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Why We Travel: 100 Reasons to See the World
By Patricia Schultz. 2022
From the author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, a rallying cry to get off the couch and…
out into the world. WHY WE TRAVEL is filled with personal stories and anecdotes, quotes that inspire, and reasons to motivate–plus images so lush you can&’t wait to be there. For years Patricia Schultz has been telling us where to travel, and we love listening. Now, in telling us why to travel, she reveals what makes her such a compelling guide and what makes travel such a richly rewarding experience. There&’s the time she was on safari in Zambia yet found her most lasting memory in a classroom of five-year-olds. The comedy of mishaps that she and friends endured on a canal trip through southern France—and how it brought them together in an unexpected way. She quotes favorite authors and luminaries on the importance of travel and, in a series of memorable aphorisms, gets to the essence of why to travel. And gives us a few travel hacks, too. Travel is, as the writer Pico Iyer says, the thing that causes us to &“stay up late, follow impulse, and find ourselves as wide open as when we are in love.&” Why We Travel is all about rekindling that feeling. Just book a ticket, pack a bag, and dive headlong into an adventure.Lost in the Lakes: Notes from a 379-Mile Hike Around the Lake District
By Tom Chesshyre. 2023
Join travel writer Tom Chesshyre for a lakeland adventure like no other. Explore towering mountains, wide-open valleys and magnificent lakes…
- stopping off at a cosy inn or two along the way - on a 379-mile hike around the Lake DistrictFrom Penrith and back, via Keswick, Cockermouth, Coniston, Grasmere and Windermere, plus many places in between, Tom Chesshyre puts on his walking boots and sets forth in a "big wobbly circle" around the Lakes, drawn onwards by the dramatic scenery that attracts more than 19 million visitors each year.Across landscape that so inspired the Romantic poets, he takes in remote parts of the parkland that many tourists miss - enjoying encounters aplenty with farmers, fell runners and fellow hikers, while staying in shepherds' huts, bothies and old climbers' hotels along the way, and even going for a (chilly) dip in Derwentwater.This is the Lake District seen from its walking paths - with just a backpack, an open mind... and a spring in the step.Dōgen’s texts: Manifesting Religion and/as Philosophy? (Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures #35)
By Ralf Müller, George Wrisley. 2023
This book addresses the question of how to properly handle Dōgen’s texts, a core issue that became critical during the…
Meiji period in which the philosophical appropriation of Dōgen became apparent inside and outside of the monastery. In present day Dōgen studies, most scholarship is informed by a number of factions representing Dōgen. The chapters herein address: the Zennist (j. zenjōka) emphasising practice, the Genzōnians (j. genzōka) shifting the attention to the close reading of Dōgen’s texts, the laity movement opening up both the texts and the practice to people in modern society, and the Genzō researchers (j. genzō kenkyūka) searching for the authenticity and truth of Dōgen’s writings. The book aims to clarify the rightful place of Dōgen: in the monastery, in denominational studies, or in modern academic philosophy? It brings forth various viewpoints on Dōgen, and analyzes the relations of these viewpoints from the premodern to modern times. The collected volume appeals to students and researchers in the field while establishing hermeneutic standards of reading and proposing new, original, and critical interpretations of Dōgen’s texts.Chapter From Uji to Being-time (and Back): Translating Dōgen into Philosophy is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.Sunrise with Seamonsters: Travels and Discoveries, 1964-84
By Paul Theroux. 1986
This collection of wide-ranging essays from the New York Times–bestselling travel writer is &“a steamer trunk full of delights&” (Chicago…
Sun-Times). This collection of decidedly opinionated articles, essays, and ruminations, by the author of My Other Life and Kowloon Tong, transports the reader not only to exotic, unexpected places in the world but also into the interior life of the writer himself. Whether it is his time serving in the Peace Corps, his memorable interview with tennis star John McEnroe, bearing witness to the uprising in Uganda, or the debt he owes to his mentor, V. S. Naipaul, Theroux approaches each subject with characteristic intelligence, insight, and an eye for life&’s great ironies. Over the course of two decades, Paul Theroux gathers people, places, and ideas in precise, evocative writing that &“serves as both the camera and the eye, and both the details and the illusions are developed with brilliance&” (Time). &“What makes Mr. Theroux most persuasive as a writer is simply his willingness to put himself on the line. . . . Gusty, personal, and astonishing.&” —The New York Times &“These pieces prove anew Theroux&’s unflagging, infectious enthusiams [sic] for exploring.&” —Kirkus ReviewsThe Pocket Idiot's Guide to Buddhism: Explore Buddhism and Keep the Faith!
