Douglas Veenhof’s “White Lama: The Life of Tantric Yogi Theos Bernard, Tibet’s Lost Emissary to the New World”
October 22, 2011 
White Lama: The Life of Tantric Yogi Theos Bernard
Guest Contributor, David Gluck
In this compelling book, journalist turned biographer, Douglas Veenhof offers a comprehensive look at the life of Theos Bernard (1908-1947); a crucial yet nearly forgotten figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to America and the shores of Western culture.
Born in Arizona to absentee father Glen Bernard, Theos began his studies of yoga in his teens to overcome serious illness. Ironically, the desire to master the yogic systems is what drove Theos’ father Glen to abandon his family in the first place. In later years, it is this shared interest that will reunite Theos with his father, developing between them not only a familial bond, but one of teacher and student as well.
Theos’ desire to understand and master yoga would eventually lead him to India in 1936. As a graduate student at Columbia University, he spent the year in anthropological field research studying Tantric Yoga to determine if these ancient spiritual practices had any relevance for the modern man. After a series of frustrating setbacks, the rigorous course of study turned fruitful with an unprecedented and historic invitation to Lhasa, Tibet, home of the Dalai Lamas and forbidden to foreigners. It is here, in the summer of 1937, that Theos Bernard made history taking Tibetan Tantric initiations. He took numerous photographs of the Tibetans’ most private and sacred rituals and returned with over 50 mule loads of authentic Tibetan Buddhist scripture to be of service to the West. Theos also left carrying letters from the Tibetan Regent for delivery to President Franklin Roosevelt, introducing Tibet to the U.S.
Upon his return, Bernard’s experience was hailed as one of the greatest adventure stories. With his winning smile and handsome looks, Theos graced the covers of many popular magazines alongside famous celebrities and movie stars of the era. In the decade that followed, Bernard lectured on his journeys, founded two institutes that, while short lived, would prove to be monumental in the advancement of Tibetan and Yogic studies in the West, the American Institute of Yoga, in New York City, and the Academy of Tibetan Literature, in Montecito, California. As busy as he was, Bernard also found time to write several books, including Penthouse of the Gods, chronicling his own journeys in Tibet, and Heaven Lies Within Us, a treatise on yoga told in an autobiographical style.
In 1946, despite political and social unrest in both India and Tibet, Theos made the journey back to the East to further his studies with Tibetan Lamas. Feeling it too dangerous for the foreigner to stay, Theos was instructed to leave the Kullu Valley (“The Valley of the Gods”) and make his way to the Spiti Valley, in Himachal Pradesh, India. Bernard disappeared during the course of this journey through the Himalayas, which remains a mystery to this day.
Douglas Veenhof’s extraordinary biography is rendered in lyrical, forthright and engaging prose, rich with insight, clarity and detail. Extremely well researched, this biography fills in a significant missing piece of the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the West. It also brings back to life a pioneer and visionary well ahead of his time. A must-read for practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, historians, biography enthusiasts and true-adventure lovers, Veenhof makes a wonderful debut.
David Gluck is a musician and yoga teacher in Toronto. He has been studying and practicing both yoga and Buddhism for nearly a decade.