Questions of Heaven: The Chinese Journeys of an American Buddhist

by Gretel Ehrlich

A Haunting pilgrimage to one of China's holy mountains
"Ehrlich . . . writes with tremendous grace and passion."
—Miles Harvey,  Outside

"In spare, lyrical prose, Ehrlich inventively recounts her 1995 spiritual trip to China and Tibet. . . . Like one of the landscape paintings of which she writes, Ehrlich's book is at once delicate, deeply considered and moving." 
— Publishers Weekly , starred review

"Ehrlich's highly personal travelogue centers on her attempt to find what remains of [the] once-flourishing spiritual culture in the sacred mountains of western China. . . . [Ehrlich] intersperses her personal narrative with bits of the intellectual, political, historical and spiritual." 
—Alexandra Hall,  The New York Times Book Review

"If  Questions of Heaven  has a message, it may reside in the author's belief in a bond across geography and generations, one transcending space and time." 
—David L. Ulin,  The Village Voice

"This is travel writing at its best." —Glenn Masuchika,  Library Journal

Genres: Travel, Essays, Nonfiction, China, Spirituality, Memoir, Buddhism

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Gretel Ehrlich is an American travel writer, novelist, essayist, and poet born on a horse ranch near Santa Barbara, California and educated at both Bennington College in Vermont and UCLA film school. After working in film for 10 years and following the death of a loved one, she began writing full-time in 1978 while living on a Wyoming ranch where she had been filming. Her first book, The Solace of Open Spaces, is a collection of essays describing her love of the region.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it too brief, too involved with describing the hardships of China in the 20th century. The writing style was too self-involved, the subject matter concentrating too much on surface ephemera, and not enough on buddhism. Many better books out there in the same sub-genre of "buddhist westerner going on pilgrimage"

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Why climb a mountain? Outside, purple and white rhododendrons erupted in flower. A monkey leaped from a tree and ripped the pocket of my coat looking for peanuts. A cuckoo cuckooed. The old man in blue pantaloons who had swept my human tracks with his broom had not swept the monkey's. Perhaps, as the poet Nanao Sakaki wrote, there was no climbing going on, only something move up and down in the air."

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book was originally recommended when I took a masters-level "Literature of Travel" course, this unique piece of literature has been calling out to me for quite some time. I'm glad I finally took time out to read it.

On one level, this is a book about the spiritual journey of an American Buddhist as she climbs the metaphorically important mountains of China. On another level, this book painted an important sociological and historical portrait of China in the aftermath of Mao's tyrannical Cultural Revolution/Great Leap Forward. The stories relayed by Xuan Ke, about how the intellectuals were tricked into critiquing the government and subsequently tortured and/or killed is truly the stuff of nightmares. Yet, Xuan Ke understood the importance of honestly understanding the past and he uses his rotten teeth as a symbol for such remembrance. "My wife keeps asking me to get my teeth fixed. They are all bad since being in prison. But they are like the Great Wall; the history of my life and therefore the history of the Chinese people shows in them, so they will stay like this" The book ends with Xuan Ke wiggling his darkened teeth and saying "Remember these." (Ehrlich, 121)

Despite the criticisms in some of the other reviews, I feel that Ms. Ehrlich is an American sincerely trying to understand a totally foreign culture while demonstrating a true empathy for the suffering, both in the past and in the present, experienced by the Chinese people. Her prose is both poetic and informative at the same time and I am looking forward to reading her other work.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traveling through Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the author is appalled by conditions in China: poverty, filth, pollution, more poverty, until she gets to Lijiang. Said to be the model for Shangri-la, Lijiang is a traditional town with old-time values, and she meets musician friends. Later, she reunites with them in London where they give a concert.

[Sarah Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

i felt super at peace reading this book and i really liked the political commentary on the cultural revolution in china and how it affected many of the smaller ethnic groups!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot about music, a ton of about hope, that Mao lived by eating ashes, that nirvana can be found from the vertigo you get when you look out over a cliff and beyond below...it's a fantastic book that sticks with you.

[Cindywho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Small collection of essays about a mountain climbing pilgrimage to China in the mid-90s. Ehrlich finds it a depressing place - until she gets to Lijiang and meets musicians who are trying to preserve some of the heritage that has been shattered by the Cultural Revolution.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely passages about mountains and music.