The Spirit of Tibet

Best-selling author of The Monk and the Philosopher engages readers with his eighteen-year pilgrimage in The Spirit of Tibet. Poet, scholar, philosopher, and master of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche led a life of profound dedication to spiritual enlightenment and teaching. During the final fourteen years of his life his personal assistant was Matthieu Ricard. Together they traveled throughout Tibet, Bhutan, India, and Nepal, returning to the places of Khyentse Rinpoche's youth: his birthplace in Eastern Tibet; the monastery of Shechen which he had entered at the age of eleven; and the retreats where he spent years in meditation and study. At every stop on his journey, Khyentse Rinpoche was welcomed with elaborate ceremonies and outpourings of devotion. Ricard's deeply personal photographs of this journey are enhanced by a biographical narrative that is interspersed with extensive passages from the writings and teachings of Khyentse Rinpoche. Together, these images and texts form an inspiring portrait of one of the great spiritual leaders and teachers of our time. Many masters of Tibetan Buddhism studied with Khyentse Rinpoche, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who regarded him as his principal instructor in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Spirit of Tibet brings us the color and pageantry of the spiritual life and cultures of Tibet, Nepal, India, and Bhutan-- the countries where Khyentse Rinpoche taught and traveled. The story imparts a rare view of a spiritual leader's journey to enlightenment, against a backdrop of a land whose traditions are both ancient and remarkably relevant to our times. "Khyentse Rinpoche was a model for all other holders of the teachings. We should not only admire his inconceivable knowledge, wisdom, and accomplishment, but, more importantly, we should follow his example and emulate those qualities ourselves. The Buddha's teachings are of enormous value for everyone, not only to dedicated practitioners but to lay people, too, and we must try our best to practice and implement them, and to emulate the great teachers who have followed him."--His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from his Remembrance