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So Close to Heaven

The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas

Part of Vintage Departures

Author Barbara Crossette
Ebook
Knopf | Vintage
On sale Aug 03, 2011 | 320 Pages | 9780307801906
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
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A travelogue of Bhutan and its neighbors in the Himalayas that introduces readers 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.
Barbara Crossette, who joined the New York Times in 1973, spent seven years as a correspondent in Asia, and is now UN bureau chief. She was a Fulbright Professor of Journalism in India and has taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and at Princeton University. She won the 1991 George Polk Award for foreign reporting. She lives in New York City and Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. View titles by Barbara Crossette
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
"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

"Any traveler, actual or armchair, would have a significantly richer experience after reading this book. And for anyone with a serious interest in Buddhism, it's essential reading." —Washington Post Book World

About

A travelogue of Bhutan and its neighbors in the Himalayas that introduces readers 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.

Author

Barbara Crossette, who joined the New York Times in 1973, spent seven years as a correspondent in Asia, and is now UN bureau chief. She was a Fulbright Professor of Journalism in India and has taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and at Princeton University. She won the 1991 George Polk Award for foreign reporting. She lives in New York City and Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. View titles by Barbara Crossette

Table of Contents

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

Praise

"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

"Any traveler, actual or armchair, would have a significantly richer experience after reading this book. And for anyone with a serious interest in Buddhism, it's essential reading." —Washington Post Book World

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