Imagining Tibet ─ Realities, Projections, and Fantasies

In the past century, the Western view of Tibet has evolved from an exotic Shangri-la filled with golden idols and the promise of immortality, to a peaceful land with an enlightened society now ravaged by outside aggression. How and why did our perception change? How accurate are our modern conceptions of Tibet? Imagining Tibet is a collection of essays that reveal these Western conceptions. Providing an historical background to the West's ever-changing relationship with Tibet, Donald Lopez, Jeffrey Hopkins, Jamyang Norbu, and other noted scholars explore a variety of topics ? from Western perceptions of Tibetan approaches to violence, monastic life, and life as a nation in exile, to representations of Tibet in Western literature, art, environmentalism, and the New Age movement.

Thierry Dodin is a Tibetologist who has taught at the University of Bonn and recently served as Director of the Tibet Information Network in London.

Heinz Raether works as a Tibetologist at the Universities of Ulm. He lives in Dusseldorf, Germany.