Dakini Conversations

For the third episode of Dakini Conversations, Adele Tomlin speaks with British journalist and writer, Mick Brown about his important book 'Dance of 17 Lives: The Incredible True Story of Tibet's 17th Karmapa' (originally published in 2004). As Adele mentioned recently in an interview , it was reading this book on a plane to India for the first time in 2005, that led her to meet the Tibetan Buddhist master and lineage head, 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje for the first time. This meeting led to her completely changing her life as a qualified lawyer and strategist in the City of London to take up practice, studies of Tibetan language and philosophy, later to become a scholar and translator within the tradition. Brown's book tells the story of the 17th Karmapa, the spiritual head of a 900 year old main lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, Karma Kagyu, and the internal dispute about his recognition by one of the four main Kagyu teachers, the 14th Zhamarpa. Mick Brown (born 1950 in London), and is a British journalist and author who has written for several British newspapers, including The Guardian and The Sunday Times, and for international publications and currently works for newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. He is also a broadcaster and the author of several books about travel, music and spirituality. His second book, 'American Heartbeat: Travels from Woodstock to San Jose by Song Title', was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Prize for best travel book in 1994. His book 'The Spiritual Tourist', catalogued contemporary spiritual quests around the globe, particularly in India. As a journalist Brown has interviewed well-known figures such as Salvador Dali, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, Ravi Shankar, Diana Ross and more. The video of the interview can also be watched on Youtube with subtitles and time-stamped chapters: https://youtu.be/OGq0_8zoj8o