ALLEN&UNWIN READING GROUP NOTES

Transcription

1 ALLEN&UNWIN READING GROUP NOTES Contents: About Vanessa Walker (2) On Writing Mantras and Misdemeanours (2) Some suggested points for discussion (4) Further reading (5)

2 About Vanessa Walker Vanessa Walker worked as a journalist at The Australian newspaper as their social affairs, film and, most recently, religious affairs writer. For the past decade she has studied Tibetan Buddhism, undertaking various retreats in Asia. She is a frequent traveller to India. In 2004 Vanessa resigned from her position at The Australian to live in the small Indian town of McLeod Ganj, the epicentre of Tibetan Buddhism and the home of the Dalai Lama. She now lives and works between Sydney, Australia and her hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, where she and her Tibetan husband are raising their baby son. On writing Mantras and Misdemeanours The idea of writing a book about Tibetans-in-exile grew slowly. It started when the newspaper I worked for ran an editorial about the Dalai Lama, who was then visiting Australia. It rallied against the Dalai Lama s request for Tibet s independence and questioned his motivations for being on the world stage. At the time I was studying Buddhism, and had come to know many Tibetan former political prisoners trying to make new lives in Sydney. I was shocked that the newspaper had it so wrong in fact the Dalai Lama hadn t previously been seeking independence for Tibet given that his views on almost everything are highly accessible. But when I thought about it, I wondered if people had the time to read up on Tibetan policy, or their political situation in exile. I wondered if there was an easier way to inform people about the situation. That was among my first thoughts. I had been travelling to McLeod Ganj, the hometown of the Dalai Lama for a few years and had collected so many weird and wonderful tales about the place, I often thought my head would burst. It wasn t just that some of Buddhism s old time lamas lived there, it was that they lived among Tibetan street boys in the latest hip-hop gear, among hermits meditating in the surrounding hills, among westerners who had given up their lives to settle in this Himalayan town. McLeod Ganj is small and compact, at the mercy of the hot season and the coldest winter not to mention the monkeys. It is also full of the most extreme characters. I remember once being at the open-air vegetable market; standing next to a very old yogi dressed in very thin robes, who must have come down from his cave. He was shyly asking the Indian vegetable-wallah what the strange yellow fruit was (it was a lemon). In short, I could see McLeod Ganj was a story waiting to happen. At the time, Buddhism was Australia s fastest growing religion. Despite that, I felt that people really didn t know enough about it. I thought perhaps people might want to know what it was really like to live the life of a Buddhist in a practical as well as a theoretical sense. And I thought if I could write an engaging narrative, perhaps people could also learn a little more about the politics and about Buddhism itself. I really feel that all these things combined to make writing this book almost inevitable. Allen & Unwin heard that I had decided to go and live in McLeod Ganj to write and commissioned the book. I originally planned to spend a year there, but because of my pregnancy I stayed ten months then hurried back to New Zealand to have the baby. Reading Group Notes Mantras and Misdemeanours 2

3 Every minute of every day in India (as well as in the Tibetan community), something weird is happening and most of it is played out in public. I collected so much information, so many stories, that writing was more a process of deciding what to leave out (even now I sometimes remember an incident or a rumour and wish I had worked it into the story). I took my laptop and every night wrote a diary. For interviews I took a dictaphone and transcribed the notes. Although that is laborious I quite like the way transcribing reacquaints you with the interviewee again. After about three months living in McLeod I wrote a potted narrative so I could see what shape the book might take and where the interviews might fit in. I showed it to Allen & Unwin and they liked it but also gave some advice about what elements they were interested in, and what wasn t working so well. From there I just kept working at it, doing interviews, keeping notes, adding to the narrative. It was a matter of always revisiting the content to see what worked. I wanted a balance in the writing to record the quirky lifestyle in McLeod Ganj, the tragedy of the Tibetan diaspora, as well as showing readers a little about Buddhism. It was strange writing about Choying and I (and then my pregnancy). Of course it is my private life, but I could also see that his story could bring the Tibetan experience alive for readers. It encapsulated so many other elements of what I wanted to write about the cross-cultural misunderstandings, the emotional intensity that those who support a free Tibet have towards its people, and that among all the seemingly indulged street boys there were so many stories of hardship and courage. Most of the sustained work I did was in editing the book down. Some of the interviews were fascinating to me, but might have got a little complex a bit heavy on the assumed knowledge for a general reader. I tried to keep the flow and at least make some mention of the more in-depth points so people could pursue them if they caught their interest. I hope Mantras and Misdemeanours sparks an interest in people to find out, realistically, about Tibetans and the struggle for a free Tibet. It is so worthwhile. But I also hope readers can bob along enjoying the narrative at the same time. At the back of Mantras and Misdemeanours there is a list of reference books. It is well worth looking at some of those books. Reading Group Notes Mantras and Misdemeanours 3

4 Some suggested points for discussion It is true that coming to McLeod Ganj and writing a book would be my practice of dharma, of finding the truth about me. How do you think Vanessa grows (or doesn t grow) as a person as the narrative progresses? Did she, as she hoped, through the writing of this book, find out the truth about me? Did Vanessa end up deserting real life for the great black void of mumbo jumbo as her newspaper editor-in-chief puts it, or do you think that real life is precisely what she found in McLeod Ganj? What do you think about the idea of karma? Do you believe in miracles? Do you think there was a connection between Vanessa commissioning a thangka of Green Tara and her falling pregnant less than a year later or is that just fanciful thinking? How did you feel about the development of the relationship between Vanessa and Choying, particularly given Vanessa Walker s self-consciousness about Western women forming relationships with Tibetan men? It is becoming almost commonplace for Tibetan men to marry or form relationships with Western women, and yet there is still a lot of stigma attached to Tibetan women marrying Western men why do you think this is? Is it fair? Can attitudes be changed? Similarly what did you think of the plight of Tibetan Buddhist nuns and the issues surrounding the ordination of women as Buddhist nuns? Why is it that they appear to be so neglected in a culture that places so much store by religious belief and practice? Do you think Vanessa was right in choosing to have her baby in New Zealand? Did you feel for her, in her inner struggle between wanting to be part of the McLeod Ganj community and choosing to have her baby in NZ? Discuss how Vanessa Walker often uses contrasts to make a point within her story, for example, the beauty pageant versus the hunger strike. What did you think of the Miss Tibet pageant? Do you, like Vanessa, feel a disappointment that Tibetans are now participating in something so culturally humiliating and meaningless, or is it worth it for the opportunity to discuss the plight of Tibet in front of a wider international audience? Similarly, what do you think about the issue of Tibetans leaving for the West? It is understandable that they want to make a new life, but what are the implications for their religion and culture? Is it fair or reasonable to expect a people to limit their progress in the western sense in order to preserve their culture, or is it the case that all culture is dynamic? What do you think about the non-violent stance of Tibetan Buddhists, in line with the teachings of the Dalai Lama. Is it working or is it playing into the hands of their oppressors? Reading Group Notes Mantras and Misdemeanours 4

5 Further reading Buddhism for Busy People by David Michie (Allen & Unwin) Buddhism for Mothers by Sarah Napthali (Allen & Unwin) Why Buddhism? by Vicki Mackenzie (Bloomsbury) Cave in the Snow by Vicki Mackenzie (Bloomsbury) Reading Group Notes Mantras and Misdemeanours 5