From its origins at Bodh Gaya on the plains of northern India, we travel
up into the Himalaya of Ladakh, where Buddhism thrived and split in the
five different sects. Our journey takes us to Nepal, historically a
receptive home for Buddhism, to Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala and to
Sikkim and Bhutan paying homage to the sacred sites of Mahayana Buddhism
along the way.
We venture along the silk route into the mountainous region of Xinjiang
in China and to the largest monastery in the Buddhist world at Labrang
in Gansu Province, home to the Yellow Hat sect. We visit the Longman
Caves and the legendary Shaolin Monastery, with its extraordinary Kung
Fu monks, before eventually embarking for Korea and Japan to trace
Tantric Buddhism. There we sample the tranquility of Zen temples and the
fresh mountain and sea air of the most sacred pilgrim sites.
We follow the story of how the once precarious belief emerged as
Theravada Buddhism and found a haven in Sri Lanka before progressing
eastwards to Burma and on into southeast Asia, as far as central Java.
We explore the exquisite temples of Luang Prabang in Laos, Angkor Wat in
Cambodia, and Sukhothai in Thailand, where Buddhist art reached a
certain zenith. This is journey of spiritual, as well as visual,
enlightenment as we meet Theravada Buddhist pilgrims along the way.
Finally, we traverse the Tibetan plateau to reach the fabled capital of
Lhasa, with its spiritual centre of the Jokhang Temple, and the iconic
Potala Palace, the abandoned home of HH the Dalai Lama.
Maps with reference to the photographs will guide you along the routes.
The illuminating text by Denis Gray provides an authoritative
perspective of Buddhism in 21st century Asia and assists in navigating
the reader through the book's journey.
