Status
Available
Publication
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
Description
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.
User reviews
LibraryThing member nandadevi
This book is a loving homage to Ladakh, it people, the country and its spirituality. Harvey is acutely aware of the fragility of all of this as the isolation that protected Ladakh is being broken down all around him (in 1981), by politics and by tourism - even (as Harvey admits) spiritual tourism.
So far this is a travel narrative, and a good one. Very few stories of journeying don't include a component of the inner journeys we make in parallel with the visible one. But in the third part of Harvey's book he takes the plunge, and the reader - if he or she is inclined - is propelled into some very deep (beautifully written) discussions on Buddhism and the big questions of life. The reader needs to be prepared to accept that the snatches of authentic everyday dialogue in the earlier parts of the book are succeeded here by weeks of very long discussions with religious leaders, all faithfully recorded. As a diarist in a former life I know that this is possible, but I miss some reflection from Harvey how he went about this. That said, I found this one of the easiest and best expositions about what Buddhism is (and isn't) about I have ever read. The debunking of the 'seeking enlightenment' crowd was superb, and there is an intelligent discussion on the applicability of Buddhism for Westerners. Most of all the humanity of the people Harvey talks with, their love of the people and the country, shines through.
Read this for the beautiful description of Ladakh, for the insights into one man's encounter with Buddhism, or for both. On any of these grounds this is an excellent book.
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Harvey's journey is about spiritual searching, but for the first two parts of the book he is a poet wandering about Ladakh, describing the people and the place with a poet's eye and pen, and the result is very satisfying. There is a sense of his slowly absorbing the countryside, the pace of life and the spirit of the place. But the story also reveals, little by little, Harvey's own inner geography and character. He has reservations about plunging into the full spiritual life. The intensity of Tibetan Buddhism fascinates and frightens him, he appears anxious about losing himself in it, or finding out that it has nothing to offer.So far this is a travel narrative, and a good one. Very few stories of journeying don't include a component of the inner journeys we make in parallel with the visible one. But in the third part of Harvey's book he takes the plunge, and the reader - if he or she is inclined - is propelled into some very deep (beautifully written) discussions on Buddhism and the big questions of life. The reader needs to be prepared to accept that the snatches of authentic everyday dialogue in the earlier parts of the book are succeeded here by weeks of very long discussions with religious leaders, all faithfully recorded. As a diarist in a former life I know that this is possible, but I miss some reflection from Harvey how he went about this. That said, I found this one of the easiest and best expositions about what Buddhism is (and isn't) about I have ever read. The debunking of the 'seeking enlightenment' crowd was superb, and there is an intelligent discussion on the applicability of Buddhism for Westerners. Most of all the humanity of the people Harvey talks with, their love of the people and the country, shines through.
Read this for the beautiful description of Ladakh, for the insights into one man's encounter with Buddhism, or for both. On any of these grounds this is an excellent book.
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LibraryThing member DramMan
Travel in Ladakh - with a heavy mystical tone, as the author studies Tibetan Buddhism. Interesting character sketches, some lyrical description but concentrating on monks and monasteries to the exclusion of almost everything else.