Book: The Wisdom of Forgiveness

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan
The most intimate conversation yet with the world's most famous holy man

In a world where peace is elusive and empathy is in short supply, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an oasis in the desert. For decades he has been the spiritual and temporal leader of the exiled Tibetan people, as well as the most recognizable symbol of Buddhism in the world. An enigmatic figure, he is a Nobel Peace Laureate with a playful streak and an irresistible laugh. But that's not why he has gained superstar status in the West, or why his public appearances around the globe sell out in minutes.

Why is he so revered? Because people are thirsty for his message of compassion and non-violence, a powerful message that crosses barriers of race, religion, and creed. In today's post 9/11 insecurity, people embrace the Dalai Lama's universal, secular values—qualities like forgiveness and acceptance, or what he calls "the warm heart." As his longtime friend, Victor Chan, describes it: "He and his countrymen practice a very simple religion—they practice being kind to each other."

Chan met the Dalai Lama more than 30 years ago on a serendipitous trip to India, where the holy man was in exile. Over the next three decades Chan became a frequent visitor and confidante, the first person from China to enter Dalai Lama's inner circle since the Chinese government seized Tibet in 1959. Now, Chan recounts their long and evolving friendship in THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS: Intimate Conversations and Journeys (Riverhead Books; Publication Date: August 12, 2004; $24.95), a remarkable look into the life and mind of the Dalai Lama.

THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS invites readers to come along on the trip of a lifetime, as Chan chronicles nearly three decades traveling the world with the Dalai Lama. From war-torn Ireland to Eastern Europe, through India's holy sites and the Dalai Lama's grave illness, Chan had unprecedented access to the holy man's daily routine and private quarters, as well as his visits with bombing victims and dignitaries like Czech president Vaclav Havel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Chan documents the entire amazing journey and the ongoing intimate conversation that forged their friendship.

Chan says that initially theirs was an unlikely bond. Chan is, after all, a member of the race that destroyed Tibet, the Dalai Lama's homeland. In fact, the first question he asked the holy man was, "Do you hate the Chinese?" The Dalai Lama answered swiftly and easily in English: "No." In his native language he added that his quarrel was with the Chinese Communist Party, not with the Chinese people. He still considered the Chinese his brothers and sisters, and he forgave them without reservation. It was an answer that made an indelible impression on a young Chinese man and sparked a lifelong admiration for the holy man and his mission.

Over the years Chan has witnessed the amazing effect that the Dalai Lama has on others as well as his amazing capacity for compassion. But he has also seen him in more intimate moments: pre-dawn moments of meditation and in the grip of pain. In THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS: Intimate Conversations and Journeys, he shares the private side of this extraordinary man, where readers discover...

* What the experience of profound meditative insight really feels like.
* How the Dalai Lama has learned to love his enemies.
* Under what circumstances he could ever commit an act of violence.
* What this holy man does daily to develop spiritually.
* That doctors report that the Dalai Lama's near-seventy-year-old heart looks like the heart of a twenty-year-old.
* How a highly developed spiritual person experiences pain.

The Dalai Lama is an international icon for peace, an inspiration to millions around the world. In THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS: Intimate Conversations and Journeys, Victor Chan brings that icon to life, supplying a vivid portrait of the man whose global vision could just save the world.

Read the introduction here.