The Rainbow Road from Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong: Memoirs of an English Buddhist
A vivid picture of the people, the places, and the experiences that shaped Sangharakshita's life.

Sangharakshita read the Diamond Sutra for the first time the summer he turned seventeen. It seemed to awaken him to something whose existence he had forgotten, and he joyfully embraced those profound teachings "with an unqualified acceptance." This experience decided the whole future direction of his life.

In this first volume of memoirs he describes how, from a working-class childhood in the London suburb of Tooting, he came, a twenty-four-year-old Buddhist novice monk, to Kalimpong in the eastern Himalayas.

Sangharakshita paints a vivid picture of the people, the places, and the experiences that shaped his life: his childhood, his army days, and the gurus he met during his years as a wandering ascetic staying in the caves and ashrams of India. He moves between the ordinary and the extraordinary, from the mundane to the sublime; his narrative takes in the psychological and aesthetic, the philosophical and spiritual. His experiences are both universal—love and loss, comedy and tragedy—and unique to his an exceptional life.

Sangharakshita is the founder and principal teacher of Triratna, a worldwide Buddhist movement. With teaching experience spanning sixty years, he is the author of over forty books.

"1112013067"
The Rainbow Road from Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong: Memoirs of an English Buddhist
A vivid picture of the people, the places, and the experiences that shaped Sangharakshita's life.

Sangharakshita read the Diamond Sutra for the first time the summer he turned seventeen. It seemed to awaken him to something whose existence he had forgotten, and he joyfully embraced those profound teachings "with an unqualified acceptance." This experience decided the whole future direction of his life.

In this first volume of memoirs he describes how, from a working-class childhood in the London suburb of Tooting, he came, a twenty-four-year-old Buddhist novice monk, to Kalimpong in the eastern Himalayas.

Sangharakshita paints a vivid picture of the people, the places, and the experiences that shaped his life: his childhood, his army days, and the gurus he met during his years as a wandering ascetic staying in the caves and ashrams of India. He moves between the ordinary and the extraordinary, from the mundane to the sublime; his narrative takes in the psychological and aesthetic, the philosophical and spiritual. His experiences are both universal—love and loss, comedy and tragedy—and unique to his an exceptional life.

Sangharakshita is the founder and principal teacher of Triratna, a worldwide Buddhist movement. With teaching experience spanning sixty years, he is the author of over forty books.

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The Rainbow Road from Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong: Memoirs of an English Buddhist

The Rainbow Road from Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong: Memoirs of an English Buddhist

by Sangharakshita
The Rainbow Road from Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong: Memoirs of an English Buddhist

The Rainbow Road from Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong: Memoirs of an English Buddhist

by Sangharakshita

Paperback

$24.95 
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Overview

A vivid picture of the people, the places, and the experiences that shaped Sangharakshita's life.

Sangharakshita read the Diamond Sutra for the first time the summer he turned seventeen. It seemed to awaken him to something whose existence he had forgotten, and he joyfully embraced those profound teachings "with an unqualified acceptance." This experience decided the whole future direction of his life.

In this first volume of memoirs he describes how, from a working-class childhood in the London suburb of Tooting, he came, a twenty-four-year-old Buddhist novice monk, to Kalimpong in the eastern Himalayas.

Sangharakshita paints a vivid picture of the people, the places, and the experiences that shaped his life: his childhood, his army days, and the gurus he met during his years as a wandering ascetic staying in the caves and ashrams of India. He moves between the ordinary and the extraordinary, from the mundane to the sublime; his narrative takes in the psychological and aesthetic, the philosophical and spiritual. His experiences are both universal—love and loss, comedy and tragedy—and unique to his an exceptional life.

Sangharakshita is the founder and principal teacher of Triratna, a worldwide Buddhist movement. With teaching experience spanning sixty years, he is the author of over forty books.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781909314856
Publisher: Windhorse Publications
Publication date: 09/12/2017
Series: The Complete Works of Sangharakshita , #20
Pages: 552
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Sangharakshita is the founder and principal teacher of Triratna, a worldwide Buddhist movement. With teaching experience spanning 60 years, he is the author of over 40 books.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Kalyanaprabha ix
Map xv
1 Giants and Dragons 1
2 The Children’s Encyclopaedia 15
3 Learning to Walk 26
4 ‘Here Comes the Boys’ Brigade’ 34
5 Evacuated 45
6 The Veil of Isis 54
7 The Pendulum Swings 68
8 Buddhism and the lcc 75
9 The Misfit 91
10 Passage to India 107
11 With the Swamis in Ceylon 116
12 Maitreya,the Coming Buddha 130
13 The Three Worlds 138
14 Coincidences 146
15 The End of the Beginning 152
16 Jumping in at the Shallow End 158
17 Direct Action Day 165
18 All-India Religions Conference 173
19 Two Meetings and a Marriage 178
20 Anandamayi, the Blissful Mother 183
21 The Three Untouchables 193
22 Meditations in the Mango Grove 204
23 The Divine Eye 211
24 The Going Forth 219
25 A Question of Identity 227
26 Sramana Versus Brahmana 231
27 The Temple of the Virgin Goddess 237
28 The Road to Trivandrum 243
29 What Happened to the Offerings 247
30 The Town of the Three Rivers 255
31 ‘What Is Your Caste?’ 262
32 The Three Lawyers 271
33 Other Friends 282
34 Outings and Activities 288
35 The Path Within 300
36 ‘Krishna Has Come!’ 308
37 Ramdas, the Servant of God 319
38 At The ‘Abode Of Bliss’ 328
39 The Vision in the Cave 335
40 The One-Eyed Guru 349
41 Sandalwood Country 364
42 ‘Tiger, Tiger…’ 375
43 Disappointment at Sarnath 381
44 Through the Curtain of Fire 392
45 At the Shrine of the Recumbent Buddha 402
46 ‘Here the Blessed One was Born’ 414
47 With the Newars in Nepal 424
48 Academic Interlude 442
49 In the Land of the Great Disciples 457
50 Facing Mount Kanchenjunga 467
Appendices
1 Introduction to Learning to Walk 475
2 Giants and Dragons: Original Version 480
Notes 505
Index 509
A Guide to Sangharakshita’s Complete Works 523
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