The Buddha Party: How the People's Republic of China Works to Define and Control Tibetan Buddhism

The Buddha Party tells the story of how the People's Republic of China employs propaganda to define Tibetan Buddhist belief and sway opinion within the country and abroad. The narrative they create is at odds with historical facts and deliberately misleading but, John Powers argues, it is
widely believed by Han Chinese. Most of China's leaders appear to deeply believe the official line regarding Tibet, which resonates with Han notions of themselves as China's most advanced nationality and as a benevolent race that liberates and culturally uplifts minority peoples. This in turn
profoundly affects how the leadership interacts with their counterparts in other countries. Powers's study focuses in particular on the government's patriotic education campaign-an initiative that forces monks and nuns to participate in propaganda sessions and repeat official dogma. Powers
contextualizes this within a larger campaign to transform China's religions into patriotic systems that endorse Communist Party policies. This book offers a powerful, comprehensive examination of this ongoing phenomenon, how it works and how Tibetans resist it.


Author: John Powers
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 10/03/2016
Pages: 392
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780199358151

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2017

About the Author

John Powers is Professor of Asian Studies in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. He specializes in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan history and is the author of 17 books and more than 80 articles. His books include A Bull of A Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Body in Indian Buddhism (2009) and Historical Dictionary of Tibet (with David Templeman; 2012).