Tibetan monastic debate is a traditional form of education and path to spiritual awareness performed by Buddhist monks as a series of dramatic, theatrical gestures (the signature “handclap and hold”) and is a total expression of body, mind, and spirit. Its purpose is to establish a viewpoint, conquer misconceptions, and understand the nature of reality. Challenger Defender makes the case for how Western societies can learn from this powerful educational tool for developing critical thinking skills and achieving empathy in the face of divergent views and beliefs.
A vibrant tapestry of text and images, Challenger Defender explores the practice of monastic debate and allows the reader entry into the fragile yet thriving Tibetan Buddhist diaspora, a communal and intimate world. This debate tradition shows us how we can think, learn, and formulate our own points of view by engaging different opinions and experiences while practicing compassion for one another, in contrast with the Western concept of debating to “win.” Unified by a rich Tibetan Buddhist palette of reds, maroons, and oranges, the images are interspersed with concise, lively essays by Eastern and Western experts from several academic disciplines. Also featured are a foreword by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama along with capsule commentaries by current and past monastic scholars, which evoke their firsthand experience of debate and how the practice changed their lives.