The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography

by Tetsu Saiwai

Overview

A new way of getting to know one of the world's most beloved spiritual leaders.

Featuring a charmingly illustrated format that will appeal to readers of all ages, this unique biography is an ideal introduction to the leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Born in 1935 to a peasant family in a small village, Tenzin Gyatso was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. In 1950, His Holiness assumed full political power when China invade Tibet-a tragedy that forever changed him and shaped his efforts on behalf of world peace, for which he was award the Nobel Peace Prize. This graphic novel is an appealing and approachable depiction of the life and personality of an iconic figure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143118152
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/28/2010
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.47(w) x 8.39(h) x 0.55(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Tetsu Saiwai is a manga artist from Japan. Throughout his career spanning over twenty years, he has published a number of educational mangas with regards to environmental protections and human rights issues. Aside from mangas, he is a passionate puppeteer, and plans to open a puppet troupe to advocate similar and important themes for humanity. Tetsu lives in the beautiful countryside of Western Japan with his wife and dogs.
Tetsu Saiwai is a manga artist from Japan. Throughout his career spanning over twenty years, he has published a number of educational mangas with regards to environmental protections and human rights issues. Aside from mangas, he is a passionate puppeteer, and plans to open a puppet troupe to advocate similar and important themes for humanity. Tetsu lives in the beautiful countryside of Western Japan with his wife and dogs.
Tetsu Saiwai is a manga artist from Japan. Throughout his career spanning over twenty years, he has published a number of educational mangas with regards to environmental protections and human rights issues. Aside from mangas, he is a passionate puppeteer, and plans to open a puppet troupe to advocate similar and important themes for humanity. Tetsu lives in the beautiful countryside of Western Japan with his wife and dogs.

Editorial Reviews

It would perhaps be asking too much for a biography of the 14th Dalai Lama, divinely appointed leader of Tibet, to treat its subject with a skeptical eye, particularly when it's obviously being written from a teach-the-children perspective. Any sense of skeptical inquiry is resolutely not what writer/illustrator Saiwai (an educational Manga artist and puppeteer) is up to in this brisk and action-packed overview of the Dalai Lama's life. Starting in calamity in 1939 with the passing of the 13th Dalai Lama and the locating of his reincarnation in two-year-old Tenzin Gyatso, Saiwai moves quickly through the major signposts of Tenzin's life. Drama is cranked to the max, with bellowing mouths and frequent exclamations of rage or despair as the ancient mountain kingdom of Tibet falls to the crushing dictatorial oppression of Mao's China. Eventually it is revealed that the story is styled mostly as an autobiographical speech delivered by Tenzin to an adoring multinational crowd. While Tenzin's life is inarguably one of great faith, determination, and generosity, Tetsu's lack of perspective ultimately works to flatten, not enhance, the story. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly