Painted Oxen
Описание книги
Two men, three realms, one goal: to find the heart of the world. Painted Oxen is a novel of transcendence, one that not only invites its readers into its story, but somehow enmeshes them in its alchemy, leaving them changed in unexpected ways at its journeys end. Bridging the worlds of ancient Tibet and modern-day India, Painted Oxen weaves a tale of two men—one young, one old—on parallel journeys. Their separate-but-connected pilgrimages are equal parts internal and external.The old man, a Tibetan monk, is searching for a sacred hidden valley known to bring enlightenment to those who enter it. The young man is backpacking through India, searching for a guru or the love of his life; he doesn’t care which. A mysterious red-haired woman who resembles an ancient goddess appears in a series of dream chapters that tie the two journeys together.The underlying theme of the novel is the transformation of the human heart, which is required to arrive at any true change in our lives. With its authentic voices, unforgettable characters, and well-crafted story, Painted Oxen successfully bridges the worlds of literary and spiritual fiction, adding something new and authentic to the literary landscape.
Отрывок из книги
“Who is the teacher? Who is the student? Who is the traveler? Who is the guide? Surrender yourself to this well-traveled tale, with its spices and sounds, bustling streets and windswept high mountain passes. Amidst the shifting faces, dreams, times, and places, a multidimensional tapestry of lessons unfold. When you begin, you are a greenhorn; a fool on a search. By the end, a change occurs within heart-mind. Painted Oxen is literary alchemy, but the journey won’t end when you put the book down.”
––Frank LaRue Owen, author of The School of Soft-Attention
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I’ve asked a lot of people, read a lot of books, studied a few masters, sought the counsel of teachers, even been to a shrink, and I’ve yet to find anyone who can give me an acceptable answer to the question of why we’re here. And while I’m pretty sure it is more than just to build a decent retirement plan or to collect a fleet of digital gadgets, most days I feel no closer to a cohesive answer than when I started with these questions. Every answer can be followed by another question. For example, if the answer is we are here to evolve, then what is the purpose of evolution?
It could be there is no universally ubiquitous right answer, of course, maybe not even any ultimate reality. It could be there is only what you believe. But how do you even know what that is? I think that’s why I’ve come all the way here, to figure this out. In a way, I needed to take myself completely out of context, to meet myself somewhere out here on the other side of the globe. And then hopefully to come to terms with myself and my relationship to everyone else, everything else, in a way that helps me get out of bed, and then keep my footing once I’m on the floor.
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