By Bradley Hawkins, Nancy Lewis. 2003
You&’re no idiot, of course. You know many people have turned to Buddhism as an alternative to organized religion—but you&’re…
mistaken if you believe that all Buddhists live a monklike existence. Don&’t wait until your next life to experience Zen! The Pocket Idiot&’s Guide® to Buddhism reveals the essence of Buddhist thought from its inception in the Far East to its growing devotees in the West. In this Pocket Idiot&’s Guide®, you get:• The life of Siddhartha—better known as the Buddha—the founder of Buddhism. • The basic Buddhist belief system, including the Three Marks of Existence, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path. • Fully explained concepts, such as Zen, karma, dharma, and sutras. • The history of the various Buddhist sects and their important influence.Happyslapped by a Jellyfish: The Words of Karl Pilkington
By Karl Pilkington. 2007
A collection of hilarious and compelling insights and anecdotes, diary entries, poems, 'true' facts and cartoons on travel from The…
Rick Gervais Show&’s unlikely star, Karl Pilkington. This is the travel book for people who don't particularly like travelling. It&’s Pilkington with a suitcase, occasionally with his passport, more often with a bemused suspicion of anything vaguely exotic, and always with an observant eye for the disappointments, tedium, and general absurdity of being a tourist abroad and at home. From staring at Mount Vesuvius in case it erupts, to enduring the horrors of a Lanzarote nudist beach, to exploring the curiosities to be seen in the world's weirdest museum, Pilkington&’s stories are told with his inimitable deadpan humor. And they&’re always interspersed with fond reflections on life back in England, from Salford joy riders to what his girlfriend's mum and dad have for dinner on a Thursday (it's chops and veg, in case you're wondering).The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain
By Paul Theroux. 2006
This &“interesting, insightful book&” by the author of Deep South reveals &“a side of Britain few visitors see&” (The New…
York Times Book Review). After eleven years as an American living in London, the renowned travel writer Paul Theroux set out to travel clockwise around the coast of Great Britain to find out what the British were really like. The result is this perceptive, hilarious record of the journey. Whether in Cornwall or Wales, Ulster or Scotland, the people he encountered along the way revealed far more of themselves than they perhaps intended to display to a stranger. Theroux captured their rich and varied conversational commentary with caustic wit and penetrating insight. &“A sharp and funny descriptive writer . . . Theroux is a good companion.&” —The Times (London)Zen 24/7: All Zen, All the Time
By Philip Toshio Sudo. 2001
Enlightenment is within reach -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.If you're searching for revelation and contentment, look…
no further than a handshake, a cup of coffee -- even your laundry pile. The most mundane details of life contain zen's profound truths, if you're of the mind to look for them.By awakening to and embracing the zen in your life, you'll listen, watch, eat, work, laugh, sleep, and breathe your way to truth -- every moment of every day.Hakuin's Song of Zazen: Yamada Mumon Roshi on Zen Practice
By Yamada Mumon Roshi. 2024
Renowned modern Zen master Yamada Mumon Rōshi uses Hakuin&’s famous poem of spiritual realization, Song of Zazen, as a starting point…
to embark on a lively commentary on Zen practice in contemporary life.First published in Japan in 1962, Hakuin&’s Song of Zazen is a celebrated collection of short essays by Zen master Yamada Mumon Rōshi. Translated into English for the first time, it introduces the story of Hakuin&’s early life and training, then uses his classic Zen chanting poem, Song of Zazen, to make wide-ranging considerations of the Zen tradition and its applications in modern Japanese life. As Daisetz Suzuki remarks in his foreword, what gives Mumon&’s book its unique flavor and makes it different from previous works by Zen teachers are his forays into matters of ordinary, everyday life, expanding his Zen teaching to encompass interests that are closely linked with his lay audience. He responds to a news article that catches his eye in the morning paper, delivers criticism on contemporary political and social trends, explores matters as diversified as the uses of atomic energy, the court culture of seventeenth-century France, a leper hospital on an island in the Inland Sea, Albert Schweitzer and other noted Western figures—and more. In doing this Mumon gives readers open access to the opinions, judgements, and practical thinking of a leading Zen master—a map of his planet, so to speak. Each brief chapter of Mumon&’s book is an invitation to follow Hakuin and himself down the path of true Zen realization.How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir
