This book presents in words and pictures the experiences and recollections of a group of people from Indonesia who visited Tibet together. In terms of geography and their physical environment, Indonesia, a tropical island nation at sea-level, and Tibet at its high altitude surrounded by mountains and deserts could not be more different. However, these visitors, acutely aware that their own people had recently emerged from 30 years of totalitarian military rule are especially sensitive to the present plight of the Tibetan people.
I am confident that this book that will be published in the Indonesian language will make a significant contribution to increasing awareness of Tibet, her people and their way of life in Indonesia. Readers may also be interested to know that while they may be learning about Tibet afresh, we Tibetans have long been aware of Indonesia. A thousand years ago an Indian teacher named Atisha Dipankara, who was especially important in consolidating the Buddha�s teachings in our country, had earlier travelled by sea to Sumatra where he studied with a teacher called Dharmakirti, who we remember as Lama Serlingpa or the Lama of the Golden Islands. Atisha always recalled him with particular respect because it was this teacher who aroused in him the compassionate heart of a Bodhisattva that we regard as the core of the Buddha�s practice.
15 September 2004
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
This book, designed by Enrico Soekarno, contains 60 pages of essays and 200 pages of photographs by Yori Antar, Raudia Kepper, Enrico Soekarno, Jay Subyakto, Krish Suharnoko and Ella Ubaidi, will be published by Gramedia in January 2005.
