Literature

Engaging Literary Worlds

• Stay tuned for the next scheduled reading group!

The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

SU students have been invited to read Pico Iyer's The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama as an introduction into the Academic Salons' theme. This book, as well as a number of other readings, have been carefully selected as catalysts for dialogue through out the year.

To open the conversation, students and faculty will be reading and discussing the life of the Dalai Lama in The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama written by journalist, Pico Iyer (2008). This book follows the life and experiences of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and investigates the Tibetan Buddhist leader’s teachings on global ethics, human rights, and the relationship between religion, science and technology. Iyer’s book offers an intimate portrait of the Dalai Lama’s personal and public journey as an advocate for peace, independence, global responsibility, and mindfulness. The book offers a close interpretation of the Dalai Lama’s understanding of Tibetan Independence, relations with China, scientific inquiry, politics, cultural preservation, and religious identity.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of the key challenges that the Dalai Lama faces in terms of the global image of Tibetan Buddhism as “Shangri-La” and the political reality of the Tibetan people?
2. In what ways does the “spiritual celebrity” status of the Dalai Lama affect his message of freedom and Tibetan autonomy?
3. The Dalai Lama advocates for personal freedom and a form “global ethics” that seems to transcend the boundaries of Buddhism. How does the Dalai Lama view other religions? Does he advocate conversion to another religion or embracing one’s own?
4. Has your own understanding and concept of religion changed after reading Pico Iyer’s account of the Dalai Lama?
5. In what ways does the Dalai Lama’s religious identity and practices influence his human rights advocacy?
6. Who are some of the key human rights and social justice advocates that have been shaped by their religious identities and practices? What similarities do they share? What are some of the key differences in their views?
7. Although the Tibetan Buddhist tradition appears steeped in “mystery and magic,” the Dalai Lama firmly embraces science. How does he reconcile the seeming differences between religion and science? How is this chasm reconciled in other world religions?
8. Pico Iyer writes that the Dalai Lama “has been practicing nonviolence and moving the world with his example for almost half a century… but he had moved China not at all, and Tibet now was almost gone.” [p. 219]. What do you suppose it will take to change China’s relations with Tibet?
9. In what ways might the current economic climate influence international support for Tibetan autonomy?
10. What are some of the main struggles for national independence, religious freedom and/or ethnic survival that you can identify?
11. What are some of the main concerns and experiences of exile that affect the Tibetan youth? How do their experiences differ from those of the older generations of Tibetans?

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