Tibet: The Sacred Realm, Photographs 1880-1950
by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa
Aperture, Inc., New York, New York, 1983 159 pages
"Tibet was my country, the holy city of Lhasa my home. For twenty-three years I lived there, happy and secure in the traditions of our Buddhist culture.
I had been posted in India in 1950 when the Chinese invaded Tibet, and since then, like 100,000 other Tibetans who became exiles, I have not returned to live in my native land. Today, Tibetan refugees are scattered—from India and the Himalayan countries to Europe, from North America to Australia. Although they have successfully adapted to their new environments and have—out of necessity— been assimilated into other societies, most still retain a deep longing for the cool, dry highlands of Tibet and nostalgia for traditional Buddhist culture, for the tightly knit, warm communal life, for the innocent gaiety, the music, the festivals, the rituals and the harmonious lifestyle of a twelve-centuries-old society. Thirty-five years after my departure from Tibet and three years after the doors to my country have again hesitantly been opened, I look back and compare, remember, and analyze. The old Tibet will never be revived. Having lived in India and North America for several decades, I see more clearly than ever how very special our old way of life really was."
-- quote submitted by Barbara G.
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