By Shayla Lawson. 2024
&“Phenomenal.... A memoir that opens into the world, with brilliance, courage, and elegant prose.... This is a book to read, read…
again, and remember.&”—Imani Perry, New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner South to AmericaPoet and journalist Shayla Lawson follows their National Book Critics Circle finalist This Is Major with these daring and exquisitely crafted essays, where Lawson journeys across the globe, finds beauty in tumultuous times, and powerfully disrupts the constraints of race, gender, and disability.Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Elle, Them, Book Riot, LitHub, Stylecaster, and Chicago Review of Books In their new book, Shayla Lawson reveals how traveling can itself be a political act, when it can be a dangerous world to be Black, femme, nonbinary, and disabled. With their signature prose, at turns bold, muscular, and luminous, Shayla Lawson travels the world to explore deeper meanings held within love, time, and the self. Through encounters with a gorgeous gondolier in Venice, an ex-husband in the Netherlands, and a lost love on New Year&’s Eve in Mexico City, Lawson&’s travels bring unexpected wisdom about life in and out of love. They learn the strength of friendships and the dangers of beauty during a narrow escape in Egypt. They examine Blackness in post-dictatorship Zimbabwe, then take us on a secretive tour of Black freedom movements in Portugal. Through a deeply insightful journey, Lawson leads readers from a castle in France to a hula hoop competition in Jamaica to a traditional theater in Tokyo to a Prince concert in Minnesota and, finally, to finding liberation on a beach in Bermuda, exploring each location—and their deepest emotions—to the fullest. In the end, they discover how the trials of marriage, grief, and missed connections can lead to self-transformation and unimagined new freedoms.The Little Book of Buddhism: An Introduction to the Key Figures, Beliefs and Practices You Need to Know
By Georgina-Kate Adams. 2023
Discover the history, teachings and practices of one of the world's oldest religions with this pocket-sized introduction to BuddhismWho was…
the Buddha? What's the difference between enlightenment and awakening? Do Buddhists believe in God? Discover all this and more with this beginner's guide to one of the world's oldest and most widely practiced philosophies.The Little Book of Buddhism provides an accessible and engaging overview of the religion, including its origins, worldview and key figures. This book is the perfect guide for anyone with an interest in the subject, wanting to brush up their knowledge, or looking to apply Buddhist practices to their daily life.This pocket-sized introduction will help you understand: Who Gautama Buddha was, and how Buddhism developed into the fourth-biggest religion in the world The difference between the two major branches of Buddhism: Theravada and Mahayana The most important Buddhists beliefs and practices, from the Four Noble Truths and the cycle of rebirth (Samsara) to mindfulness and meditation The prevalence of Buddhism around the world today, and how its teachings can apply to modern-day life And much more!Innumerable studies have appeared in recent decades about practically every aspect of women's lives in Western societies. The few such…
works on Buddhism have been quite limited in scope. In The Power of Denial, Bernard Faure takes an important step toward redressing this situation by boldly asking: does Buddhism offer women liberation or limitation? Continuing the innovative exploration of sexuality in Buddhism he began in The Red Thread, here he moves from his earlier focus on male monastic sexuality to Buddhist conceptions of women and constructions of gender. Faure argues that Buddhism is neither as sexist nor as egalitarian as is usually thought. Above all, he asserts, the study of Buddhism through the gender lens leads us to question what we uncritically call Buddhism, in the singular. Faure challenges the conventional view that