Samye: A Pilgrimage to the Birthplace of Tibetan Buddhism

Rating:
Summary: The Roof of the World & the Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
Review: Rebeccasreads highly recommends SAMYE: A PILGRIMAGE TO THE BIRTHPLACE OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM as a treasure trove of images, history & beauty. Mikel Dunham pours all his photographic mastery & his love of a good story into this homage of a sacred site.

Perfect for those who have yearned & will not in this lifetime get there; perfect for those who have been & yearn to return, & a perfect gift for those to whom Buddhism, travel, mountains & memories are the stuff of life.

Rating:
Summary: The Roof of the World & the Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
Review: Rebeccasreads highly recommends SAMYE: A PILGRIMAGE TO THE BIRTHPLACE OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM as a treasure trove of images, history & beauty. Mikel Dunham pours all his photographic mastery & his love of a good story into this homage of a sacred site.

Perfect for those who have yearned & will not in this lifetime get there; perfect for those who have been & yearn to return, & a perfect gift for those to whom Buddhism, travel, mountains & memories are the stuff of life.

Rating:
Summary: A Visual Journey to SAMYE
Review: Samye was founded by Tantric master Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita from Indian in the eight century A.D. This monastery is built in the form of a three-dimensional mandala.

"Put in its simplest terms, a mandala is a diagram or pictorial representation of a three-dimensional universe used as an aid for Buddhist meditators."

Mikel Dunham has made many trips to Tibet and became the last student of the late thankgha master, Perma Wangyal of Dolpo. He spent years learning how to paint with mineral pigments and 22 carat gold. He then painted murals for a Tibetan temple in Sarnath, India. He was then given full access to Samye to document treasures that have never been photographed.

After a foreword by his Holiness the Dalai Lama (his actual letter has been photographed - how unique), the book is divided into six sections:

Bulding the Inconceivable
Approaching the Mandala
Entering the Mandala
Within the Monkhood
Above the Mandala
Precarious Preservation

Even his Holiness the Dalai Lama was not able to visit Samye and explains how he was very close to Samye when he crossed the Tsangpo river nearby in a yak skin coracle during his escape in 1959. After the occupation of Tibet, the building were damaged and irreplaceable books were destroyed.

If you have any interest in Tibetian Buddhism or have an interest in world travel, this book is sure to offer intriguing insight into the "Land of the Snow Lions." Pages 2-33 display mostly art (ancient murals) and then after page 36, the Samye compound is photographed from every conceivable angle, including a view from Mount Hepori.

There are also pictures of monks studying outside beneath the trees, monks and nuns performing daily chores and ceremonies, prayer flags draped across long ropes across the mountains, pilgrims wearing yellow khatags (ceremonial scarves), close-ups of elaborately designed doors, yak butter lamps and gorgeous pictures of the red walls with detailed paintings and patterns.

Mikel gives insight into what has happened to the art and even describes how preservation is at times as basic as filling parts of vandalized paintings with flour paste to prevent further deterioration. There are also pictures of grafitti painted across the Great Stupa Wall and beautiful rooms that have now been turned into junkyards.

If you have read books like "Karma and Happiness" by Miriam E. Cameron, you will enjoy the visual representation of her descriptions of Tibet in this photographic journey.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

Rating:
Summary: A Visual Journey to SAMYE
Review: Samye was founded by Tantric master Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita from Indian in the eight century A.D. This monastery is built in the form of a three-dimensional mandala.

"Put in its simplest terms, a mandala is a diagram or pictorial representation of a three-dimensional universe used as an aid for Buddhist meditators."

Mikel Dunham has made many trips to Tibet and became the last student of the late thankgha master, Perma Wangyal of Dolpo. He spent years learning how to paint with mineral pigments and 22 carat gold. He then painted murals for a Tibetan temple in Sarnath, India. He was then given full access to Samye to document treasures that have never been photographed.

After a foreword by his Holiness the Dalai Lama (his actual letter has been photographed - how unique), the book is divided into six sections:

Bulding the Inconceivable
Approaching the Mandala
Entering the Mandala
Within the Monkhood
Above the Mandala
Precarious Preservation

Even his Holiness the Dalai Lama was not able to visit Samye and explains how he was very close to Samye when he crossed the Tsangpo river nearby in a yak skin coracle during his escape in 1959. After the occupation of Tibet, the building were damaged and irreplaceable books were destroyed.

If you have any interest in Tibetian Buddhism or have an interest in world travel, this book is sure to offer intriguing insight into the "Land of the Snow Lions." Pages 2-33 display mostly art (ancient murals) and then after page 36, the Samye compound is photographed from every conceivable angle, including a view from Mount Hepori.

There are also pictures of monks studying outside beneath the trees, monks and nuns performing daily chores and ceremonies, prayer flags draped across long ropes across the mountains, pilgrims wearing yellow khatags (ceremonial scarves), close-ups of elaborately designed doors, yak butter lamps and gorgeous pictures of the red walls with detailed paintings and patterns.

Mikel gives insight into what has happened to the art and even describes how preservation is at times as basic as filling parts of vandalized paintings with flour paste to prevent further deterioration. There are also pictures of grafitti painted across the Great Stupa Wall and beautiful rooms that have now been turned into junkyards.

If you have read books like "Karma and Happiness" by Miriam E. Cameron, you will enjoy the visual representation of her descriptions of Tibet in this photographic journey.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

Rating:
Summary: A brief and simple overview of the history of Samye
Review: Samye: A Pilgrimage To The Birthplace Of Tibetan Buddhism is a tribute to an ancient Tibetan buddhist monastery, first founded in 770, that receives pilgrimages to this day. A truly beautiful presentation offering full-color, full-page photographs of people and great Buddhist artworks on almost every page, Samye: A Pilgrimage To The Birthplace Of Tibetan Buddhism. A brief and simple overview of the history of Samye interweaves with the captivating images, in this utterly compelling coffee table book that strives to impart the next closest thing to experiencing Samye short of traveling there and seeing it firsthand. Highly recommended.