Overview

The colorful tale of the successful flowering of an obscure, ancient Eastern sect in the modern world. In a single generation, Tibetan Buddhism developed from the faith of a remote mountain people, associated with bizarre, almost medieval, superstitions, to perhaps the most rapidly growing and celebrity-studded religion in the West. Disaffected with other religious traditions yet searching for meaning, huge numbers of Americans have found their way to the wisdom of Tibetan lamas in exile. Earthy, humorous, commonsensical, and eccentric, these flamboyant teacherslarger-than-life characters like Lama Yeshe and Chogyma Trungpaproved to be charismatic and gifted ambassadors for their ancient religion. So did two Western women, born in Brooklyn and London's East End, whose homegrown religious intuitions turned out to be identical with the most sophisticated Tibetan teachings, revealing them to be reincarnated lamas. With great flair for both the sublime and the human, Jeffrey Paine narrates in page-turning, richly informative fashion how Tibetan Buddhismrarified and sensual, mystical and commonsensicalbecame the ideal religion for a ""post-religious"" age. 15 photographs.

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9780393326260

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Reviews

...a fascinating account... Paine manages the unlikely feat of chronicling the more troubling and outlandish incidents in Tibetan Buddhism's short Western history without obscuring the positive effects its teachings appear to have had on so many adherents. Ed Halliwell, The Observer ...Paine's critically acclaimed book tells the story of Tibet's surprising recent incursion into the West's consciousness... Publishing News Paine's page-turner of a book is full of the uncanny, the extraordinary and mysterious, although he's careful to frame it in a way that the rationalist and the secular reader will not object to. Laurence Phelan, The Independent on Sunday, 13 February 2005

"""...a fascinating account... Paine manages the unlikely feat of chronicling the more troubling and outlandish incidents in Tibetan Buddhism's short Western history without obscuring the positive effects its teachings appear to have had on so many adherents."" Ed Halliwell, The Observer ""...Paine's critically acclaimed book tells the story of Tibet's surprising recent incursion into the West's consciousness..."" Publishing News ""Paine's page-turner of a book is full of the uncanny, the extraordinary and mysterious, although he's careful to frame it in a way that the rationalist and the secular reader will not object to."" Laurence Phelan, The Independent on Sunday, 13 February 2005"

Author Information

Jeffery Paine is the author of Reenchantment and Father India and is the editor of The Poetry of Our World. He is former literary editor of The Wilson Quarterly and lives in Washington, DC.

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