the history of women in Buddhism is a linear narrative of progress from oppression to liberation. Examining Buddhist discourse on gender in traditions such as that of Japan, he shows that patriarchy--indeed, misogyny--has long been central to Buddhism. But women were not always silent, passive victims. Faure points to the central role not only of nuns and mothers (and wives) of monks but of female mediums and courtesans, whose colorful relations with Buddhist monks he considers in particular. Ultimately, Faure concludes that while Buddhism is, in practice, relentlessly misogynist, as far as misogynist discourses go it is one of the most flexible and open to contradiction. And, he suggests, unyielding in-depth examination can help revitalize Buddhism's deeper, more ancient egalitarianism and thus subvert its existing gender hierarchy. This groundbreaking book offers a fresh, comprehensive understanding of what Buddhism has to say about gender, and of what this really says about Buddhism, singular or plural.The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books #8)
By Donald S. Lopez. 2011
How an eccentric spiritualist from Trenton, New Jersey, helped create the most famous text of Tibetan BuddhismThe Tibetan Book of…
the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, having sold more than a million copies since it was first published in English in 1927. Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it, Timothy Leary redesigned it as a guidebook for an acid trip, and the Beatles quoted Leary's version in their song "Tomorrow Never Knows." More recently, the book has been adopted by the hospice movement, enshrined by Penguin Classics, and made into an audiobook read by Richard Gere. Yet, as acclaimed writer and scholar of Buddhism Donald Lopez writes, "The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not really Tibetan, it is not really a book, and it is not really about death." In this compelling introduction and short history, Lopez tells the strange story of how a relatively obscure and malleable collection of Buddhist texts of uncertain origin came to be so revered—and so misunderstood—in the West.The central character in this story is Walter Evans-Wentz (1878-1965), an eccentric scholar and spiritual seeker from Trenton, New Jersey, who, despite not knowing the Tibetan language and never visiting the country, crafted and named The Tibetan Book of the Dead. In fact, Lopez argues, Evans-Wentz's book is much more American than Tibetan, owing a greater debt to Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky than to the lamas of the Land of Snows. Indeed, Lopez suggests that the book's perennial appeal stems not only from its origins in magical and mysterious Tibet, but also from the way Evans-Wentz translated the text into the language of a very American spirituality.Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience
By Carolyn Chen. 2008
What does becoming American have to do with becoming religious? Many immigrants become more religious after coming to the United…
States. Taiwanese are no different. Like many Asian immigrants to the United States, Taiwanese frequently convert to Christianity after immigrating. But Americanization is more than simply a process of Christianization. Most Taiwanese American Buddhists also say they converted only after arriving in the United States even though Buddhism is a part of Taiwan's dominant religion. By examining the experiences of Christian and Buddhist Taiwanese Americans, Getting Saved in America tells "a story of how people become religious by becoming American, and how people become American by becoming religious." Carolyn Chen argues that many Taiwanese immigrants deal with the challenges of becoming American by becoming religious. Based on in-depth interviews with Taiwanese American Christians and Buddhists, and extensive ethnographic fieldwork at a Taiwanese Buddhist temple and a Taiwanese Christian church in Southern California, Getting Saved in America is the first book to compare how two religions influence the experiences of one immigrant group. By showing how religion transforms many immigrants into Americans, it sheds new light on the question of how immigrants become American.Lifting as They Climb: Black Women Buddhists and Collective Liberation
By Toni Pressley-Sanon. 2024
The lives and writings of six leading Black Buddhist women—Jan Willis, bell hooks, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, angel Kyodo williams, Spring…
