rude awakenings

The book finally arrives from Amazon...

"No one walks around the Buddhist holy land. Not today. They go by bus between the holy sites. And with good reason. But wildlife ecologist Nick Scott and Buddhist monk Ajahn Sucitto decide to do just that: to walk for six months and for over one thousand miles, sleeping out at night and living on alms food, just as Buddha would have done."

"Their journey takes us from the place of the Buddha's birth in Lumbini to the site of his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya. But to say where they went says little about the core of their experience of pilgrimage. For theirs is a journey into the heart of the human condition, a condition displayed in all its beauty and horror, compassion and violence, simplicity and complexity in the impoverished parts of India and Nepal through which they lead us. And it is a journey into themselves, a test, at times severe, of their commitment to what the Buddha taught."

Stephen Batcherlor in the Foreword

Rude Awakenings - Two Englishmen on Foot in Buddhism's Holy Land

Forest Sangha