American Dalai Lama
(A story that could help set a nation free)
by
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“It was an oblique twist of poetic justice that the destined leader of a distant land being similarly occupied by foreigners was to be born in Seattle. Tibet is now what Seattle once was. Will Tibet be another example that proves that might is right? We are hoping not. And with hoping is remembering that above the rocks and dirt upon which the modern city of Seattle is founded, and beneath every home and every road, by the rivers and lakes, by the ancient trees and groves, for many generations an earlier tribes of man lived thereon.” “Though the last time the palace was occupied by the 14th Dalai Lama was more than 80 years ago, while almost all Tibetans had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the 15th, except for the lamas who came to see him at his birth 33 years ago and who themselves had neither heard from nor saw him again, if not for the only good thing this world really affords which is called hope, the Dalai Lama’s absence of more than 80 years was more than enough for anyone to conclude that his reincarnation and in effect the thousand year old Tibetan Buddhism were as good as dead. But together with hope the invisible is the Potala Palace the visible, as long as the Palace stands Tibetans’ hope will never die.” “Hope is good. Hope is founded in truth. Hope and truth are not identical but each one is integrant of the other. One’s hope springs from his knowledge of the truth. And one doesn’t hope for things that are not true. If he does, what he has is not hope but self deception. One doesn’t harbor even a shadow of doubt about the truth of what he is hoping for. If he does, it means he doesn’t know the whole truth and therefore his hope is but a mere guess.”
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About the Book
It is the belief of the Buddhist nation of Tibet that their godking and the true leader of their country, whom they call the Dalai Lama, will be reincarnated after he dies. Like the three Persian magi searching for the newborn Jesus, three Tibetan holy leaders, known as lamas, have been tasked to find the fifteenth reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. The lamas consist of Gephel, a survivor of the mid-twentieth-century Chinese invasion of his country; Jongbu, a companion of the late Dalai Lama who helped reorganize the administration of Potala Palace when China partially relinquished its control; and Phuntsok, a young Buddha who possesses an extraordinary understanding of Buddhist teachings and spiritual practices. As their journey leads them to the truth, the lamas learn that the supposed reincarnation was born in the United States where the Dalai Lama discovered his true identity. But with that truth comes new challenges that culminate when Jesse Criss’s American upbringing and Buddhist beliefs collide with the superpower China occupying Tibet. “What is stronger than love? Duty is. Because of one’s duty to his country, mission or destiny one will leave the person one loves.” - Chapter 4. “Superior goodness defeats both ignorance and evil. And what good can be more superior than from the one who keeps it despite the evil that he has suffered? “ - Chapter 6.
About the Author
Roderick Dalmacio is an award-winning artist and founder of a new painting style called American cubism. He earned a degree in English from a university in Manila. His first novel, American Dalai Lama, is inspired by his philosophical and religious beliefs. After moving to Seattle from the Philippines, Roderick now resides in a DC suburb.