Rating: 
Summary: www.himalaya.com
Review: Check out the web site! www.himalaya.co
Rating:
Summary: An insightful and fun read.
Review: This book was just plain fun. I'm not sure about all the
philosophy and stuff but it was very interested none the
less. I especially liked the diagrams demonstrating the
difference between linear and relational thought. It
gave me a real chuckle as a professional computer
programmer. His descriptions jibe very well with my own
experiences. Overall, a highly enjoyable trip. Maybe I'll
get into snowboarding one of these days ... :-)
Rating:
Summary: A perfect book.
Review: This may very well be the most perfect book ever
written in the English language.
Rating:
Summary: This book is awesome!!!
Review: "Charged with energy, humor, and insight, this is the engaging story of a young American snowboarder who travels to the Himalayas seeking the ultimate high - but surfs into an experience more transcendent than he could ever imaged. In an accident of karmic destiny, the young man plows into a Tantric Buddhist monk named Master Fwap who takes him on as a spiritual apprentice. Using snowboarding as a path to enlightenment, the charming and learned Master Fwap shows how, by freeing the mind and challenging the soul, one can master any mountain - and master himself."Surfing the Himalayas is one of the greatest spiritual adventures ever written. It can be easy compared to The Celestine Prophesy, or any book by Carlos Castaneda. Master Fwap's enlightening humor takes your mind into a higher level of awareness at the turn of each page. This is an adventure that should be enjoyed by all.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Journey in Spiritual Awareness of Tantric Buddhism
Review: I really enjoyed this book. This book is on Tantric Buddhism, not Tibetan or Bon, although there are variations of course. I can usually rate a good book by the amount of thinking I do in retaining some of the illustrative ideas. I am not some convinced believer out of all the Buddhist ideas, however if you can view non-dogmatically, envision the possibilities there of, then such ideas are really beneficial in the pragmatic sense of truths in that they portray another lens to view sacred human existence and ways of living. Besides, such ancient teachings, although non-scientific according to the atomistic mechanics of our current Cartesian grids, can convey subtle truths beyond our so called logic. I found this book truly enlightening, an easy to read story, of a snowboarder who travels to the Himalayan mountains to snowboard, meeting up with his karmic destiny. Here he meets a enlightened Buddhist monk, Master Fwap, who teaches him tantric Buddhism and his past enlightened lives that brought forth this karmic destiny.
What it comes down to is a dialogue, that is a question and answer between two persons teaching and discussing Buddhist thoughts. In the teaching style of Plato, we are the third parties learning from the questions and answers of two others in conversation rather than being taught directly.
In this Master Fwap explains the two main ways of Buddhist thinking, that of meditation of leaving all thoughts and that of mindfulness in becoming one in unity with the current task at hand. In each case, there is a melting of conceptional thought into a unified existence. For instance, in ceasing to thinking of how to snowboard by the way one steers and maneuvers the board oneself as separate, the idea here is to stop thinking as a person on the board but instead becoming one with the board, letting go of linear conceptional thinking, floating in the center becoming one with the board. Here is becomes automatic as to what to do and how to maneuver instead of "thinking" about what and how. One has to always allow the action of the activity or event to take precedence over one's own point of view, allowing the emptiness inherent within the actions and experiences to guide and shape the choices and direct, not the other way around.
I really enjoyed the illustration between the Western hierarchical linear thought to that of the Buddhist relational thought. Here the linear thought or line thinking, consists of historical and rational reverence in a line of connecting thoughts where one has to travel the lines of thought to figure out the accurate conclusion. In the Buddhist relational thinking one thinks from the center of a circle, floating in the center of a circle without traveling in analysis of linear connection. And in the center is where one can grab the data without the linear travel at a much easier, faster and more efficient level.
Also mentioned was the geographical locations of the earth where the invisible currents of energy supplies that induced samadhi from a purer aura atmosphere. Since there are few places on earth that are pure from the polluted auras of the lower vibrational energy levels - the pranic currents, of non-enlightened society. This is also explains why some cities, towns and places are of lower vibrational currents and harder to induce samadhi, living in or near sacred mountains, become beneficial from their auric influences. It is believed that at the ancient time of Atlantis the pranic currents where much purer since the population was smaller consisting of enlightened persons and thus one could much easier enter the state of Samadhi.
Samadhi is spoken of as ecstasy beyond comprehension in meditation where every cell of your body is filled with a fiery ecstasy of kundalini energy, inducing the kundalini energy of he body, traveling the chakras to the sixth chakra in Buddhist Yoga, the third eye, and then up into the seventh chakra, the crown chakra where the intensity is equaled to different amount of lotus pedals that can be stimulated in this crown chakra. The idea is to push the kundalini energy out the crown chakra. Also conveyed is the need to study with an enlightened master. While book learning is beneficial, the need exists for an elightened master to guide.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Buddhism!
Review: Someone handed me a copy of this book because they knew I was interested in Tibetan Buddhism. After the first few pages of Lenz telling us that his master connected with him because he had "special" karma, my charlatan radar was alerted.
A few more pages and we are told about Atlantis and how Lenz's master was the only one with this special knowledge to survive the Chinese invasion!
Don't waste your money, instead read anything by Sogyal Rinpoche, Trungpa, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche or His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Rating:
Summary: Cut Lenz some slack!
Review: I've read both of his books about the Himilayas and found them to be very enjoyable. I didn't buy these books as spiritual guides and you probably shouldn't either. I have re- read both books several times and will likely do so in the distant future.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, But Disappointing
Review: In 1990, I spent two months in Nepal and Tibet, and visted numerous monasteries. I have also been an amateur student of Buddism, on-and-off, for a number of years. This book looked interesting, but I was disappointed.
I have to agree with many of the comments of reviewer David Yeh, on the American Amazon site, whom I quote: " '...Master Fwap told me that most people who have been enlightened in their previous incarnations would normally begin to regain their past-life enlightenment-if they lived at sea level-at around the age of twenty-nine, when their astrological Saturn return took place. He said that living in or near sacred mountains, because of their beneficial auric influences, often made past-life returns happen even faster.' What?! Sea level? Saturn return? Auric influences? I'm not close-minded, but Lenz makes little attempt to make believers out of non-believers, he throws out jargon like this with impunity."
I did find some aspects of the book interesting, but I thought it got really bogged down, and it was hard for meto persevere to the end. Having done so, I felt disappointed. There wasn't any payoff for me.
Rating:
Summary: Investigate Before You Buy This
Review: Although this was a painlessly entertaining read, I happened to check out some interesting links to Frederick Lenz (use Google or any search engine) to see who the author was. Wow. What a sleazebag. He seems to be one of way too many power freaks who seduces people (mostly women) using spiritual double-talk in order to pump up his sadly sagging ego. Transcendence of the Self is traditionally one of the goals along the spiritual path--I don't see how handguns and fancy cars and intimidation of one's "followers" fit into this schema. Maybe I'm wrong.
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