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John
F. Avedon (1952- )
Books:
In
Exile From the Land of Snows (1979)
An
Interview with the Dalai Lama (1980)
Tibet
Today (1988)
The
Buddha's Art of Healing: Tibetan Paintings Rediscovered (1998)
Other
Information:
None
Sir
Charles (Alfred) Bell (1870 - 1945)
Books:
Manual
of Colloquial Tibetan (1905)
Grammar
of Colloquial Tibetan (1919)
Tibet
Past and Present (1924)
The
People of Tibet (1928)
The
Religion of Tibet (1931)
Portrait
of a (13th) Dalai Lama (1946)
Other
Information:
Born
in Calcutta, India. Joined Indian Civil Service 1891 and was posted to
Bengal. Transferred to Darjeeling 1900. Appointed British Political
Officer in Sikkim 1908, where he met Alexandra David-Neel and briefly
became her landlord. Became very influential in politics in Bhutan and
Sikkim. Met Dalai Lama XIII in 1910 when HH was forced to flee Chinese
invaders and sought refuge in Sikkim. Became close friends and eventually
wrote biography of Dalai Lama XIII. Clashed with Alexandra David-Neel some
time after this, going so far as to ban her from entering Tibet (she did
anyway) and punished her when he found out. Bell himself was frustrated at
being initially banned from travel in Tibet further north than Gyantse,
finally realizing his lifelong desire to visit Lhasa in November 1920.
Retired to Oxford where he wrote authoritatively about Tibet. Described as
being tall, fair-haired, easy-going and able to mingle freely with lots of
different people with no trace of racism or superiority.
Sarat
Chandra Das (1849-1917) 
Books:
Religion
and History of Tibet (1881)
Indian
Pandits in the Land of Snow (1893)
Journey
to Lhasa and Central Tibet (1902)
A
Tibetan English Dictionary with Sanskrit Synonyms (1902)
An
Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language (circa 1910)
Autobiography
Narrative of the Incidents of My Early Life (1969)
Other
Information:
The exploits of the early explorers of Tibet frequently put those of later travelers in the shade. Sarat (or Surat) Chandra Das fits into this category. His exploits have mainly been lost to history, partly because he was spying on the Tibetans, the Russians and the Chinese for the British Raj, which is no longer considered a politically correct activity. Partly, because those Tibetans within Tibet who cooperated with him were brutally punished for doing so: the unpalatable implication being that Das willingly put them at risk to further his own ends.
His spying expeditions to Tibet began in 1879 and ended in 1882. During this time he travelled extensively within Tibet, met many prominent religious figures, and contributed valuable information on Tibetan politics, religion, culture and geography.
His travelling companion for most of this time was the Sikkimese teacher Ugyen Gyatso.
He is frequently considered the model for Kipling's Huree Chunder Mookerjee in the novel "Kim".
When his spying career was finished (he was discovered after he left Tibet), he retired to Darjeeling where he became headmaster of the Bhutia Boarding School. He named his house in Darjeeling "Lhasa Villa". Here he hosted many famous Tibetan scholars of the day, including Evans-Wents, Sir Charles Bell, Ekai Kawaguchi, Madame Blatavsky and others.
The Tibetans who had helped him in Tibet were not so lucky. The entire Palhe family, who had unwittingly assisted him in Lhasa, were shunned by the Lhasa aristocracy and excluded from their positions in the Tibetan government. Lama Sengchen Tulku, one of Tibet's foremost scholars at the time and the Abbot of Dongtse Monastery, was imprisoned, flogged and drowned in June 1887. Sengchen's assistant Sherab Gyatso was imprisoned and tortured but escaped to India, where he took up a teaching positon at the Bhutia school in Darjeeling.
Das' contribution to Tibetan studies was lifelong. Between 1882 and 1917 he wrote four books about his travels, and compiled his master works, which are usually how he is remembered today: the Tibetan-English Dictionary (1902) and his Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language (1909).
I know of no
full-length treatment of Sarat Chandra Das' life. However, there are
accounts of his exploits in the following works:
Scott Berry: A Stranger in Tibet [about Ekai Kawaguchi].
Donald S. Lopez: Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West.
Alex McKay: Tibet and the British Raj: The Frontier Cadre 1904-1947.
Alexandra
David-Neel (1868-1969)
Books
translated into English:
My
Journey to Lhasa (1927)
Initiations
and Initiates in Tibet (1959)
Magic
and Mystery In Tibet (1959)
The
Secret Oral Teaching in Tibetan Buddhist Sects (1967)
Buddhism
Its Doctrines and Its Methods (1978)
The
Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling (1981)
The
Power of Nothingness (1982)
Tibetan
Tale of Love and Magic (1983)
A
full bibliography, including her magazine articles and works in French, is
printed in Barbara and Michael Foster: Forbidden Journey: The Life of
Alexandra David-Neel(1987) (currently out of print).
Other
Information
Born
France 1868. Lived in Belgium and London as a child, and briefly studied
Buddhism and Eastern religion, before taking up a career as an opera
singer. Married Philip Neel in 1904, although they hardly ever lived
together, they remained lifelong friends. By 1912, Alexandra had met the
Prince of Sikkim and began the series of adventures in the Himalayas which
would form the most important
phase of her life. During this twenty year period, she lived as a hermit,
learned to speak Tibetan like a native speaker, lived at Kumbum monastery
in Eastern Tibet and travelled by foot to Lhasa disguised as a beggar at
the age of 55. She reached Lhasa in February 1924, one of the few western
travellers to do so. Moved back to France 1928, and stayed there writing
about Tibet for the rest of her (long) life. Lived in China during World
War II. Despite the fame of her travels, she was also a serious scholar of
Buddhism.
