Customer Reviews

The Yogins of Ladakh (Buddhist Tradition S.)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book in Leh and read about the yoghins of Shila Phu in Zanskar. I tryed to meet them many times but I never succeeded. On july 2003, I arrived in Zanskar just in time to see the nine days puja in memory of last yoghins of Zanskar.
In 1977 prof. Crook led an expedition to Zangskar in Ladakh initiating a series of studies on the ecology of village and monastic life in the Buddhist Himalayas. During this work (see Himalayan Buddhist Villages, J. Crook and H. Osmastoneds Motilal Banarsidass and Bristol University 1994) he became interested in the Psychology of the yogin mediators living as hermits in the high mountains with whom he felt a strong experiential identification. This enabled him to begin a detailed study of the Yogic practices enabling them to survive and thrive under extraordinary conditions of privation and discipline.

I read this book while on vacation in England where I found it in the stacks of a small library. The authors successfully combine travel adventure, the religious history of Ladakh, fascinating ethnography, mysticism, and local mythology. An off-beat, unique, educational and fun read. I highly recommend it to those interested in the area, esoteric Buddhism and travel adventure.

This is a very beautiful book. When reading it, it is not difficult to feel the dry wind blowing through the barren rocks, and almost desert-like landscape. And see the wrinkled and tough faces of the people living here - and to understand that if buddhism should flourish anywhere, than it must be here, in the high Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau.

The book perhaps tries a bit too much, and at times comes with some very general introductory explanations, while at other times giving examples of highly esoteric and technical advice. But the breadth means anyone with an interest can enjoy it. The scholar, the 'amateur' buddhist and armchair traveller.

The narrative switches a bit confusingly between the travel accounts of the authors and their own anecdoctes, general accounts of the life of people, the monastic community, the culture of the Ladakh and the Zanskar region of Northwestern India, and the author's meetings and interviews with meditation masters. One reason for the somewhat confusing structure is actually a very positive aspect of this book: Unlike many books on buddhism and other forms of exotic meditation and practice, this book is an account of real people and their often quite unbelieveable dedication to their practice. Life doesn't fit a nice and simplified narrative. This is important in a time when Tibetan lamaism is at serious risk of being hijacked by Hollywood stereotypes and regional politics.