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Title: Ultimate Journey : Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search ofEnlightenment by Richard Bernstein ISBN: 0-679-78157-9 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.47 (17 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Middle-Life crisis meets Buddhism
Comment: In 629 AD, a Buddhist monk named Hsuan Tsang, unnerved by his homeland's centuries of political and religious struggles, left China to search for and reinterpret the original texts of Buddhism. Sixteen long years later, journeying through Samarkand, Pakistan and finally to India, he returned in triumph with the True Teachings of the Buddha, and wrote an epic which is considered one of China's greatest literary masterpieces.
Bernstein, a book critic for the New York Times and former Beijing bureau chief for Time magazine, recreates Hsuan Tsang's long and sinuous route. Middle-aged, unmarried, feeling a spiritual loneliness most of us who follow a "non-practicing" faith in the West could relate to, he sets out with the conviction that his journey can bring back the youthful vitality and hope he had felt while in India nearly 30 years ago.
Ultimate Journey holds a great balance of travelogue, Chinese history and Buddhist teachings, all with great precision, pace and excitement. Though Bernstein does not know much about Buddhism, he does know Chinese, and vividly recreates Hsuan Tsang's world and the troubles plaguing him. He faced many of the same perils as Hsuan Tsang, and juxtaposes these experiences throughout the book. Hostile Mongol regimes are replaced with hostile Islamic regimes, mountain ranges are just as inaccessible, language and cultural barriers remain, and border crossings are just as real and difficult as those of 1400 years ago.
The book is a great interpretation of East Asia as seen through a Westerner's eyes. He is at times elitist, ignorant of local customs, and often whines about middle age and lost youth, which I got tired of reading after a while. But then, who at times hasn't mourned their lost youth or felt some ping of spiritual void while sitting in a cubicle with a cold cup of coffee and a looming deadline for a client's project? He is honest, spilling his fears and dreams, and pining for his girlfriend, the Chinese dancer Zhongmei Li .
While Hsuan Tsang's journey ended with his triumphant return on an elephant and cartloads of Buddhist texts, Bernstein ends with a few mediocre tourist sites in China and Zhongmei back in his arms. Not a world-shattering event, but I think he finally found what he was looking for.
Rating: 5
Summary: great journey
Comment: Richard Bernstein's ULTIMATE JOURNEY is a splendid account of his recreation of the extraordinary pilgrimage of a legendary seventh century Buddhist monk named Hsuan Tsang, arguably the greatest traveler in history. Retracing the monk's steps through western China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and finally to India, Bernstein traverses seemingly impassable deserts, crosses formidable mountain passes, and meets a whole cast of colorful characters along his route. With the eye of a practiced journalist, Bernstein shares with the reader the experience of visiting out-of-the-way ancient ruins, traveling on primitive trains and sleeping in flyblown cheap hotels, producing in so doing a hugely entertaining read. What makes ULTIMATE JOURNEY truly outstanding is the manner in which Bernstein contrasts his own experience with that of his seventh century hero. Because Bernstein speaks Chinese and possesses an impressive familiarity with Chinese culture and history, he is able to bring the legendary Hsuan Tsang vividly to life, transforming even the more abstruse corners of the monk's Buddhist beliefs into page-turning reading Carefully researched and elegantly written, ULTIMATE JOURNEY is a work that can be favorably compared with such classics of travel literature as Paul Theroux's THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR and Peter Matthiessen's THE SNOW LEOPARD. It deserves a place on the shelf alongside such splendidly-written evocations of the Chinese past as Jonathan Spence's THE DEATH OF WOMAN WANG and THE DREAM PALACE OF MATTEO RICCI. For anyone who loves loves Chinese history, cares deeply about the triumphs of the human spirit and loves a good old-fashioned page-turning read, ULTIMATE JOURNEY is a trip not to be missed.
Rating: 3
Summary: Pretty good writing, puzzling motives
Comment: Other reviewers have made good points about Bernstein's ethnocentrism, so will not repeat those. I came away from the book wondering why Bernstein took the trip at all. He doesn't seem to enjoy seeing the vairied landscapes, meeting local people, meeting other travellers, visiting Buddhist sacred spaces, or the mere novelty of being uncomfortable in ways that he could not be in New York. He undertakes his trip not as a spiritual pilgrim, he does little investigation into the life and times of his subject, nor does he enjoy travel for its own sake. As he got grouchier, I wanted to assure him that it is ok just to go home without "finishing" the journey, since he had lost his enthusiasm for it.
Berstein's competent writing saves the book and made it worthwhile for me to finish reading. He is a good enough writer that the account helped me to visualize the immensity of the lands along his route and the diversity of the peoples of the region. I did learn a bit of geography from this rather crotchety teacher, and I thank him for that.
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Title: The Search for the Buddha: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion by Charles Allen ISBN: 0786711973 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Life along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield ISBN: 0520232143 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 06 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road by Sally Hovey Wriggins ISBN: 0813334071 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Great Indian Novel, The by Shashi Tharoor ISBN: 1559701943 Publisher: Arcade Books Pub. Date: April, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman ISBN: 0394755111 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 October, 1987 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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