From Quill & Quire: High-altitude adventure meets morality tale in Steven Heighton’s third novel. While mountain climbing along the Nepal–Tibet border, an altruistic doctor named Lewis Book, . . . Read More.]]> Every Lost Country
Stephen Heighton
Knopf Canada, 2010
ISBN: 978-0307397393 (hardcover)
352 pages / Paperback and e-book available

From Quill & Quire:
High-altitude adventure meets morality tale in Steven Heighton’s third novel. While mountain climbing along the Nepal–Tibet border, an altruistic doctor named Lewis Book, his daughter, and a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker are drawn into an international crisis when they attempt to help a group of Tibetans fleeing Chinese authorities (the events are based on a real incident that occurred in 2006). Soon, the well-intentioned Westerners are also on the run, being chased through the mountains by ATVs, helicopter gunships, and even rocket-firing fighter jets. Meanwhile, in Nepal, Wade Lawson, the expedition’s leader, continues alone on his quest to conquer a dangerous peak.

There is nothing subtle about the moral map Heighton draws here. Lawson embodies pure will, a superman who wants to rise above petty and “soft” humanity. Dr. Book, formerly of Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian who can’t resist the impulse to reach out to others in need. Recurring motifs, like the safety rope that connects climbers to one another, help to make the point. Lawson sees this rope as a drag, something weighing him down. Elsewhere, however, the rope is likened to an umbilical cord, representative of human connection and responsibility. Survival is linked to love, family ties, cooperation, and mutual aid. Isolation – from the group, the tribe, the family – leads to death.

This is all rather obvious – reminiscent of Ian McEwan at his most schematic – and made more so by Heighton’s willingness to toss in the occasional heavy authorial pronouncement. There are, however, a lot of action scenes that keep driving up the tension along the parallel narrative tracks. The writing moves skilfully through a range of registers, from tragic to (darkly) comic, intimate to political. And the magnificent setting is dramatically evoked on a lush canvas.

Every Lost Country is an ambitious novel, at turns both rough around the edges and overpolished (the ending, in particular, is too tidy). But it has an expansive moral vision wedded to a thrilling plot. Perhaps not a match made in heaven, but one that works well enough.

Globe & Mail Review: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/article1560484.ece

Toronto Star Review: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/809774–every-lost-country-drama-at-the-top-of-the-world

The original events which inspired this novel were witnessed by more than 100 people and captured on film. Details of that are available on YouTube, and were first covered on Sumeru in April of 2009. Here is our previous post on the subject: http://www.sumeru-books.com/2009/08/murder-in-the-snow/

Paperback, 200 pages, $29.95 Published by Routledge, January 2012 ISBN: 978-0415464864 Hardcover and e-book also available

About the author:

JOHN S. HARDING  is Associate Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Lethbridge . . . Read More.]]> Studying Buddhism in Practice
John S. Harding, editor

Paperback, 200 pages, $29.95
Published by Routledge, January 2012
ISBN: 978-0415464864
Hardcover and e-book also available

About the author:

JOHN S. HARDING  is Associate Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. His books include Introduction to the Study of Religion with Hillary P. Rodrigues (2008) and Wild Geese: Buddhism in Canada with Victor Sōgen Hori and Alexander Soucy (2010).

From the publisher:

This book introduces the rich realities of the Buddhist tradition and the academic approaches through which they are studied. Based on personal experiences of Buddhism on the ground, it provides a reflective context within which religious practices can be understood and appreciated. The engaging narratives cover a broad range of Buddhist countries and traditions, drawing on fieldwork to explore topics such as ordination, pilgrimage, funerals, gender roles, and film-making. All the entries provide valuable contextual discussion and are accompanied by photographs and suggestions for further reading.

