Ebook The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, by Ian Baker
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The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, by Ian Baker
Ebook The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, by Ian Baker
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Review
...more than just a gung-ho adventure tale...Baker went hunting the sacred, not the gaudy trappings of geological fame. -- Men's Journal, November 2004
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About the Author
Ian Baker has lived in Kathmandu, Nepal, and been a student of Tibetan Buddhism for more than twenty years. He studied fine arts, literature, and comparative religion at Middlebury College, Oxford University, and Columbia University. He has written several books on Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, including The Tibetan Art of Healing, Celestial Gallery, and The Dalai Lama's Secret Temple: Tantric Wall Paintings from Tibet. He is also the coauthor of Tibet: Reflections from the Wheel of Life and has contributed articles to Explorers Journal and National Geographic magazine.
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Product details
Hardcover: 511 pages
Publisher: The Penguin Press; 1st edition (November 4, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594200270
ISBN-13: 978-1594200274
Product Dimensions:
6.4 x 1.7 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.7 out of 5 stars
69 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,178,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
It should be known from the get-go that this book isn't for everyone; however, for those people who have been caught under the siren song of the Tsangpo Gorge, this book should be considered a "must-have", as it combines a thrilling travel narrative of repeated trips to this magical place, with a personal journey into the heart of Buddhism, and helps shed more light on the mysterious nature of the area.The Tsangpo Gorge and the area around it, known as "Pemako", is a place known by few, but deeply loved by those who have become enchanted with it's spell. It is brought to people's attentions through a few different avenues, be it explorers like Mr. Baker and Ken Storm, the kayakers who have tried to descend the wild river, the wild Buddhist Monpa hunters who still ply this canyon, or naturalists like Frank Ward, and for many folks once you learn about this amazing place all you want to do is learn more. This is where this book shines.Following Mr. Baker and his compatriots as they make repeated trips to the area, this book is both a running journal of their journeys, and a personal reflection on the nature of Buddhism (in this case Tantric Buddhism) as Mr. Baker follows along on his own journey as a practitioner and ultimately a pilgrim. The two journeys are intertwined beautifully, and by the end of the book you can understand the deeper, spiritual connection that Mr. Baker has with the Tsangpo Gorge and Pemako, and how the significance of "beyul", or wild places, shape certain parts of Buddhism, and how the pursuit of such things can bring both madness and ultimate enlightenment. Mr. Baker definitely explores this pursuit, and it is written directly from someone who is intimately connected to and aware of the power that pursuit can generate. With an amazing cast of supporting characters, including my favorite, Kawa Tulku, the book certainly explores deeper regions of the soul that most of us rarely- if ever- experience or explore.Whether you bought this book for the adventure narrative, the exploration of Tantric Buddhism, the hidden waterfalls of Dorje Pagmo, or the journey to the beyul of Pemako, if you are keenly interested in knowing more about the Tsangpo Gorge, Pemako, and the deeper connections involving them, then you will love this book the way so many others have.
The Tsangpo river cuts the eastern Himalayas to join Brahmaputra in the jungles of Assam. Intrepid British explorers have chartered most of its course during the glorious days of the Raj - leaving unexplored ~10 mile stretch of an inaccessible 'Tsangpo gorge'. Because the altitude difference between Tibet and India cannot be accounted for by the known flow of Tsangpo, the Brits hypothesized that this stretch of the river contains a large waterfall (or a series of them). This book describes several expeditions undertaken 1990-2000 by Baker and his colleague Hamid Sardar to solve this geogrpahical enigma.Both adventurers speak Tibetan and have a working knowledge of Tibetan tantra, both completed silent meditation retreats in isolated caves and both practiced with 'tantric consorts', Tibetan & Indian women placed on special diets (consisting of rose leaves and gold) trained to help men achieve a 'union of male and female principles in order to recognize the ultimate Emptiness of all phenomena." While Baker tittilates the reader here, he never delivers real information.Baler obtained a number of esoteric texts from lamas familiar with the Tsangpo territory - the texts detailed magical places throughout the gorge, incantation 'keys' necessary to 'open' those places, the nature of 'deities' residing in them and the value of their help to realization of the fact that 'nothing inherently exists on its own'. Heh. These texts, as well as subsequent Baker's narrative, reveal that the valley has ALWAYS been known to and lived in by Tibetans and local Monpa & Lopa tribes; it was never unknown, never had to be discovered and the rivalries driving American and Chinese expeditions to chart the river portrayed in the book seem pointless and even slightly comical. As well as poignant: expeditions (including Baker's own) were quite content leaving ailing and weak members behind to fend for themselves. Personally, I found the obsession with 'discovering' and 'exploring' a bit disconcerting. Why do we have to document, photograph, chart etc. every nook and cranny on this planet? Why can't we let it be? let local people be? What is the confusticated point?Baker insists on describing every single leech-infested forest and swamp on their way, every impassable boulder, pass, rivulet, stone or log which, with 500 pages, merge into a general picture of hardship, malaise, effort, hunger, leaking tents and, above all, sheer survival luck. There were so many cases where the 'pilgrims' appeared to wander aimlessly, in the dark or fog, having lost their native guides only to find them at the end of the day, against all odds huddling around a fire, that one is forced to contemplate the possibility of divine guidance.I would mention the fascinating account of 'poison cults' in local villages, and of small Tibetan monasteries and hermitages, scattered throughout the most inaccesible parts of the valley..., the gift of psychedelic mushrooms to a Tibetan hermit monk, and the touching relationship that developed between the Chinese liason officer, 'Mr. Gunn', and Occidental adventurers. Between the lines we can also read about havoc that local Monpas wreak upon local fauna (with mass-killing of rare animals such as the takin buffalo and tigers) and the much more serious Chinese depredation consisting of systematic mechanized exploitation of Tibetan natural resources and destruction of the environment (not to mention cutural genocide). Perhaps understandably, Baker wants to preserve his future access to Tibet. The greatest weakness of the book is that we learn little about Baker's own practices and realizations. We learn a lot about leeches and orchids, but what was going on with the lama's daughter mentioned early in the book? what about the tantric consorts? what (if any) spiritual realizations and benefits did Baker and Sardar derive from obsessive backpacking along the Tsangpo...? We also don't learn who financed these expensive yearly expeditions. Why are there no photo's of the supposedly discovered waterfall? Why can't the waterfall be seen from sallites or googleEarth? The apparent fear of personal disclosure detracts from the value of the book.Nevertheless, the book is well written and I enjoyed reading it. One cannot escape the notion that Baker and Sardar exemplify some of the best traits of 'man' - courage, resourcefulnes, commitment to spiritual growth and to having a good time.
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