| Book Name: |
Chronicles of Love and Death: My Years with the Lost Spiritual King of Bhutan |
| Details Description: |
Norma Levine has an extraordinary story to tell,
a story that spans continents, cultures and even
centuries. She had the great destiny to meet, fall
in love with, and be loved by the ninth
incarnation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal,
the reincarnate "lama king" of Bhutan, whose
position in Bhutan was somewhat equivalent to
that of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet ... the
Shabdrungs were pushed out in 1907 by an
ambitious and cruel warlord who was backed
by the British Raj. The lineage descending from
that warlord has ruled Bhutan since that time...
Norma\\'s saga is not just a personal memoir of
the fi ve years that she spent with Shabdrung. It
looks at the human side of the reincarnate lamas
of Tibetan Buddhism, at their emotional
vulnerability when uprooted from homeland
and cultural environment, and displaced from
their traditional roles as temporal and spiritual
leaders. It is a good read for any armchair
traveler, and an insightful one for anyone who
has ever met a reincarnate lama. I give it two
thumbs up.
- Glenn Mullin
The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation.
In this intimate memoir, Norma Levine describes
her love relationship with a Tibetan tulku, the
incarnation of the Shabdrung - spiritual ruler -
of Bhutan. Vividly evoking the alternativeculture
scene in the Western Himalayas when
transmission of the Tibetan dharma to the West
was still in its fresh, vital phase, she takes us into the heart of Tibetan Buddhist culture and offers a slice of its politics with Bhutan. ... Chronicles of Love and Death, takes us into a meditative reality, and, furthermore, it is a compelling read from beginning to end.
- Keith Dowman
The Divine Madman; Masters of Mahamudra; Sky Dancer.
Chronicles of Love and Death is a wonderful
synthesis of spiritual journey and profound
human drama; a gripping portrait of an unique
historical fi gure - part guru, part madman; a
fascinating insight into the tantric practice |
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