The narratives include:

• Coronation at Kōyasan: how one woman became king and learned about homeland security and national health care in ancient Japan (Pamela D. Winfield)
• Buddhism through the lens: a study of the study of Buddhism through film (Lina Verchery)*
• Voice and gender in Vietnamese Buddhist practice (Alexander Soucy)*
• Feasting for the dead: Theravāda Buddhist funerals (Rita Langer)
• Buddha for our time: images of a Sri Lankan culture hero (John Clifford Holt)
• Shifting signposts in Shikoku pilgrimage (John S. Harding)*
• From texts to people: developing new skills (Mavis L. Fenn)*
• Merit, gender, and Theravāda Buddhist practices in times of crisis (Monica Lindberg Falk)
• Encounters with Jizo-san in an aging Japan (Jason A. Danely)
• Amitabha’s birthday and the liberation of life (Paul Crowe)*
• Preaching as performance: notes on a secretive Shin Buddhist sermon (Clark Chilson)
• The insides and outsides of a Tibetan Buddhist ritual on the outskirts of Sujata village (James B. Apple)*
• Practicing the study of Buddhism: cross-cultural journeys and renewed humanism in the history of religions (William R. Lafleur)

The Sumeru review:

Studying Buddhism in Practice was conceived as a complement to standard undergraduate textbooks on the study of Buddhism. Its approach is closest in style to ethnographic anthropology, insofar as it comprises observation of Buddhist ritual and personal reflection by the observers, who are self-proclaimed “outsiders.” In the introduction, the editor takes pains to explain that this hybrid approach is somewhat unorthodox, chosen to elucidate both the lived experience of practitioners and also that of the scholarly observer. In other words, the book is as much about how we study Buddhism as how Buddhists practice Buddhism, within their specific cultural contexts.

The largest issue this book raises for me is its reticence about the increasingly blurry boundaries between scholars, practitioners and scholar-practitioners. Indeed, the notion of scholar-practitioner does not even appear in the front-matter of the book. That is a serious problem.

As Buddhist practice has matured in the west, we have seen a concomitant growth in the number of Buddhist teachers who can speak and write deeply about the practice of Buddhism, its history and its philosophical perspective across many cultural expressions. Nobody looks at Robert Thurman and says, “Oh gee, he can’t be an objective scholar because he used to be a monk and is obviously a practicing Buddhist!” That is just one exaggerated example to make the point. Scholars who cling to the notion that they can somehow be objective, independent, impartial and above the fray are merely demonstrating their service to a different ideology – that of secular humanism. This book has an aura of spiritual tourism about it. The essays veer frequently into the territory of “Oh gee, I studied Buddhism and it changed me.”

I am not proposing that there is no place for objective, independent observation and the attempt to see events within larger systems of context. However, since Charles Prebish proposed the designation of scholar-practitioner, we have yet to see academia embrace it en masse as a valid perspective. I couldn’t hep feeling, while reading Studying Buddhism in Practice, as if I were a CIA operative trying to figure out why “those people over there” do what they do so I could categorize and respond to them better, while firmly entrenched within my own ideological bunker. It was not a good feeling.

As a practitioner of Buddhism, I seek to see the spiritual in everyday life. The narratives in this book seek to explain the spiritual in terms of everyday life. That’s kind of like looking through a telescope from the wrong end!

Be that as it may, for the right audience (young adults with no experience of Buddhist practice in their own culture), in the right context (an undergraduate university course where the material can be discussed), this is a good book. The sincerity and backgrounds of the authors are solid.

Each essay is arranged in three parts: a narrative, discussion and readings. The readings refer to writings by other Canadian scholars of Buddhism as well.

If your centre is one of the 440+ who have not yet submitted your completed survey, please visit our page with complete information about the initiative and downloadable survey packages: http://www.sumeru-books.com/2011/11/canadian-buddhism-survey/

AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST LIFE: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer

“… this book is a gem.

I strongly recommend American Buddhist Pioneer as a learning tool. Prebish, it seems, has seen it all and is more than willing to . . . Read More.]]> Reviewer Nicole Libin writes…

AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST LIFE: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer

“… this book is a gem.

I strongly recommend American Buddhist Pioneer as a learning tool. Prebish, it seems, has seen it all and is more than willing to share his lessons with the reader. He offers keen insights into the field of American Buddhist studies, the challenges of academic life, and the difficulties of pursuing one’s passion as a scholar, a practitioner, and a husband and father. Prebish shows that the road to academic success is neither straight nor without its own share of suffering, but he does so with wit, humor, and intelligence. This memoir is informative without being overly didactic, entertaining without losing its focus, and an example of both passionate and compassionate scholarship.”

Here’s the link to the full review: JBE-Libin

Jeff Wilson (Assistant Professor, Religious Studies and East Asian Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario) has a great article in the new September issue of the journal Religion Compass.

The article is called: What is Canadian about Canadian Buddhism?