This book explores in depth the wisdom and fierce beauty of an ancient Sioux story, which teaches the value of setting out on a quest in the natural world in order to discover who and what one truly is. What unfolds, in a dramatic and inspiring way, is a vision of the elements intrinsic to the pathless path toward freeing oneself from constraining beliefs and conditioning in order to awaken to the wonder and mystery of pure presence before the soul of the world.

"The Sacred Mountain" is a symbol revered by people in every religious and ethnic tradition of Asia. The 29 articles contained here celebrate these sacred peaks through prose, poetry, travelogue, historical and spiritual texts, art, and photos, and will be of interest to all students of Asian culture.

The mountains of northern Thailand inspire fear and awe, respect and love, curiosity and creative imagination. Drawing on the legendary histories of three mountains in the regionDoi Ang Salung Chiang Dao, Doi Suthep, and Doi Khamthis book explores the various ways that mountains in northern Thailand are seen as sacred space, and therefore as an environment to be respected rather than exploited.

In the spring of A.D. 587, John Moschos and his pupil Sophronius the Sophist embarked on a remarkable expedition across the entire Byzantine world, traveling from the shores of Bosphorus to the sand dunes of Egypt. Using Moschos’s writings as his guide and inspiration, the acclaimed travel writer William Dalrymple retraces the footsteps of these two monks, providing along the way a moving elegy to the slowly dying civilization of Eastern Christianity and to the people who are struggling to keep its flame alive. The result is Dalrymple’s unsurpassed masterpiece: a beautifully written travelogue, at once rich and scholarly, moving and courageous, overflowing with vivid characters and hugely topical insights into the history, spirituality and the fractured politics of the Middle East.