Description

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CROSSINGS ON A BRIDGE OF LIGHT is a tale of boundless compassion as it inspires the journey through the joys and sorrows of life and death. Tibet's great warrior hero, Gesar of Ling discovers that his mother has lost her way and fallen into the torments of hell. Riding his magic horse, the primordial power of mind itself, he then travels though all the hallucinations of existence to liberate her. His journey reaches its apex in four visions of the enlightened rulers of the Kingdom of Shambhala. Thus he establishes a path of awakening for all beings. Gesar's inner journey, his encounters with a panoply of beings embodying the spontaneous presence of the awakened state, enable him to heal the doubts and divisions that have come to threaten his kingdom. This tale of how the vision of an enlightened society can be realized on this earth has inspired people for many centuries; it is equally powerful today.

About the Author

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Douglas Penick graduated from Princeton University, was a research associate at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, and a chef at Gordon Matta Clark's Food. He studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism for more than 35 years, and has written and taught on Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian religion, history and culture. He wrote the National Film Board of Canada's prize winning two part series on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Leonard Cohen, narrator) and the libretti for two operas: King Gesar (Sony CD w/ Ma, Serkin, Ax et. al.) and Ashoka's Dream (Santa Fe Opera) with composer, Peter Lieberson. His short fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in Bombay Gin, The Shambhala Sun, Parabola, Porte Des Singes, Cahiers de L'Herne, Publishers Weekly, Agni. BODY, Corvus, Danse Macabre Hyperallergic, Descant, Regnum Sacrum and elsewhere.He is the author of two other books deriving from the epic cycle on the life of King Gesar of Ling, and his novel about the 3rd Ming Emperor, JOURNEY OF THE NORTH STAR was brought out by Publerati in 2012. DREAMERS AND THEIR SHADOWS, a tale of a mythical teacher and those he influenced across time will be published this year.