To a Mountain in Tibet
-
-
3.8 • 16 Ratings
-
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
"A superb account of a pilgrimage. . . . Characteristically beautiful, though uncharacteristically haunted." —Pico Iyer, New York Review of Books
"Thubron walks for the dead and writes for the living, and I can't remember when I have been so thoroughly and deeply moved by an author's outward journey inward." —Bob Shacochis, Boston Globe
New York Times bestselling author Colin Thubron returns with a moving, intimate, and exquisitely crafted travel memoir recounting his pilgrimage to the Hindu and Buddhist holy mountain of Kailas—whose peak represents the most sacred place on Earth to roughly a quarter the global population. With echoes of Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, Peter Hessler’s Country Driving, and Paul Theoroux’s Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Thubron’s follow up to his bestselling Shadow of the Silk Road will illuminate, interest, and inspire anyone interested in traveling the world or journeying into the soul.
He walks on account of the dead, on a journey to a place beyond his own history.
A Sacred Pilgrimage: Follow a path to Mount Kailas in Tibet, the holiest mountain for a billion Hindus and Buddhists, a place of immense power where the divine and the earthly meet.A Journey Through Grief: Confronting the loss of his entire family, Thubron undertakes an outward journey to navigate an inward landscape of memory and survival.Himalayan Travel: From the remote Humla region of Nepal to the stark, wind-scorched plateau of Tibet, experience a world of raw beauty, ancient monasteries, and unforgettable encounters.Lyrical and Haunting Prose: For readers of Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, this is a deeply moving account written with characteristic beauty and unflinching honesty.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The mountain path is the road of the dead, writes Thubron (Shadow of the Silk Road) in this engrossing and affecting travel memoir that transcends the mere physical journey. In the wake of his mother s death, Thubron sets off to Mount Kailas in Tibet, a peak sacred to one-fifth of the world s population and the source of four of India s great rivers. Kailas has never been climbed: the slopes are important to Tibetan Buddhists who say the mountain s guardian is Demchog (a tantric variant of Shiva). Along with two guides, Thubron embarks on a pilgrimage that begins in Nepal and crosses into Tibet, recounting not only his arduous journey but also the political and cultural history of Tibet and the West s continued fascination with its mysticism. Along the way, he observes pilgrims of various religions converging on Kailas and the myriad monasteries, most of which were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt decades later. It is the poignant evocations of his mother and sister (who died at 21), interwoven with his profound respect for the Tibetan culture and landscape that make Thubron s memoir an utterly moving read.
