Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama is known to the world for his efforts to preserve Tibetan culture and for his inspiring spiritual teachings. Often unnoticed, however, is the long, colorful history from which this most beloved of holy men has emerged.

The Kalacakra Tantra—Kalacakra means “wheel of time”—is a tradition of Buddhist theory and practice whose root text treats a fantastic expanse of knowledge ranging from observations of the cosmos to investigations of meditative states and vital bodily energies.

Here is the first serious consideration—for Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike—of the 14th Dalai Lama’s work and ideas as a politician, scientist, and philosopher. Pico Iyer has been engaged in conversation with the Dalai Lama (a friend of his father’s) for the last three decades.