Washam, and Faith Adiele—reveal new expressions of Buddhism rooted in ancestry, love, and collective liberation.Lifting as They Climb is a love letter of freedom and self-expression from six Black women Buddhist teachers, conveyed through the voice of author Toni Pressley-Sanon, one of the innumerable people who have benefitted from their wisdom. She explores their remarkable lives and undertakes deep readings of their work, weaving them into the broader tapestry of the African diaspora and the historical struggle for Black liberation. Black women in the U.S. have adapted Buddhist practice to meet challenges ranging from the injustices of the Jim Crow South to sexual violence, social discrimination, and bias within their Buddhist communities. Using their voices through the practice of memoir and other forms of writing, they have not only realized their own liberation but carried forward the Black tradition of leading others on the path toward collective awakening.Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in Late Medieval China
By Thomas J. Mazanec. 2024
Poet-Monks focuses on the literary and religious practices of Buddhist poet-monks in Tang-dynasty China to propose an alternative historical arc…
of medieval Chinese poetry. Combining large-scale quantitative analysis with close readings of important literary texts, Thomas J. Mazanec describes how Buddhist poet-monks, who first appeared in the latter half of Tang-dynasty China, asserted a bold new vision of poetry that proclaimed the union of classical verse with Buddhist practices of repetition, incantation, and meditation.Mazanec traces the historical development of the poet-monk as a distinct actor in the Chinese literary world, arguing for the importance of religious practice in medieval literature. As they witnessed the collapse of the world around them, these monks wove together the frayed threads of their traditions to establish an elite-style Chinese Buddhist poetry. Poet-Monks shows that during the transformative period of the Tang-Song transition, Buddhist monks were at the forefront of poetic innovation.North Country: A Personal Journey Through the Borderland
By Howard Frank Mosher. 2014
&“A richly observant memoir of a coast-to-coast journey along the US-Canada border . . . An armchair traveler&’s delight&” (Kirkus Reviews). &“Part…
travelogue, part memoir, part meditation, part exploration,&” North Country is an account of a trip along the northern border of the United States in search of the country&’s last unspoiled frontiers (The Boston Sunday Globe). In this vast, sparsely settled territory, Howard Frank Mosher found both a harsh and beautiful landscape and some of the continent&’s most independent men and women. Here, he brings this remote area to vivid life in a book &“bright with anecdote and history and lore and most importantly with affection for his human subjects&” (Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Independence Day). &“A classic road book. You could, with confidence, place this book on the shelf next to such American classics as John Steinbeck&’s Travels with Charley and Jonathan Raban&’s Old Glory.&” —Detroit Free Press &“What Mosher&’s northern journey is really about is our society&’s loss of Eden, the garden we were promised when we came here. The garden we&’ve turned into pulp fiction and rocket ranges. The very fact that this brave book can stir up so many thoughts about the predicaments of civilization is surely an indication that it is well worth reading.&” —Ottawa CitizenBuddha's Words for Tough Times: An Anthology
By Peter Skilling. 2024
Twenty translations from the vast corpus of Buddhist literature come alive in this full-color anthology of ancient wisdom for turbulent…
times, as a master scholar uncovers their sources and significance.Change and loss have always been part of the human condition, but in today&’s world, the pace and intensity of uncertainty has reached new extremes. The Buddha observed the truth of impermanence more than 2,500 years ago and diagnosed the source of the anxiety it engenders so incisively that his prescription still resonates and heals here and now. In Buddha&’s Words for Tough Times, Peter Skilling, one of the world&’s foremost authorities on Buddhist scripture, brings the reader face to face with the wealth of Buddhist literature, from a teaching in a single word, to a seminal collection of verses on impermanence, to narrations of the Buddha&’s teaching journeys across the Gangetic Plain. Translating from sources in Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Pali, he uncovers the complex history of the vast writings of the Buddhist canons, and his skill in revealing the meaning of twenty gems from within those riches brings them alive for English readers. We could have no better guide for this exploration, an exploration whose value is more urgent than ever.Inside the Red Mansion: On the Trail of China's Most Wanted Man
