Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk

Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk

Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk

Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk

Paperback(New Edition)

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Overview

Tibet was once home to thousands of thriving Buddhist monasteries. But in 1959, following a Tibetan uprising against China's long occupation, nearly all were destroyed by the Chinese military, the practice of Buddhism was outlawed, and the Dalai Lama was forced into exile. In March of that year, Chinese tanks bombarded the 540-year-old Sera Jey Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, killing hundreds of monks and destroying ancient texts and invaluable artifacts that had been collected over centuries. Thousands of survivors fled over perilous mountain passes to neighboring India, many with only thin robes and light footwear to shield them from the harsh winter conditions of the Himalayas.

The Sera Jey Monastery, reestablished near Mysore, India, now houses 5,000 Buddhist monks living in exile-including many who escaped the attack on the Tibetan monastery in 1959, and many more who have never known their ancestral homeland. Providing an intimate glimpse of this rarely seen world, Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk evokes the subtle moods and rhythms of this Buddhist community that has steadfastly carried on the legacy of the original Sera Jey. More than 100 duotone photographs capture daily rituals and sacred ceremonies, serious moments and playful gestures, compassionate faces and expressions of inspired serenity. Moving and unforgettable, Sheila Rock's portraits celebrate the tranquility, simple joys, and unadorned beauty of the ascetic life, offering a powerful testament to the strength and resilience of a persecuted people.

A percentage of the royalties from this book go to the Sera Jhe Health Care Committee in aid of various humanitarian projects

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780231128919
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication date: 11/23/2005
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 144
Product dimensions: 8.75(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Sheila Rock is a professional photographer living in London. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and has been accepted into the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. She began photographing the Sera Jey monks in 1998.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
The Thirty-Seven Practices of All Buddha's Sons

What People are Saying About This

from the foreword by Robert A. F. Thurman

Perhaps Sheila Rock felt the power... in these faces, as she was enfolded in the atmosphere of this ancient theater of inquiry into the deepest matters, the 'great matter' of life and death, of endless, unnecessary bondage and ultimate, infinite liberation. This drew her back again and again. She opened the lens of her camera, the gateway of her artistic sensitivity, the doorway of her heart. And so her luminous pictures focus on the clear light at the heart of the life of this ancient monastery; they bring it to you as nondually illuminating the cracks and crevices of the homeless home, the absolute relativity of faces and masks, bodies and objects, rooms and shrines. To visit with her pictures is to enter this sacred yet lively space, sublime yet earthly realm, human yet divine serenity, ordinary yet extraordinary intelligence and sensitivity.

from the foreword by Robert A. F. Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Columbia University

Robert A.F. Thurman

Perhaps Sheila Rock felt the power... in these faces, as she was enfolded in the atmosphere of this ancient theater of inquiry into the deepest matters, the 'great matter' of life and death, of endless, unnecessary bondage and ultimate, infinite liberation. This drew her back again and again. She opened the lens of her camera, the gateway of her artistic sensitivity, the doorway of her heart. And so her luminous pictures focus on the clear light at the heart of the life of this ancient monastery; they bring it to you as nondually illuminating the cracks and crevices of the homeless home, the absolute relativity of faces and masks, bodies and objects, rooms and shrines. To visit with her pictures is to enter this sacred yet lively space, sublime yet earthly realm, human yet divine serenity, ordinary yet extraordinary intelligence and sensitivity.

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