Web
site: http://www.alexandra-david-neel.org
Melvyn
C. Goldstein
Books:
English
Tibetan Dictionary of Modern Tibetan (1987)
Nomads
of Western Tibet (with Cynthia Beall) (1990)
A
History of Modern Tibet, 1931-1951 (1991)
Essentials
of Modern Literary Tibetan (1991)
The
Changing World of Mongolia's Nomads (1994)
Lonely
Planet Tibetan Phrasebook (1996)
The
Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet and the Dalai Lama (1997)
The
Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering (1997)
Buddhism
in Contemporary Tibet (1998)
Tibetan
for Beginners and Travellers (unknown date)
Other
Information:
John Reynolds Harkness Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University. Also Chair of the University's Center for Research on Tibet. Rightly or wrongly, sometimes considered pro-Chinese.
Dawa
Norbu (1949 - )
Books:
Red
Star Over Tibet (1974)
Tibet:
The Road Ahead (1997)
Tibet
(with Yeshi Choedon) (1998)
China's
Tibet Policy (2000)
Other
Information:
Born
Sakya, Tibet 1949. Sent to school in China 1956. Escaped to India 1959 and
pursued his education in India and California (UC Berkeley). From 1972,
editor Tibetan Review, a scholarly review of politics published by the
Tibetan Government in Exile in Dharamsala. Currently Associate Professor
of Central Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and
Honorary Fellow University of Durham, UK.
Tibet:
The Road Ahead is a continuation of Red Star Over Tibet.
Thubten
Jigme Norbu (1922 - )
Sometimes
referred to as Tagtser Rinpoche
Books:
Tibet
Is My Country (1960)
Tibet:
An Account of the History, the Religion and People of Tibet (1968)
Tibet:
The Issue Is Independence (1994) wrote Introduction
Other
Information:
Born
at Tagster in Amdo, Tibet 1922, the elder brother of the child later
recognized as the XIV Dalai Lama. Appointed Abbot of Kumbum monastery
1949, fled to India 1959 with XIV Dalai Lama. Politically active, and was
instrumental in obtaining covert military aid to Khampa rebels in the
years immediately following the Lhasa Uprising. Came to US in the early
1960s, and established Tibetan Cultural Center at University of Indiana as
well as Rangzen, ("autonomy" or "freedom" in Tibetan)
political group campaigning for Tibetan Independence.
Web
site: Rangzen
Hugh
(Edward) Richardson (1905 -2000)
Books:
A
Short History of Tibet (unknown date)
A
Cultural History of Tibet (with David Snellgrove) (1968)
A
Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions (1985)
Ceremonies
of the Lhasa Year (with Michael Aris) (1994)
Tibet
and Its History (1994)
High
Peaks Pure Earth: Collected Writings on Tibetan History and Culture (1998)
Other
Information:
Born
Scotland 1905. Read Classics at Oxford but developed more of an interest
in Asian languages. While still a student learned Bengali and later
Tibetan. Joined Foreign and Political Service of Government of India in
1934 and was posted to Loralai in Pakistan. Became friends with Sir Basil
Gould who was the British Political Officer in Sikkim at that time.
Through this friendship, Richardson was able to join the Gould mission to
Lhasa in 1936. Richardson was the only person left behind in Tibet at the
end of this mission as the British Trade Agent at Gyantse and the British
Representative in Lhasa (although he was really there to keep an eye on
the Russians). With brief breaks, he lived in Lhasa working for the
British Government and then the independent Indian Goverment until 1950.
During this time he was influential in Tibetan politics, as well as
playing tennis with Heinrich Harrer. He retired in 1950 and returned to
Scotland, then Oxford, writing about his beloved Tibet and his beloved
Tibetans. He was fortunate to co-write books with two other great scholars
of Tibet and Buddhism, David Snellgrove and Michael Aris. Aris (who died
in 1998) was also the husband of Burmese dissident leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
For more biographical information, see Editor's Introduction High Peaks Pure Earth (1998).
Statement by Hugh Richardson on Tibetan Independence:
http://www.tibet.com/Status/richugh.html
Hugh Richardson's obituary: http://www.tibet.com/NewsRoom/richardson.htm
Tsering
Shakya (1959 -)
Books:
Autobiography
of a Tibetan Monk (with Palden Gyatso) (1998)
Dragon
In The Land of Snows (1999)
Other
Information:
Born
Lhasa 1959. Fled to India with his family in 1967, then to England where
he attended British schools and graduated in 1982 from School of Oriental
and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Currently at SOAS
pursuing research. Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk was published in UK
under the title Fire Under The Snow (1997).
David
Snellgrove
Books:
The
Hevajra Tantra (1959)
Himalayan
Pilgrimage: A Study of Tibetan Religion (1961)
Four
Lamas of Dolpo (1967)
A
Cultural History of Tibet (with Hugh Richardson) (1968)
Cultural
Heritage of Ladakh (1977)
Indo-Tibetan
Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan Successors (1987)
Buddhist
Texts Through the Ages (1995)
Buddhist
Himalayas: Travels and Studies (1995)
Other
Information:
Taught
at University of London