a path he went on to pursue at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. A witness to the Lhasa Uprising of May 1959 and its bloody aftermath, he escaped into exile first in Nepal and, subsequently, India, where a meeting with David Snellgrove, the future Professor of Tibetan Studies at the University of London, led to him taking up residence in the UK and, later on, France, where he now resides. Samten Karmay’s work has been an inspiration to emerging Tibetologists of all nationalities, but most particularly to young Tibetans, and this book tells the story of the paths the author travelled and the obstacles he overcame to become one of the most prolific, original and respected figures in his chosen field of scholarship.