IN EXILE FROM THE LAND OF SNOWS:
The Dalai Lama And Tibet Since The Chinese Conquest.
HarperPerennial edition, 1994, ISBN 0-06-097574-1.
In August of 1932, the thirteenth Dalai Lama gazed out over the gardens of his summer palace, the Norbulingka or Jewel Park, and began to write his final testament to the Tibetan people. "It may happen," he warned, "that here, in the center of Tibet, religion and government will be attacked both from without and from within. Unless we can guard our own country, it will now happen that the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, the Father and the Son, and all the reverened holders of the Faith, will disappear and become nameless. Monks and their monasteries will be destroyed. The rule of law will be weakened. The lands and property of government officials will be seized. They themselves will be forced to serve their enemies or wander the country like beggars. All beings will be sunk in great hardship and overpowering fear; the days and nights will drag on slowly in suffering." Though the Dalai Lama refrained from noting just who would inflict this devastating fate upon his country, the message was clear: Tibet, aloof and at peace for most of its 2,100 years, stood on the brink of disaster.
In Exile from the Land of Snows: The Dalai Lama and Tibet Since the Chinese Conquest by John F. Avedon
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