
Song of the Road
The Poetic Travel Journal of Tsarchen Losal Gyatso
Cyrus Stearns(Author)
Wisdom Publications,U.S. (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 19. March 2013
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-1-61429-055-1 (ISBN)
Description
In "Song of the Road," Tsarchen Losal Gyatso (1502-66), a tantric master of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, weaves ecstatic poetry, song, and accounts of visionary experiences into a record of pilgrimage to central Tibet. Translated for the first time here, Tsarchen's work, a favorite of the Fifth Dalai Lama, brims with striking descriptions of encounters with the divine as well as lyrical portraits of Tibetan landscape. The literary flights of "Song of the Road "are anchored by Tsarchen's candid observations on the social and political climate of his day, including a rare example in Tibetan literature of open critique of religious power.
Like the Japanese master Basho's famous "Narrow Road to the Interior," written 150 years later, Tsarchen's travelogue contains a mixture of luminous prose and verse, rich with allusions. Traveling on horseback with a band of companions, Tsarchen visited some of the most renowned holy sites of the Tsang region, incluing Jonang, Tropu, Ngor, Shalu, and Gyantse. In his introduction and copious notes, Cyrus Stearns unearths the layers of meaning concealed in the text, excavating the history, legends, and lore associated with people and places encountered on the pilgrimage, revealing the spiritual as well as geographical topography of Tsarchen's journey.
Like the Japanese master Basho's famous "Narrow Road to the Interior," written 150 years later, Tsarchen's travelogue contains a mixture of luminous prose and verse, rich with allusions. Traveling on horseback with a band of companions, Tsarchen visited some of the most renowned holy sites of the Tsang region, incluing Jonang, Tropu, Ngor, Shalu, and Gyantse. In his introduction and copious notes, Cyrus Stearns unearths the layers of meaning concealed in the text, excavating the history, legends, and lore associated with people and places encountered on the pilgrimage, revealing the spiritual as well as geographical topography of Tsarchen's journey.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Somerville
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
Colour Photographs and Hand-Drawn Maps
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 187 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
435 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61429-055-1 (9781614290551)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Song of the Road
The Poetic Travel Journal of Tsarchen Losal Gyatso
E-Book
12/2012
Wisdom Publications
€16.80
Available for download
Person
Cyrus Stearns has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism since 1973. His main teachers have been Dezhung Tulku Rinpoché, Chogyé Trichen Rinpoché, and Dilgo Khyentsé Rinpoché. He received a PhD in Buddhist studies from the University of Washington and has published several books about the Lamdré tradition and other topics. He is an independent scholar and translator living in the woods on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, Washington.