Author: Scott Carney
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 069818629X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
An investigative reporter explores an infamous case where an obsessive and unorthodox search for enlightenment went terribly wrong. When thirty-eight-year-old Ian Thorson died from dehydration and dysentery on a remote Arizona mountaintop in 2012, The New York Times reported the story under the headline: "Mysterious Buddhist Retreat in the Desert Ends in a Grisly Death." Scott Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, was struck by how Thorson’s death echoed other incidents that reflected the little-talked-about connection between intensive meditation and mental instability. Using these tragedies as a springboard, Carney explores how those who go to extremes to achieve divine revelations—and undertake it in illusory ways—can tangle with madness. He also delves into the unorthodox interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism that attracted Thorson and the bizarre teachings of its chief evangelists: Thorson’s wife, Lama Christie McNally, and her previous husband, Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University, where Thorson died. Carney unravels how the cultlike practices of McNally and Roach and the questionable circumstances surrounding Thorson’s death illuminate a uniquely American tendency to mix and match eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces in a quest to reach an enlightened, perfected state, no matter the cost. Aided by Thorson’s private papers, along with cutting-edge neurological research that reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain and stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals, and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes, A Death on Diamond Mountain is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.
Author: Scott Carney
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781734194340
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
In 2012, 38-year-old Ian Thorson's search for spiritual transcendence ended in tragedy on a remote Arizona mountaintop. His wife, a woman anointed as a goddess by an eccentric Buddhist community, held him in her arms as he slowly died from dehydration and dysentery. For Scott Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, Thorson's death was just the most recent iteration of an unspoken epidemic that connected intensive meditation and mental instability.?The Enlightenment Trap explores how Tibetan Buddhism in the West morphed from its roots in the Himalayan foothills into a fundamentally new American religion. For Thorson, the entry point into this new faith was Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University.?Carney unravels the cult-like practices of Diamond Mountain to illuminate the uniquely American tendency to mix and match Eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces. The result is that for some, enlightenment is a synonym for almost god-like powers, and achieving it can become more important than life itself.?Aided by Thorson's private papers and cutting-edge neurological research, the book reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain. Carney exposes stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes. The Enlightenment Trap is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.
Author: Robert A. F. Thurman
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 384
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Book Description
Chronicling the inner as well as the outer journey, an influential author offers his personal view of his spiritual adventure amid the breathtaking vistas of the Himalayas.
Author: Deborah Donnelly
Publisher: Dell
ISBN: 0440241308
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 370
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Book Description
You are cordially invited. . . . Don’t miss amateur detective Carnegie Kincaid, expert in all things matrimony and murder, in the Hallmark original movie Wedding Planner Mystery on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries! TO SURVIVE THE WEDDING OF THE SEASON . . . Wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid can feel the heat when she reunites with an old flame in the wealthy resort community of Sun Valley—but handsome smoke jumper Jack Packard is about to marry Carnegie’s former best friend, now a famous TV actress. With a star-studded ceremony to pull off, a noncommittal boyfriend back in Seattle, and a supercilious Frenchman barking orders, Carnegie has no time for carnal urges. Especially once murder joins the party. YOU’VE GOT TO TAKE THE PLUNGE. The victim was a local hero who leapt from planes to fight fire. But was his impromptu skydive a smoke screen for something sinister? With her florist going AWOL, her bride going ballistically Hollywood, and her curiosity running wild, Carnegie may be in over her head: Someone in Sun Valley is a killer—and it’s up to Carnegie to grill the guests and unmask the villain . . . or watch her glitzy job go up in flames.
Author: Kevin Rushby
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1250098777
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
The Koh-i-Noor diamond known as the Mountain of Light, the world's largest diamond, was found in India, traveled from Golconda to the Mughal palaces in the north. Fought over, cursed at and occasionally lost, it finally reached the Sikhs in the Punjab, only to be seized by British agents eager to please young Queen Victoria. It now lies in the Tower of London where some say its curse controls the fate of the Windsor family. In Chasing the Mountain of Light, Kevin Rushby pursues the dramatic career of the Koh-i-Noor on a journey to the heart of Indian culture meeting dealers, smugglers, and petty crooks along the way. It's another adventure from Rushby whom the Washington Post recently compared to William S. Burroughs and Arthur Rimbaud.
Author: Erik Reece
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781594482366
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
A new form of strip mining has caused a state of emergency for the Appalachian wilderness and the communities that depend on it-a crisis compounded by issues of government neglect, corporate hubris, and class conflict. In this powerful call to arms, Erik Reece chronicles the year he spent witnessing the systematic decimation of a single mountain and offers a landmark defense of a national treasure threatened with extinction.
Author: Lori Lansens
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 147678650X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
Abandoning his life to honor his best friend's death, Wolf is stranded with three strangers in the mountain wilderness above Palm Springs and confronts a terrible choice in order to survive. By the author of Rush Home Road.
Author: Michael Roach
Publisher: Image Books
ISBN: 0385497911
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 234
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Book Description
The well-known teacher of Tibetan Buddhism shares his proven trategies for achieving success in business and personal life, drawing on the ancient texts of the Diamond Sutra and other commentaries to shed new light into the timeless traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Reprint.
Author: Stephanie Smith Diamond
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781519366092
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
When Maggie has second thoughts about getting married, she thinks an exotic vacation will bring her and Thomas closer together. Thomas agrees but he isn't thrilled with her choice of a destination - Mount Kilimanjaro. Their rocky relationship becomes even more strained, however, and Maggie finds herself in an unexpected situation. Maggie hates asking for help but she finds it in the form of an unlikely stranger. Against the magnificent backdrop of the African savannah, Maggie starts to question everything she's ever thought about love, life, and where to call home.
Author: Sharon D Tweet
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 458
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Book Description
Two years after the death of her husband, Madalyne turned to the tranquility of the mountains as she sought the Lord's direction for her next steps moving forward. She never expected to stumble upon the past.Matthew left his worldly ways behind him when he relocated to the mountains. Although one woman would forever captivate his heart, he was content with his solitary bachelor's life, serving the Lord and his community. Never did he expect to see her again. It's been more than thirty years. Neither envisioned the sunset shores of the Pacific past washing upon the trails of big sky country. Until one autumn day...
