The Dance of 17 Lives

Fascinated by this charismatic young figure, the author travelled to Dharamsala to meet him, and found himself drawn into the labyrinthine - not to say surreal - web of intrigue surrounding the 17th Karmapa's recognition and young life. Here, he presents stories of miracles and allegations of murder, and a political intrigue worthy of the Borgias.

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Fascinated by this charismatic young figure, Mick Brown travelled to Dharamsala to meet him, and found himself drawn into the labyrinthine - not to say surreal - web of intrigue surrounding the 17th Karmapa's recognition and young life. Presented with inimitably engaging clarity and zest, here are stories of miracles and allegations of murder, the settling of two-hundred-year-old scores and a political intrigue worthy of the Borgias. Piety jostles with greed; truth with laughably fudged falsehood; the strength of human aspiration with the frailty of human nature.