By Oliver August. 2007
A journalist meets fascinating characters while seeking out a fugitive gangster in the Chinese underworld.The notorious gangster Lai Changxing started…
out as an illiterate farmer, but in the tumult of China’s burgeoning economy, he seized the opportunity to remake himself as a bandit king. A newly minted billionaire of outsized personality and even greater appetites, he was a living legend who eventually ran afoul of authorities. The journalist Oliver August set out to find the fugitive Lai. On his quest he encountered a highly entertaining series of criminals and oddball entrepreneurs—and acquired unique insight into the paradoxes of modern China. Part crime caper, part travelogue, part trenchant cultural analysis, August’s page-turning account captures China’s giddy vibe and its darker vulnerabilities.Praise for Inside the Red Mansion“A year before “Inside the Red Mansion” was due to be published, a handler from the Chinese Foreign Ministry told August that he had enjoyed the book. You needn’t be a spy to agree.” —Janet Maslin, New York Times“A harrowing, super-detailed story of a China exploding with runaway growth yet still trapped in the past and ruled by the ethos of tufei—the classical Mandarin word for bandit . . . . This must-read, can’t-put-it down tale shows the China only hinted at on the evening news—a place of outsized egos, over-the-top commercial development and shadowy, tradition-bound authoritarian rule.” —Publishers WeeklyFlight of the Bön Monks: War, Persecution, and the Salvation of Tibet's Oldest Religion
By Harvey Rice, Jackie Cole. 2024
An inside account of the Chinese invasion of Tibet told through the voices of three persecuted monks• Shares the true…
story of three monks&’ heroic escape from occupied Tibet and the subsequent rebirth of the Bön religion in exile • Introduces Bön, Tibet&’s oldest religion, and a traditional way of life extinguished by foreign occupation • Reveals details of the 1950 Chinese invasion of Tibet and the exodus of thousands of Tibetans to neighboring countries Providing an inside view into the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the tenets of Bön, one of the world&’s oldest but least known religions, this book chronicles the true story of three Bön monks who heroically escaped occupied Tibet and went on to rebuild their culture through incredible resilience, determination, and passion. After taking his vows to become a Bön monk and completing a pilgrimage around 22,000-foot Mt. Kailash, the holiest mountain in Tibet, Tenzin Namdak envisions a life of quiet contemplation at Menri, Bön&’s mother monastery. Instead, he finds himself fleeing for his life across the highest and most difficult terrain on the planet. After being joined by a CIA-backed warlord, Tenzin&’s escape party is ambushed and he is severely wounded. Narrowly escaping execution by Chinese soldiers, the dying Tenzin is taken to a concentration camp, where he is afforded special consideration because of his status as a monk. He overcomes his nearly fatal wound and makes an arduous escape from Tibet over the daunting Himalayas. The other monks, life-long friends Samten Karmay and Sangye Tenzin, witness Tibet&’s capital explode in a violent insurrection against Chinese rule. Escaping to Nepal, they worry about the survival of the Bön religion and begin collecting scattered works of Bön scripture. A chance meeting with British scholar David Snellgrove brings the three monks together again and dramatically changes their lives. Snellgrove invites Sangye, Samten, and Tenzin to spend three years in London on a Rockefeller Foundation grant. There, they hone their English and forge influential relationships, enabling Tenzin to answer the pleas for help from the Bön community by founding a settlement in exile in India. Sangye is chosen as the 33rd Menri Trizen, Bön&’s highest office, and together the three monks help rebuild the nearly extinct Bön religion. Aside from the escape of the Dalai Lama, no other Tibetan escape has been so consequential for so many.