A systematic study of the Tibetan charms and amulets, mantras and cakras that have afforded their wearers protection for centuries and which remain a living tradition today. Drawing from indigenous works of the 19th century, the author illustrates and explains 109 amulets and their accompanying mantras, as well as 102 cakras, primarily associated with the Nyingma-pa and Bon traditions. The author also employs the amulets and cakras to reveal details of the myriad gods, demons and other supernatural beings-many incorporated into Buddhism from earlier belief systems-that comprise the Tibetan pantheon.

These are the memoirs of a Dob-dob', or fighting monk, trained to keep the peace in a monastic community of several thousand monks, during and after the Chinese invasion of Tibet, in 1959. The true story of a young man born in a traditional Tibetan village, ordained a monk in one of the country's great monasteries, and eventually assigned the post of dob-dob, a 'fighting monk' charged with maintaining monastic order. Fleeing Tibet with the Dalai Lama after the Chinese invasion of 1959, never to see his native land again, and suffering the loss of a leg during the'