Born into a moderately well-to-do family in northeast Tibet in 1936, from an early age Samten Karmay displayed an intellectual curiosity and scholarly aptitude that marked him down as a natural candidate for monastic training, a path he went on to pursue at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. A witness to the Lhasa Uprising of May 1959 and its bloody aftermath, he escaped into exile first in Nepal and, subsequently, India, where a meeting with David Snellgrove, the future Professor of Tibetan Studies at the University of London, led to him taking up residence in the UK and, later on, France, where he now resides. Samten Karmay’s work has been an inspiration to emerging Tibetologists of all nationalities, but most particularly to young Tibetans, and this book tells the story of the paths the author travelled and the obstacles he overcame to become one of the most prolific, original and respected figures in his chosen field of scholarship.