A travelogue of Bhutan and its neighbors in the Himalayas that introducesreaders to a world that has emerged from the middle ages only to find itself peering into the abyss of modernity. ""For anyone with a serious interest in Buddhism, it's essential reading"" (Washington Post Book World).
For more than a thousand years Tibet, Sikkim, Ladakh, and Bhutan were the santuaries of Tantric Buddhism. But in the last half of this century, geopolitics has scoured the landscape of the Himalayas, and only the reclusive kingdom of Bhutan remains true to Tantric Buddhism.
By:
Barbara Crossette
Imprint: Random House USA Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 201mm,
Width: 130mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 327g
ISBN: 9780679743637
ISBN 10: 0679743634
Series: Vintage Departures
Pages: 297
Publication Date: 26 January 1996
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
1. And Then There Was One 2. The Druk Gyalpo 3. Becoming Buddha 4. Before Tibet, There Was Bon 5. The Road from Lumbini 6. Ladakh: Eclipsed by Other Gods 7. Sikkim: “No One Heard Us Cry” 8. Buddhist Nepal 9. Buddha and the Bhutanese State 10. The Dragon People 11. All Sentient Beings 12. Aum Rinzi’s World 13. Two Capitals, Two Eras 14. To Tashigang 15. One Sunday in Bumthang An Afterthought A Glossary of Common Words
Reviews for So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas
There is no other full-length contemporary American account of this likable and largely unvisited kingdom....Crosette unravels the intricacies of Buddhism with considerable clarity. --The New York Times Book Review
