A Journey In Ladakh: Encounters with Buddhism [9780618056750]

Overview

Now considered a classic among readers interested in Tibetan Buddhism and pilgrimages of the spirit of all kinds, A Journey in Ladakh is Andrew Harvey's spiritual travelogue of his arduous journey to one of the most remote parts of the world--the highest, least populated region in India, cut off by snow for six months each year. Buddhists have meditated in the mountains of Ladakh since three centuries before Christ, and it is there that the purest form of Tibetan Buddhism is still practiced today.

Leaving behind the academic world of Oxford, Harvey chronicles a pilgrimage into the heart of the Himalayas—and into the depths of the self.

• A Spiritual Journey: From the "flat hot Indian plains" of his childhood to the stark, majestic mountain passes of Ladakh, a chronicle of a search for meaning in one of the last places on earth where Tibetan Buddhist society can be experienced.
• Vivid Travel Writing: Lyrical, deeply felt prose that captures the "phantasmagoria of stone," the silence of snow and rock, and the daily lives of the Ladakhi people.
• Eastern Philosophy in Practice: An exploration of Buddhism not just as a philosophy but as a lived reality, from encounters with Oracles to the profound teachings on compassion and emptiness.
• Finding a Guru: The moving account of meeting Thuksey Rinpoche, the revered teacher who becomes the author’s guide on the path to spiritual awakening.