Overview

Eastern Tibet, or Kham, is a place of rugged ranges and torrential rivers, home to the fierce Khampa rebels who tried for a decade to defeat China's army and win independence for Tibet. Pamela Logan is an inveterate traveler who fell in love with Kham and was deeply affected by the poverty she saw there. With the help of many friends, she started a nonprofit to do the impossible: bring development and humanitarian assistance to Tibetans under Chinese rule. This book chronicles Logan's fourteen years of work in Kham: helping children stay in school, saving the lives of babies and mothers, providing job training to nomadic herders, improving health care, assisting communities hit by earthquakes, and repairing centuries-old architecture. Compassion Mandala records Logan's first-hand observations of rural Tibetan society and China's relentless efforts to modernize it. Outlining each gate of the development mandala - areas such as education, health care, jobs, and the environment - she explains how Tibet has changed over the past century, giving historical context to contemporary challenges. She details obstacles faced by Tibetans as ethnic minorities in China, and she describes how they are adapting to China's rapid development and coping with the tidal wave of Chinese migrants arriving in their homeland. She portrays many individuals she knew: incarnate lamas, ordinary farmers, educated professionals, corrupt officials, devoted Buddhists, and a brilliant young woman determined to overcome her humble origins and realize her dreams.

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9781735053806

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Reviews

Deftly captures the cultural nuances of a world little known to or understood by Westerners . . . a love story with a whole culture. - Kirkus Reviews A memoir resonant with authentic devotion to serving others. . . . The resilience and beauty of the Tibetan people stand out in this sweeping account. - BookLife A highly recommended, inspirational survey . . . Compassion Mandala exposes Tibetan culture and people in a way few that other books achieve. - Midwest Book Review, D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer Rich descriptions of alpine villages at the end of nearly impassible trails . . . [This] book should hold special interest for students of Asian Studies and Tibetan Buddhism. - BlueInk Reviews The messiness, provisionality, contingency, trial, and plenty of error are what makes this book worthwhile. - Gabriel Lafitte, Rukor.org

A memoir resonant with authentic devotion to serving others. . . . The resilience and beauty of the Tibetan people stand out in this sweeping account. - BookLife A highly recommended, inspirational survey . . . Compassion Mandala exposes Tibetan culture and people in a way few that other books achieve. - Midwest Book Review, D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer Rich descriptions of alpine villages at the end of nearly impassible trails . . . [This] book should hold special interest for students of Asian Studies and Tibetan Buddhism. - BlueInk Reviews

Author Information

Seeking a path to the highest places, Pamela Logan studied aerospace at Caltech and Stanford, worked at a couple of NASA laboratories, and taught college-level aeronautical engineering before setting aside her technical career to explore Asia. As science director at the China Exploration & Research Society, she led a wall paintings conservation project at a Buddhist monastery in the Tibetan region of Kham; she also helped search for Silk Road ruins using spaceborne imaging radar. In 1997, Logan launched Kham Aid Foundation, a nonprofit that she led for fourteen years doing development and humanitarian assistance projects on the eastern Tibetan plateau. She lives with her husband in Colorado.

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