[Buddha-l] Victor and Victoria Trimondi

[Alex Wilding]

They are professional agitators, and have been for many years since Victor
(I've forgotten his proper name) was a Western publisher of, for instance,
Mao's Red Book. People change, up to a point, of course, and as I understand
it they actually did have a not totally insignificant involvement with
Tibetan Buddhism. They do, however, seem to have completely got the wrong
end of the stick, and their book is a bit of a meisterwerk when it comes to
misunderstanding, misinterpretation, failure to contextualise and so on.

I suspect the reason why you don't find a huge amount of counter-material on
the web is that on the one hand they are not as important as they think and
don't have as much following as they like to make out. On the other hand
their material is so intellectually dishonest that not many seriously
informed commentators want to lower themselves to their level. That is, of
course, only conjecture, but I have noticed the very same thing and this is
the only explanation I have been able to come up with.

The problem is that they are not by any means inarticulate. I'm reminded of
the proverb: "Don't wrestle with a pig - you will both get covered in pig
shit, but the pig will enjoy it." It's very easy to take a few words out of
context, but *demonstrating* that they are out of context is a much bigger
job. Who has time to write a large book to refute something that not many
people take seriously anyway?

It's a pity though. If there is a proper dissection out there on the net, I
wouldn't mind knowing about it.

All the best
Alex Wilding


> -----Original Message-----
> From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com [mailto:buddha-l-
> bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Margaret Gouin
> Sent: 19 July 2012 10:55
> To: Buddhist discussion forum
> Subject: [Buddha-l] Victor and Victoria Trimondi
> 
> A friend recently sent me an extract from a book called 'The Shadow of
> the Dalai Lama' by Victor and Victoria Trimondi.
> All I've been able to find out on-line is that this couple is of German
> origin; the websites I've found are either run by them or their
> supporters. They appear to make a speciality of 'debunking' Tibetan
> Buddhism. At least some of their books are available online in English
> but only a couple, in German, on Amazon.
> Can anyone tell me more about these two? Specifically, what is the
> basis for their expertise (if any) in the field?
> I'm curious because of the almost total lack information about them,
> especially from Buddhist sources (book reviews, etc.).
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Margaret
> ----------------------------------------
> Margaret Gouin, PhD (Bristol)
> Honorary Research Fellow
> School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies University of
> Wales Trinity Saint David
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