 |
In a single generation, Tibetan Buddhism developed from the faith of a remote mountain people, associated with bizarre, almost medieval, superstitions, to perhaps the most rapidly growing and celebrity-studded religion in the West.
Disaffected with other religious traditions yet searching for meaning, huge numbers of Americans have found their way to the wisdom of Tibetan lamas in exile. These flamboyant teachers proved to be charismatic and gifted ambassadors for their ancient religion. So did two Western women, born in Brooklyn and London's East End, whose homegrown religious institutions turned out to be identical with the most sophisticated Tibetan teachings, revealing them to be reincarnated lamas.
With great flair for both the sublime and the human, Jeffery Paine narrates in page-turning, richly informative fashion how Tibetan Buddhism û rarified and sensual, mystical and commonsensical û became the ideal religion for a "post-religious" age. In this comprehensive narrative of Tibetan Buddhism's relocating to the West, Jeffery Paine has told perhaps the most dramatic religious story of our time û a story that provides new insight into the changed nature of contemporary religion and spirituality.
Re-Enchantment, Jeffery Paine, W.W. Norton & Company, Hardcover, $24.95
|
|
|
