Tibet: History, Culture, and Religion

There are few regions that have been more misunderstood by the West than Tibet. It is still often portrayed in the West as the “Shangri-la” that was described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon, one of the earliest references to Tibet in English-speaking culture. Westerners too often envision a mystical place full of happy, meditating monks and carefree nomads who use Tibetan singing bowls for healing and comfort and The Tibetan Book of the Dead to guide their journey from this life. But while the singing bowls are now ubiquitous in Tibetan tourist shops, scholars can find no original connection to Tibetan culture. And The Tibetan Book of the Dead that influenced so many Westerners in the 1960s and 1970s, from Carl Jung to the Beatles? Scholars today describe it as not Tibetan, not a book, and not about death.

In Tibet: History, Culture, and Religion, Professor Constance Kassor, will show you the real, multi-dimensional Tibet and its people who live on the “Roof of the World,” the highest and largest plateau on Earth. In 24 fascinating lectures, you will learn how Tibet’s history was shaped by kings and kingdoms, power struggles, religion, traditions, wars, peace, and the lifestyles that developed in response to living on the world’s highest plateau. You will meet the Buddha, the Dharma Kings, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, and more. Today, violent geopolitical struggles, modernism, and the exile of its religious leaders form an existential threat that few other regions face: This is the real Tibet.