 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
| A Brief History of the Panchem Lama In 1995 the Panchen Lama vanished. After an elaborate search, the Dalai Lama named a six year old Tibetan boy the reincarnation of the fabled Panchen Lama lineage. Days later Chinese authorities descended on the child’s rural town and the boy and his family have not been seen since. The Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Tibetan lama after the Dalai Lama. The mysterious disappearance of the Panchen Lama creates confusion in planning the succession of the Dalai Lama, and places all Tibetan Buddhists in a precarious scenario. The light that has burned brightly for centuries of Tibetan Buddhist society since the times of Kublai Khan is at risk of being extinguished. The fate of the Panchen Lama is intricately bound to the future of all of Tibet. About the Dharma King Samuel Falk Simms wakes up hung-over and lost the morning after his graduation ceremony. Born into a life of privilege and money, he is the eldest son of a wealthy San Francisco family and is poised to walk in his father’s footsteps and one day take over the family’s empire. On a whim, he books a flight to Kathmandu to travel with his friends before launching his career. A trip that will change his life forever. A mere twenty-four hours later, though, his life takes a brutal turn. He finds himself in a secret room at the Katmandu Airport, where Chinese authorities wearing blood-stained uniforms have a few questions for him. Can he find the answers? Sam becomes unsuspectingly ensnared in the struggle to wrest the baby Panchen Lama from the tightening grasp of a Chinese colonel who is intent on stopping him and ending the lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. His journey launches Samuel on his own struggle to find love and meaning in his own life. His mission to find and save the Panchen Lama takes him from Lhasa’s alleyways through Buddhist temples and across the Tibetan plateau. On this epic journey, it is both the struggle of a young man trying to find his own heart and the struggle of Tibet to find a place in the modern world. The story of Sam’s quest is allegorical to the life of Siddhartha (Buddha). From The Backcover The eldest son of a wealthy San Francisco family, Samuel Falk Simms, Jr. has just graduated from college with a life of privilege and power ahead of him. On a whim, he books a flight to Kathmandu that will leave his life changed forever. Barely off the airplane, he is fighting for his life while following an obscure map slipped to him by a Buddhist monk. Samuel must find his way in foreign lands and escape from the Chinese Colonel intent on stopping him, as he struggles to forge an authentic path for himself in order to help Tibetans reclaim theirs. “You know ‘Dharma’? Dharma means ‘The Way.’ Each man will have his own way. Each man is ruler of his own way. Each man is his own Dharma King. |
About the Author B.G. Stroh has traveled to Tibet and is an admirer of Tibetan Buddhism. He lives with his family in Northern California. More about the author
April 3, 2008
|
| BUY THE NOVEL | ABOUT THE BOOK | READ FIRST CHAPTER Home | About the Author | Contact | Press Room | Related Links The Dharma King by Bradford Stroh. Copyright ©2008. All Rights Reserved. A portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to Sera Jey Monastery in India. |