Some of those lessons relate to respect for the earth and the extraordinary sustained efforts by Tibetans to populate their land with structures of reverence. While Gekho’s Roost is the product of a novelist’s imagination, Gekho was an important earth deity worshipped long before Buddhism arrived in Tibet, and his Roost is an amalgam of many authentic sites, encompassing even the fields of standing stones left by the devout forebears of modern Tibetans. Many of these prehistoric patterns of stones have been identified, mostly in western Tibet, and have intriguing links to the ancient horse warrior cultures of central Asia, as further examined in John Vincent Bellezza’s valuable book The Dawn of Tibet. What was it about these high ranges that caused so many to linger and build monuments to that which they held sacred? What was the process by which the devotion of fierce warriors evolved into the complex cosmology of compassion that became Tibetan Buddhism?

Such questions led me to suggest in this tale that these lands might be characterized as the Rosetta Stone of the soul. If so, then perhaps it is inevitable that they encompass extremes of the human journey. The Tibetans spent several centuries reverently constructing their temples, eschewing technological advancement and economic progress so they might focus on the mysteries of the human spirit. The Chinese have spent several decades dismantling those buildings and the peaceful society that erected them so they might advance a more secular, intolerant political agenda. Over ninety percent of Tibet’s holy buildings, numbering in the tens of thousands, have been destroyed over the past sixty years in a relentless campaign of cultural annihilation. Another lesson of Tibet, often reflected in Inspector Shan’s saga, has been that it is darkness that defines the light, and suffering that gives meaning to compassion.

The roots of the Tibetans still run deep, and from time to time significant new Buddhist institutions do emerge, such as the teaching center of Larung Gar. While I overlaid a novel’s plotline upon that academy, it is a real-life microcosm of Tibet’s struggle. Larung Gar remains a rare ray of hope for Tibetans, despite Beijing’s wrenching initiative to reduce its size and importance to the Buddhist community. As reflected in these pages, thousands of monks and nuns were abruptly expelled from the school and forced to abandon their monastic careers by officials who seemed to equate spiritual pursuits with acts of political rebellion. Larung Gar endures, however, keeping ancient traditions alive.