When Theos Bernard first arrived in Tibet with a traders' caravan he was welcomed as a God and given unheard-of access to shrines and monasteries, as well as full initiation as a Lama of the Gelugpa sect. He shot over 10,000 ft of film of people, places and secret ceremonies and was given a caravan of 147 yaks loaded with the finest editions of the most important Buddhist scriptures, which he sent back to America. These books now form a precious collection and are divided between Harvard and Yale universities. Theos Bernard became a celebrity scholar and author. Fluent in Tibetan, with a PhD in Oriental Philosophy, he was married twice to two rich heiresses. His adventures were well covered by both the British and American press, for example the "Daily Mail" sent a reporter to Tibet in 1937 to interview him. He was last seen in 1947 en route to a monastery in Ladakh.His friends at the Explorer's Club in New York had three explanations of what happened to him. Some believed he was mistakenly killed by a group of drunken tribesmen. Others that his disappearance was staged to provide a cover for spying on the Russians and Chinese.
Still others say that Bernard slipped away when his pack train was attacked and chose to disappear into a life of study and meditation in the monasteries of Tibet. This remarkable book will throw new light on a great traveller, and on his unexplained disappearance.
- ISBN10 0385514328
- ISBN13 9780385514323
- Publish Date 10 May 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
- Publish Status Remaindered
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
- Imprint Bantam Doubleday Dell
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 466
- Language English