Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud

by Sun Shuyun

Xuanzang should be known as one of the world's great heroes. His travels are legendary. He brought true Buddhism to China. His own book provides a unique record of the history and culture of his time. Yet he is unknown to most of us and even to most Chinese. Sun Shuyun, herself brought up in China, was determined to follow in his footsteps, discover more about Xuanzang and restore his fame. So she retraced his... (more)

An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World

An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World

by Pankaj Mishra

An End to Suffering is a deeply original and provocative book about the Buddha's life and his influence throughout history, told in the form of the author's search to understand the Buddha's relevance in a world where class oppression and religious violence are rife, and where poverty and terrorism cast a long, constant shadow. Mishra describes his restless journeys into India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among... (more)

Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment

Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment

by Richard Bernstein

In 629, the revered Buddhist monk Hsuan Tsang set out across Asia in search of the Ultimate Truth, and to settle what he called “the perplexities of my mind.” From the Tang dynasty capital at Xian through ancient Silk Road oases, over forbidding mountain passes to Tashkent, Samarkand, and the Amu-Darya River, across Pakistan to the holiest cities of India–and back again–his sixteen-year journey was beset with... (more)

Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road

by Anthony Weller

A "wryly observant travelogue . . . brimming with beauty and strangeness" ("Kirkus Reviews"), this work recreates the author's remarkable adventures on the ancient route that spans India and Pakistan.

The Silk Road Journey With Xuanzang

by Sally Hovey Wriggins

Walk the Silk Road with the Buddhist monk who crisscrossed the Asian continent and prompted a great cultural exchange between India and China. The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang tells the saga of the seventh-century Chinese monk Xuanzang, one of China's great heroes, who completed an epic sixteen-year-long journey to discover the heart of Buddhism at its source in India. Eight centuries before Columbus, this... (more)

Chasing the Monks Shadow

by Mishi Saran

In the seventh century AD, the Chinese monk Xuanzang set off on an epic journey to India to study Buddhist philosophy from the Indian masters. Traveling along the Silk Road, braving brigands and blizzards, Xuanzang finally reached India, where his spiritual quest took him to Buddhist holy places and monasteries throughout the subcontinent. Fourteen hundred years later, Mishi Saran follows in Xuanzang's footsteps... (more)

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