Journey to Heavenly Mountain: An American's Pilgrimage to the Heart of Buddhism in Modern China

Rating:
Summary: An insightful, communicative, and broad-minded memoir
Review: Journey To Heavenly Mountain: An American's Pilgrimage To The Heart Of Buddhism In Modern China is the personal story of Jay Martin, an American who personally journeyed through modern-day China in a dedicated search for eternal wisdom and personal enlightenment. Jay's travels took him into the heart of monastic Buddhist territory, where he learned of new ways for seeing with clarity and tranquility. Journey To Heavenly Mountain is highly recommended for Buddhist reference collections and supplemental reading lists as being an insightful, communicative, and broad-minded memoir.

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly-engrossing read.
Review: This is one of those books that won't let you put it down until you've finished it. As a piece of travel writing, it's interesting enough; but it is as an account of a spiritual journey that the book especially succeeds. Author Jay Martin's aim was to live in some of the great Buddhist temples in China, and to absorb the wisdom of the spiritual masters who live there. One might expect, in his recounting of his dialogues with these spiritual figures, just more of the rather befuddling Eastern philosophical jargon that many have come to expect. What is refreshing about Martin's account is both the accessibility of the teachings, and the fact that we get to see the teachings APPLIED in the course of Martin's adventures.

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly-engrossing read.
Review: This is one of those books that won't let you put it down until you've finished it. As a piece of travel writing, it's interesting enough; but it is as an account of a spiritual journey that the book especially succeeds. Author Jay Martin's aim was to live in some of the great Buddhist temples in China, and to absorb the wisdom of the spiritual masters who live there. One might expect, in his recounting of his dialogues with these spiritual figures, just more of the rather befuddling Eastern philosophical jargon that many have come to expect. What is refreshing about Martin's account is both the accessibility of the teachings, and the fact that we get to see the teachings APPLIED in the course of Martin's adventures.