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50 + NEXUS Dr Kuan/Rampa, however, suffered his first attack of coronary —_ very interested in occult matters, would cast horoscopes for all thrombosis at that time and was strongly advised to leave London and sundry and was generally a good conversationalist, if a bit for a better climate. With his wife Sarah and Sheelagh Rouse, he inclined to tell contradictory stories about his past." Mr Boxall moved to Ireland because of its lower taxation. After living inthe recalled, "He told me in 1943 or '44 that he had been a flying grounds of Trinity College, the family settled into a rented house instructor in the Chinese air force and badly smashed up in a overlooking the sea in Howth, near Dublin. The author found plane crash when the parachute failed to open." Mr Sutton of East peace and happiness amongst the Irish who were both friendly Moseley met Hoskin in 1948 after he had changed his name, and and protective. However, the author's ill health and a constant recalled that he was describing himself as Dr Kuan and saying he stream of sightseers to their rented property caused considerable was born in Tibet, which surprised Mr Sutton. (Evans) problems and anxiety to the family. When The Third Eye was reprinted it contained a "statement by The critics, with the exception of the "Far Eastern experts" who the author" which began thus: "In the east it is commonly had originally reviewed the acknowledged that the stronger manuscript, were generally mind can take possession of positive. The old guard of another body." He ended with: Tibetan and Asian scholars, "I state most definitely that my composed of Richardson, books The Third Eye and Harrer, Snellgrove and Pallis, Medical Lama are true. were icy in their reviews. (Signed) T. Lobsang Rampa" Richardson's review, (Lopez, pp. 100-101) "Imaginary Tibet", published This account was followed in the Daily Telegraph and by one from his wife Sarah, Morning Post on 30 who wrote of how her husband November 1956, began as had completely changed after follows: suffering a concussion, and "A book which plays up to how he had in fact assumed the public eagerness to hear about identity of a Tibetan lama. ‘mysterious’ Tibet has the "When I discussed an event in advantage that few people the past he would have no have the experience to refute recollection of it. Instead he it. But anyone who has lived spoke of life in a lamasery, or in Tibet will feel after reading his experiences in the war, a few pages of The Third Eye prison camp life or Japanese that its author T. Lobsang tortures. Since 1949 his whole Rampa is certainly not a makeup and manner have been Tibetan... There are innumer- those of an easterner, and his able inaccuracies about general appearance and Tibetan life and manners colouring have also shown which give the impression of marked change." Western suburbia playing cha- The second edition of The rades. Third Eye in 1964 contained a "The samples of Tibetan ‘photograph of Cyril Hoskin before the ean hsh oreword ending with this language betray ignorance of (Source: http://users.uniserve.com/~dharris/Rampa/Album/photographs.htm) statement: "My specific reason both colloquial and literary forms, there is a series of wholly un- _ for insisting that all this is true is that in the near future other peo- Tibetan obsessions with cruelty, fuss and bustle, and, strangely, ple like me will appear, and I do not desire that they should have with cats. Moreover, the turn of phrase in the slick colloquial the suffering that I have had through spite and hatred." English is quite unconvincing when attributed to a Tibetan Kenneth Rayner Johnson, in his essay "The Strange Case of writer..." Lobsang Rampa" in Rapid Eye 2, said he believed that Rampa David Snellgrove, of London University, wrote his review for _ obtained the bulk of his material from Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet the magazine Oriental Art (Summer 1957). He began with "[t]his which had furnished lots of detail about Lhasa, its people, terrain is a shameless book" and then launched into all the inaccuracies and culture. He felt Rampa had stolen his Tibetan-sounding names portrayed in The Third Eye. He criticised Rampa's descriptions of | from the Dalai Lama, whose birth name was Lhamo Dondup and Buddhism, the scriptures, mathematics and Tibetan language. whose brother was Lobsang Samten. However, this did not "Pallis declared the book to be a wild fabrication and a libel on account for the other names Rampa used nor the fact that Lobsang both Tibet and its religion. Harrer denounced the book in a and Dondup were common Tibetan names. scathing review, occasioning a threat of a libel suit from the In 1997, Heinrich Harrer himself became the victim of the press German publisher." (Lopez, p. 97) when Die Stern exposed him as a former member of the Nazi Behind the scenes, however, Pallis, Harrer and Richardson were Party and SS. When his inglorious past was revealed during the working diligently to dethrone Rampa from the best-seller list. shooting of the movie Seven Years in Tibet, the author at first Meanwhile, journalist John Pitt of the Psychic Times tracked indignantly denied it, admitting to it only after documentary evi- down neighbours of the Kuans who could still recall Cyril Hoskin dence was produced. Both he and the Dalai Lama were forced to over 10 years after he had moved from the district. Mrs Ablett make emergency revisions to the script, while the Tibetan leader from Weybridge remembered him as "...full of strange stories tried to deflect public attention from Harrer. In 1998, Harrer pub- about China where he had been taken as a child. He had been licly expressed regret for his Nazi affiliations, leaving the public www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2006