Book summary

In this collection of moving and detailed biographical studies, Jeffrey Paine takes a look at individuals whose lives were drastically changed by their introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. These stories reflect the broad change Buddhism has wrought on America's spiritual landscape. By assembling the stories of various players in the cross-over, such as Tenzin Palmo, Lama Yeshe, Chogyam Trungpa, Lama Jetsunma, and the Dalai Lama, a picture emerges of a glorious synthesis between an exiled culture (the Dali Lama and most Tibetan Buddhists were forced out of Tibet by the Chinese in 1954) and a spiritually malnourished generation of Western celebrities, artists, and truth-seekers.