Pondering Tibetan Buddhist Alterity in Peter Dickinson’s Tulku

Peter Dickinson’s acclaimed English novel of 1979, Tulku, is primarily an exploration of the Tibetan Buddhist custom of discerning in children reincarnations of deceased spiritual leaders who are subsequently trained to assume positions of responsibility. This fascinating work also examines other dimensions of contemplative monastic Buddhism in a remote Himalayan setting, chiefly in a lamasery. On a broader scale, Dickinson addresses such themes as the supposedly peaceful nature of the national religion in question, relations between that faith and Christianity, the possibility of finding merit in religions other than one’s own, and the role of illusion in religious belief and practice. In the present article these matters are considered against the backdrop of evolving Western images of and attitudes towards Tibet generally, its form of Buddhism in particular, and the problematic practice of discovering reincarnated tulkus.