Theos Bernard, the White Lama : Tibet, yoga, and American religious life / Paul Hackett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hackett, Paul G., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bernard, Theos, 1908-1947.

Bernard, Theos.

Scholars--United States--Biography.

Scholars.

Yogis--United States--Biography.

Yogis.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (519 p.)

Edition:

Paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

New York ; Chichester, West Sussex : Columbia University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1937, Theos Casimir Bernard (1908-1947), the self-proclaimed "White Lama," became the third American in history to reach Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. During his stay, he amassed the largest collection of Tibetan texts, art, and artifacts in the Western hemisphere at that time. He also documented, in both still photography and 16mm film, the age-old civilization of Tibet on the eve of its destruction by Chinese Communists. Based on thousands of primary sources and rare archival materials, Theos Bernard, the White Lama recounts the real story behind the purported adventures of this iconic figure and his role in the growth of America's religious counterculture. Over the course of his brief life, Bernard met, associated, and corresponded with the major social, political, and cultural leaders of his day, from the Regent and high politicians of Tibet to saints, scholars, and diplomats of British India, from Charles Lindbergh and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Gandhi and Nehru. Although hailed as a brilliant pioneer by the media, Bernard also had his flaws. He was an entrepreneur propelled by grandiose schemes, a handsome man who shamelessly used his looks to bounce from rich wife to rich wife in support of his activities, and a master manipulator who concocted his own interpretation of Eastern wisdom to suit his ends. Bernard had a bright future before him, but disappeared in India during the communal violence of the 1947 Partition, never to be seen again.Through diaries, interviews, and previously unstudied documents, Paul G. Hackett shares Bernard's compelling life story, along with his efforts to awaken America's religious counterculture to the unfolding events in India, the Himalayas, and Tibet. Hackett concludes with a detailed geographical and cultural trace of Bernard's Indian and Tibetan journeys, which shed rare light on the explorer's mysterious disappearance.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgment

One. Life in the Desert

Two. New York and New Mexico

Three. Two Parallel Paths (I)

Four. Two Parallel Paths (II)

Five. On Holy Ground

Six. Pretense and Pretext

Seven. A Well-Trodden Path

Eight. Tibet, Tantrikas, and the Hero of Chaksam Ferry

Nine. "The Clipper Ship of the Imagination"

Ten. Yoga on Fifth Avenue

Eleven. Tibetland and the Penthouse of the Gods

Twelve. To Climb the Highest Mountains

Thirteen. The Aftermath

Fourteen. Postscript: The View from Ki, Sixty Years Later

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231530378

0231530374

OCLC:

823248416