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The Dalai Lama: Leadership
and the Power of Compassion
By Ginger Chih • Foreword by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Interlink, ISBN 9781623717049
Paperback $25.00. 224 pages.
About this book
A moving story of an influential global voice and a potent example of what leadership informed by compassion and selflessness could become in the 21st century. The Dalai Lama crafts an intricate tapestry of the Tibetan diaspora with evocative and moving photographs.
Framed with the eye of a photographer, The Dalai Lama: Leadership and the Power of Compassion crafts an intricate tapestry of the Tibetan diaspora, finely woven through accounts from the Dalai Lama’s storied life, the everyday lives of the Tibetan people, and the insights of a leadership coach who has applied the principles of Buddhism in her professional life.
Along the way, evocative and moving photographs of the author’s decade long journey provide deeper context into the Dalai Lama’s organic evolution into a dynamic global leader who has modernized Tibetan culture and shaped a potential humanitarian catastrophe into a thriving, if exiled, community. The Dalai Lama emerges as an influential global voice and a potent example of what leadership informed by compassion and selflessness could become in the 21st century.
The Dalai Lama’s passionate appeal for a spiritual and ethical revolution, which calls for a total reorientation away from our habitual preoccupation with the self, and toward the wider community, has new urgency. Nothing illustrates this concept of global interconnection more than the rapid spread of the global corona virus pandemic, which spared no one and affected every one of us. Because COVID has played out at a global scale, we can see how important a strong, effective, compassionate leader is. The Dalai Lama provides this selfless, compassionate role model.
Foreword excerpt
“This illustrated book provides an insight into Tibetan buddhist culture, a culture of peace and compassion ... The principles of non-violence and compassion that lie at the heart of our culture have the potential to make an important contribution to peace and harmony throughout the world. ”
Book blurbs
“Through her excellent research, photography, and personal visits to many Tibetan settlements, centers, and schools all over India and Nepal, Dr. Ginger Chih has authentically and warmly narrated the many amazing qualities of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and her meetings with ordinary Tibetan people. Her eloquently-written book does what most books on the Dalai Lama have not been able to do.”
“Dr. Chih vividly tells the story of h.h. the Dalai Lama ... Her images communicate the condition of the Tibetan diaspora with immediacy and accuracy. Anyone who sees these photographs will experience the sights and sounds of Tibetan life in exile as if they were there themselves.”
Book reviews
“This vibrant volume by Buddhist photographer Chih (A Place Called Chinese America) documents the relationship between the Dalai Lama’s leadership and the Tibetan diaspora. Chih uses the Dalai Lama’s biography as a jumping-off point to tell the stories of Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, and supplements their tales with her photos from the 2010s.
She describes the Dalai Lama’s lonely childhood in an isolated palace and his escape from Tibet in anticipation of a military crackdown from China, as well as his efforts to preserve and modernize Tibetan culture and his transformation to a figure of global influence guided by compassion. Chih’s most moving images document everyday life in the Tibetan diaspora, such as her portraits of students and instructors at the Tibetan Children’s Village, which the Dalai Lama helped establish for Tibetan children who had become separated from their parents while fleeing Tibet.
The Dalai Lama’s compassionate leadership style offers an alternative to cynical politicians, Chih suggests, driving her point home with images of the religious leader embracing enthusiastic crowds. Chih’s photos capture the intensity and humility of the Dalai Lama, though those familiar with the outlines of his biography will find little that’s new. Nonetheless, this reverent account makes for a striking visual chronicle of the Dalai Lama and the diaspora.”
“This very accessible and educational book is a history lesson and philosophy book all in one, sharing information about the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan way of life. Rich photographs are interspersed with anecdotes from the Dalai Lama’s life … Also focusing on the Dalai Lama’s lessons in leadership, Chih highlights his calls for people to choose community over individualism, a lesson that is timely today.”
“Chih, a leadership consultant and documentary photographer, writes a photo-heavy biography of the 14th Dalai Lama … Chih’s account starts with a narrative of the Dalai Lama’s early childhood, education, and flight from Tibet. From there, the author becomes more topical, reflecting on the Dalai Lama’s accomplishments as a global leader. Chih, who is herself a refugee from China, also details the plight and the culture of the Tibetan people and briefly relates the history and global impact of Tibetan Buddhism. Most notable are the book’s many photographs by Chih (some of which depict the Dalai Lama, Buddhist communities, and Tibet), which show her personal connection to her subject.”