Facing Mount Kanchenjunga: An English Buddhist in the Eastern Himalayas

by Sangharakshita

This is the second set of memoirs by Sangharakshita. In 1950 Kalimpong was a lively trading town in the intrigue-ridden corner of India that borders Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet. Finding a welcome in this town, nestled high in the mountains, were a bewildering array of guests and settlers: ex-colonial military men, missionaries, incarnate Tibetan lamas, exiled royalty and Sangharakshita, a young English monk attempting to establish a Buddhist movement for local youngsters. In this delightful volume of memoirs, Sangharakshita shares the incidents and insights of his early years in Kalimpong. These include brushes with the Buddhist 'establishment', a meeting with the 'Untouchables' saviour Dr B.R. Ambedkar and his friendship with Lama Anagarika Govinda. Behind these events we witness the development of this remarkable young man into an increasingly effective interpreter of Buddhism for a new age.

Genres: Buddhism, Biography

512 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 1991

About the author

Sangharakshita was born Dennis Lingwood in South London, in 1925. Largely self-educated, he developed an interest in the cultures and philosophies of the East early on, and realized that he was a Buddhist at the age of sixteen.

The Second World War took him, as a conscript, to India, where he stayed on to become the Buddhist monk Sangharakshita. After studying for some years under leading teachers from the major Buddhist traditions, he went on to teach and write extensively. He also played a key part in the revival of Buddhism in India, particularly through his work among followers of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

After twenty years in the East, he returned to England to establish the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order in 1967, and the Western Buddhist Order in 1968 (now known as the Triratna Buddhist Community and the Triratna Buddhist Order respectively).

Sangharakshita has always particularly emphasized the decisive significance of commitment in the spiritual life, the paramount value of spiritual friendship and community, the link between religion and art, and the need for a ‘new society’ supportive of spiritual aspirations and ideas.

In recent years Sangharakshita has been handing on most of his responsibilities to his senior disciples in the Order. Based at the Adhisthana retreat centre in Herefordshire UK, he is now focusing on personal contact with people. For more, go to www.sangharakshita.org.

A collection of 27 volumes will represent the definitive edition of his life’s work as a Buddhist writer and teacher. Find out more about The Complete Works of Sangharakshita

A series of talks by Sangharakshita: ‘Launch of The Essential Sangharakshita and Living Ethically’.

Reviews

[Gemma Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third volume of Bhante's memoirs perhaps lacks some of the variety of previous volumes, as he is mainly settled in Kalimpong workiing for the good of Buddhism, and so wandering about a lot less. There's less incidence, but it does allow for greater depth. It's easy to get absorbed in the little Himalayan town and its intrigues, and Bhante is perceptive and occasionally very funny as he describes the sometimes eccentric characters surrounding him.