介绍阿嘉仁波切自传《Surviving the Dragon》

介绍阿嘉仁波切自传《Surviving the Dragon》

译者：台湾悬钩子

（RODALE出版社：262页，美金24.95元）

这是一个人挣扎求自由的记录，也诉说了中国文化大革命、及西藏目前仍未停止的为独立而奋斗的更大故事。

《Surviving the Dragon》，一位在1998年逃离西藏的高级喇嘛，阿嘉仁波切的回忆录——将于2010年3月3日在书店正式推出。这本书的出版日期，时机十分恰当，因为它正好是藏人群起抗议中国入侵者、而西藏之圣尊达赖喇嘛被迫逃往印度流亡的“西藏三月十日起义日”的周年纪念日之前几天。圣尊自从那以后已在印度达兰萨拉设立起西藏流亡政府。超过八万名藏人在圣尊离开时，也逃离了西藏。现在全世界各地共有十二万流离的藏人。

《Surviving the Dragon》是阿嘉仁波切在西藏主要大寺——杰衮本（译：即塔尔寺）里，以一个转世高僧的身份成长的故事。与许多来自西藏的故事不同的是，他所回忆的不是在中国统治下受酷刑折磨及苦难的故事，而是受苦以及誉满天下的故事。他童年时期，好似一位活佛受到优遇；青年时期，他却忙着清扫便坑，但在毛泽东过世后，他又在中国的佛教官僚系统中获得提拔，享受高官厚禄。他变成中国佛教协会的副会长，也预定会再度升官，成为会长。

在他逃到美国前夕，他的生活是安逸平稳的，而如果他同意变成中国共产党不诚实地指名为第十一世班禅喇嘛的经师的话，他的生活还可以继续这么平稳地过下去。中国的举措是想要对付达赖喇嘛，而这也是违反了他的佛教信仰的政治动作。他的良心不允许他背叛他的上师十世班禅喇嘛与圣尊达赖喇嘛所教诲的价值观。结果，他选择逃离西藏，而不是背叛佛教，不是叛离他所继承的西藏与蒙古之文化遗产。

《Surviving the Dragon》打开了一扇窗户，让我们窥见二十世纪下半叶的西藏—中国历史的内部事件，而其中的冲突，至今仍然在中国与其少数民族之间方兴未艾。

Surviving the Dragon by Arjia Rinpoche

(Rodale: 262 pages; $24.95)

An intimate account of one man’s stuggle for freedom tells the larger story of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and Tibet’s ongoing fight for independence

Surviving the Dragon, the memoirs of Arjia Rinpoche—a Tibetan high lama who escaped from Tibet in 1998-- will be available in bookstore on March 3, 2010. The publishing date of the book is timely as it precedes by a few days the anniversary of the "Tibetan March 10 Uprising Day” when Tibetans rose in protest against the Chinese invaders and His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet was forced to flee to India where he took asylum. He has since set up a Tibetan Government-in-Exile in Dharmasala, India. More than 80,000 Tibetan fled Tibet at the time that His Holiness left. Now there are more than 120,000 displaced Tibetans living throughout the world.

Surviving the Dragon is the story of Arjia Rinpoche's growing up as the reincarnated abbot in Kumbum, one of Tibet's major monasteries. Unlike many stories from Tibet, his memories are not those of torture and suffering under the Chinese but of suffering and fame. As a child, he was treated like a living Buddha; as a young man he emptied latrines, but after the death of Mao Tse Tung, he rose to prominence within the Chinese Buddhist bureaucracy. He became Vice-chairman of the Buddhist Association of China and was slated to become its Chairman.

At the time of his escape to the USA, his life was one of ease, which would have continued if he had agreed to become tutor to the boy whom the Communist Chinese had unconscionably named the 11th Panchen Lama. It was a political move against the Dalai Lama and his Buddhist faith. His conscience would not allow him to be disloyal to the values of his mentor the 10th Panchen Lama or His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As a result, he fled Tibet rather than betray his Buddhist religion and his Tibetan and Mongolian heritage.

Surviving the Dragon opens a window to events from inside Tibetan-Chinese history during the final half of the twentieth century, a conflict that continues today between China and its ethnic minorities.