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Jan 31, 2012 | ISBN 9780452297517 Buy
Jan 20, 2011 | ISBN 9781101475485 Buy
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Available from:
Jan 31, 2012 | ISBN 9780452297517
Jan 20, 2011 | ISBN 9781101475485
"Part spy thriller, part Dharma travelogue, part spiritual autobiography . . . 100 percent page-turner." -Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
For nearly a decade, Matteo Pistono evaded Chinese security and smuggled out photos of prisons, secret documents, and firsthand interviews of torture victims and other atrocities committed by the Chinese government. Yet Pistono had not initially gone to Tibet to fight for human rights-but as a Buddhist pilgrim.
After Pistono became the student of a venerated meditation master in Tibet, he began couriering messages to him from the Dalai Lama in India. This began an extraordinary adventure. In the Shadow of the Buddha is both a vivid account of how Tibet’s rich spiritual past is slipping away under repression, and the story of one man who merged political activism with Buddhist mysticism in pursuit of freedom and peace.
Spiritual biography meets edge-of-your-seat undercover reporting: how an American Buddhist smuggled out hard evidence of abuse and torture in Tibet. For nearly a decade, Matteo Pistono smuggled out of Tibet evidence of atrocities by the Chinese government, showing it to the U.S. government, human rights organizations, and anyone who would listen. Yet Pistono did not originally intend to fight for social justice in Tibet-he had gone there as a Buddhist pilgrim. Disillusioned by a career in American politics, he had gone to the Himalayas looking for a simpler way of life. After encountering Buddhism in Nepal, Pistono’s quest led him to Tibet and to a meditation master whose spiritual brother is Sogyal Rinpoche, bestselling author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Pistono not only became the master’s student but also couriered messages to him in Tibet from the Dalai Lama in India. This began an extraordinary, and ultimately vital, adventure. In the Shadow of the Buddha is a book about Tibet through the eyes of a devotee-a stranger hiding in plain sight. It’s about how a culture’s rich spiritual past is slipping away against the force of a tyrannical future. It’s about how Tibetans live today, and the tenacity of their faith in the future in spite of dire repression and abuse. It’s also about Pistono’s own journey from being a frustrated political activist to becoming a practicing Buddhist mystic, a man who traveled thousands of miles and risked his own life to pursue freedom and peace.Watch a Video
Matteo Pistono is a writer, practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, and author of In the Shadow of the Buddha: Secret Journeys, Sacred Histories, and Spiritual Discovery in Tibet. Pistono’s images and writings about Tibetan and Himalayan cultural, political, and spiritual landscapes… More about Matteo Pistono
“What a fabulous saga! . . . It is both unearthly and powerfully real.”—Robert Thurman, author of Inner Revolution“Pistono’s account of his quest for spiritual illumination and political justice is heartbreaking and awe-inspiring.”—Booklist (starred review)“Part spy thriller, part Dharma travelogue, part spiritual autobiography . . . 100 percent page-turner.”—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
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