A cultural history of Tibet

by David L. Snellgrove

“The civilization of the Tibetan people is disappearing before our very eyes, and apart from a few gentle protests here and there, the rest of the world lets it go without comment and without regret. Many civilizations have declined and disintegrated in the past, but it is rare that one has the opportunity of being an informed witness of such events.” So write David Snellgrove and Hugh Richardson, the authors of this comprehensive survey of a rapidly vanishing civilization, in which they trace the evolution of Tibetan culture from its sixth-century pre-Buddhist origins through the introduction of Buddhism, the rise of the great monastic houses, the rise of the “Yellow Hats,” and the establishment of the Dalai Lama to Tibet’s fall to the Chinese Communists in 1959. Because a wealth of new material—most of it previously unfamiliar to the West—has become available since the exile of many Tibetan scholars, it is now possible, as never before, to analyze the richness of this Central Asian c