The Ghosts and the Path: A Buddhist Monk's Memoir.

by Ngawang Khechog

Stuart, a naive and excitable 13 year old boy, and a few fellow scouts walk into a forest at night with a young and charismatic scout leader. Emerging from the forest Stuart is changed, damaged. The secret and his deteriorating family life propel him into a Punk Rock lifestyle where he discovers a fierce rebellion that he has little control over. Ejected from the family home and in trouble with the police, he and girlfriend Mandy flee their small town only to find themselves trapped in a gang culture that starts spiraling out of control. Squatting in Melbourne then Sydney he witnesses a series of horrendously violent events that leave him feeling broken and isolated. Haunted by memories of brutal stabbings, home invasions, attempted murders, torture and blood, he searches fruitlessly for happiness amongst lovers and drugs. 

One night, by chance, he catches a glimpse of the peace he has almost given up on and sets off in pursuit of it. On the path he meets a Tibetan Lama and again his trajectory is radically altered. This takes him to India and Tibet where he meets with Lama/mystics who give him a glimpse into their world and make him question his own. In Australia, as a new monk, he is put in the care of a gifted Buddhist nun who seeks to unravel his trauma and confusion before it unravels him. This is a harrowing ordeal as his carefully managed comfort zones are striped away and his ghosts are revealed. Slowly, through the efforts of the Lama and Nun, he starts to learn how to trust again and he enters a new stage of his life as one monk amongst 4500 in a Monastic University in rural South India.

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 4, 2013

About the author

Ngawang Khechog (1970) was born in New Zealand and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1982. After dropping out of school early he travelled to Melbourne then finally settled in Sydney, where he has spent much of his life. In 1996 he took ordination as a Buddhist monk and worked in a Buddhist charitable organisation teaching meditation, conducting retreats and acting as a carer to the organisations's resident teacher for 13 years. In 2009 Ngawang Khechog moved to India and enrolled at SeraMey Monastic University where he studied Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy. In 2010 he completed a memoir: The Ghosts and the Path. In 2013 he returned to Australia and is currently studying psychology at James Cook University.

Reviews

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was intense. I don't even know where to begin. I honestly don't know what to write. It blew me away, honestly. I read it really compulsively and had to force myself to put it down to do other things! Parts of the book made me utterly sick, quite literally put me off my food... and I have guts of steel. The book contains a LOT of graphic, very intense violence and it revealed a side of human beings most of us would rather not know about or acknowledge. There was a lot of cruelty in the book which really affected me. Some of the people he knew in his youth were completely psychopathic. He must have been a very strong person to go through so much trauma and come out the other side.

I feel like even saying this sounds trite. I only read about his experiences and I felt horrible. This guy actually went through them. I was shocked just reading, but that's nothing.

One of the bits that really disturbed me was a scene where he and a friend are watching corpses being bashed with hammers and dismembered for vultures by Buddhist monks. He pointed out that this was actually a quite practical way for the people in that environment to handle death, but wow... I guess I have had very little experience with dead bodies and death in general, I guess it seemed very violent even though the people being torn apart were no longer alive. It made me feel a bit sick, actually.

His path to Buddhism was also fascinating. I tell you what, anyone who thinks it's an easy life of meditating and living simply... Clearly not, holy hell. It sounds absolutely FULL ON. I am sitting here full of weird reactions to the book that I don't think I can put into words.

Other parts of the book made me laugh and laugh. A mouse doing push ups! Oh no!

Overall, the book really affected me and I am glad I read it. Very compelling, if confronting reading from a very honest and gifted writer. Hard to know how to put it into words, really, but definitely, definitely a five star effort.

I am no expert on Buddhism, far from it, but I have dabbled in Tonglen meditation and found it very enriching and unexpectedly calming... It made me think of these words... May he be peaceful, free of suffering and happy as he follows the path. Much respect.

[Kathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldnt put this book down once i started it although at times it was uncomfortable and confronting reading. He really captures the seediness of inner city life in melbourne and sydney in the 80s and 90s as a young punk. The author set up the suspense by alternating between his harrowing earlier life and his later life as a Buddhist monk although that wasnt always easy either, being constantly pushed by his teacher and never allowed to rest on his laurels. I kept reading because I wanted to know how he got to that place and if he found peace eventually.

[David Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished reading this book and could not recommend it more highly!
It is a fascinating, thought-provoking and at times brutal, true story that follows Stuart across Australia, and the world as life propels him from being a normal 13 year old boy with a normal life to a becoming a homeless squatter with a Punk Rock lifestyle exposed to frequent and traumatic violence. Continued exposure to disturbing events leaves his mind fragile and deeply scarred, if not broken, with seemingly no available cure.
His journey from this shell of a person to being ordained as a Buddhist Monk and provided the tools required to mend his shattered past and pave a bright future proves that, no matter how bad things get, there is always light at the end of the tunnel... if you have the grit to look for it.
This book forces to you look behind the eyes of the people you see and understand that we are all a product of our experiences. Our reactions to these experiences, mixed with present events, frame our future. Reading this book will leave you deeply introspective with a broader understanding of the human psyche. A must read!

[Sez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just wonder, is a person suppose to be the change & make his life the example for others? Then should we all sacrifice our lives to help others? It's the journey of the buddhist monk. They have the status of a wiseman thanks to the social condition but without really being wise at all. Do they really lead us into happiness when their own lives are being sacrificed apparently for the "good of others". What would buddha say if some new information came into the world that he didn't get while away in the forrest? Would he suddenly tell everyone what he has been teaching them has been at best a second class waste of time, they could have saved their soul instead of just over come a few problems at best... I don't see the most important teachings in buddism so see it as just getting in the way of the lost information that has now been restored to it's origin of pristine planet earth in the making. It has been corrupted too, even the most purest of it's teachings if it does not tell of the true path of man. The Ringing cedars of Russia & especially the first book "Anastasia" don't withhold the lost information but restore it to man so he can create with it, a God pleasing world for all eternity...