Kundun: A Biography of the Family of the Dalai Lama
It was during the writing of her critically acclaimed book Tears of Blood, chronicling the terrible oppression of Tibet under Chinese occupation, that Mary Craig’s friendship with the Dalai Lama’s family began.
The story of how a four year old Tibetan farmer’s boy was chosen by divination to become the fourteenth Dalai Lama – ‘Kundun’ means ‘Presence of the Buddha’ – is a fascinating one, but less known is the story of his family, and their extraordinary destiny. This ordinary peasant family had to cope with the fame and greatness thrust upon them, only to be in flight a decade later from the Chinese army of ‘liberation’. Meticulously researched, and supplemented by personal interviews with the Dalai Lama and his family, this is a tale of a people wrenched from their land by force and of their fight for survival. Those who were impressed by Tears of Blood, will be deeply moved by this epic tale of triumph in adversity.
Published by Counterpoint, 1998