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Title: Bones of the Master: A Journey to Secret Mongolia
ISBN: 0553379089
Author:
George Crane
Publicate Date: 2001-05-29
Publish: 2001-05-29
List Price: $17.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.09
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $1.99
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.56
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Two poets on a multi-level adventure . . .
Not just a good travel story, but truly a great joint adventure between two poets who meet by "chance" as neighbors outside of Woodstock, NY.
George Crane the Poet falls under the mentoring spell of Tsung Tsai, poet and Ch'an monk, who is intrepidly determined to return to his Master's burial spot in Northern China. The adventure starts heating up as the two poets circumvent the Chinese authorities to finally climb Wolf Mountain and find the cave where the bones of the Master are buried.
Crane's storytelling powers are Big League - this is an extraordinary, multi-level narration. Tsung Tsai is depicted as he really is: with his broken English ("Hurry-worry no good"); the sufferings he endured fleeing from Mao's Red Guard; and the supreme faith that sustains him and his pilgrimage back to his past.
This is a story about friendship and mentorship; these two characters are far above allowing a master/disciple relationship to occur. However, their interactions do have faint echos of the Don Juan/Castaneda apprenticeship. Crane tries hard to get "It", and that furthers the dynamic of this spiritual adventure.
There are 2 seekers here: the monk-poet on a spiritual quest to recapture his past; and the New York Jewish poet in quest of adventure and a muse.
This book is strong and good because it is a synthesis of many aspects of life: adventure, history, poetry, religion, and cross-cultural studies.
This writing works because of the relationship these two men develop, sustained by their love of poetry.
Highly recommended.
Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts
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2: A religious adventure of multilevel reading
It's difficult to say something original after 58 reviews! A book that get's so many is probably worth it.
Let's start from the title "Bones of the Master", relics? A Christian would call them that. The corporal spoils of a saint are relics. To our modern christian mind the adoration of relics has something of medieval flavour and the translation of body rests seems really out of our time. To a Buddist monk this practice has perfect sense and so it seems to us when we are immersed in his cultural world. However, while we read we find out that the goal is not the fact in itself but the Way, the actions, the intentions, the experiences and so it dawns on our mind how religions are very similar. This is the principal reflection I made putting down this book, after a passionate and absorbing read.
Since to remember I must cathegorize I firmly settled this book in the cathegory of "disciple and master" and I went back to my adolescent enthusiasm with Castaneda and Don Juan. I also brought back to mind the only book on buddist monks I read years ago: The third eye by Lobsang Rampa. A rapid internet search revealed that maybe Don Juan never existed and Lobsang Rampa was an english plumber. Reading the amazon reviews I found out that readers before me had experienced the same emotions. To believe or not to believe, does Tsung Tsai exist or not?
But really these considerations are outside the pure emotion and pleasure of reading the book. It's a wonderful and absorbing tale, it teaches us something about Zen, about Chinese history, about Inner Mongolia, it makes us want to know more. I personally took down all the books on Buddism from my father's and my brothers libraries and have them stacked on my night table.
The appeal these kind of books have for westeners probably depends on the fact that one has the impression of being able to understand a different civilization. But deep insight escapes because our differences in backround are enormous. George Crane underlines this point with great determination and much humor, showing us how reciprocal acceptance must be the rule in our multiethnical reality. Another point of interest is the emphasis on translation, and especially the translation of poetry which is the first interaction between master and disciple. To understand a different culture we have to be able to translate it into our own language. Translation as an exercise in comprehension.
Another notation on language. The titles of the chapters are a poem of their own and very Zenish indeed. The broken english spoken by Tsung Tsai is beatifully rendered. How to forget: "Hurry-worry no good"?
A truely enchanting book !
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3: Crane is everyman.
It is because of the humaness of the author that I found this book particularly fascinating. He is at once a seeker and a self confessed liar. Who of us isn't? I am so dreary of all of these books by those who have all of the answers. Crane, like the rest of us, doesn't even profess to know the questions. How refreshing. For all of us with the spirit of wanderlust and the desire to know things we can't even express, Crane is our very capable guide. May the god of his choice bless him.
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4: A book a read twice
This book is about a man's eternal quest to retrace his past and rekindle the fires which forged his identity. I enjoyed reading this book due to its aesthetic qualities. Crane writes in a very simple way, however the ideas that the book covers are no way near simple. It starts off with human suffering, in the middle it depicts the struggle against life and its worst case scenarios and finally it brings us to a point where Tsung Tsai comes to terms with all that which he has been put through.
The book covers a lot of events during pre-communist china; what people where put through and it really draws a lot of vivid images with respect to that.
Crane is exceptional at setting the context of events, his portrayal of the physical environment through his perspective (as he goes with the Monk) and also from the perspective of Tsai gives two different and yet valid views on the same subject.
This, although very subtle really draws a rich picture in which the story is set. Its a good book.
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5: a beautifully perfect book
I have not read a novel that captured me so much for many years.
It is beautifully, simply and perfectly written. all the right things are said and the unsaid is equally present.
a perfect balance between the story and the telling of it.
Congratulations George Crane and Tsung Tsai!
This story would make a captivating movie under the right director.
I too wonder why this is not a best seller!
I predict this book will become a classic and one day soon it WILL be a bestseller.
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