Precious Jewels of Tibet: A Journey to the Roof of the World [Anglais] [Broché]

...a touching account of the inner journey and transformation of an "overweight, middle-aged tourist."

A story of personal redemption. Bay shares intimate details of her fears, sicknesses, and even her Western weakness for extravagant shopping and it's this frankness that lends authenticity and adds emphasis to her anguish over what the Tibetan people have endured.

In her compelling memoir of personal transformation, Jane Bay takes us on a pilgrimage to India where we meet Tibetans, both exiles and those now suffering under Chinese oppression, and experience with her the liberating lessons of impermanence, compassion, commitment, and love. In this inspiring story, Bay's own metamorphosis is inextricably linked with the heroic struggle of the Tibetan people, and the Buddhist faith that is the source of their strength--and her own.

On her trip through India, Bay is accompanied by a Tibetan Buddhist monk, Lobsang Samten, through a series of adventures and spiritual passages that will change her life forever. While in Dharamsala, the present home of the Dalai Lama, she becomes the foster mother of a teenage girl at the Tibetan Children's Village. Unable to have children of her own, Bay becomes deeply involved in the life of her foster daughter, Namgyal, whose own mother had died in Tibet. A strong bond is forged between mother and daughter through many months of correspondence and Jane is devastated when she learns the Chinese government has forced Namgyal and other children studying in India to return to the "motherland." To refuse would endanger Namgyal's remaining family in Lhasa; ironically, going back to her homeland will endanger her own identity--the Chinese regime ruthlessly suppresses the study of Tibetan language, culture and religion.

In the hope of finding her foster daughter, Bay embarks on a journey to Tibet, again traveling with her spiritual friend, Lobsang, who returns at great personal risk after thirty-eight years in exile. He hopes to find his older brothers who were unable to escape when the Chinese army swept across the high Tibetan plateau in 1959. Their search takes them from the temples of Lhasa to towns brutalized by Chinese occupation, to destroyed monasteries, and remote nomadic outposts.

The author interweaves her own story with the experiences of the Tibetans she came to know and with Buddhist teachings that have helped to illuminate her contemporary personal odyssey. Her candid observations as well as her informative descriptions of current conditions in Tibet make this book a poignant and emotionally gripping story.

On a pilgrimage to India, Jane Bay is accompanied by Tibetan Buddhist monk, Lobsang Samten, through a series of adventures and spiritual passages that will change her life forever. Jane embarks on a journey to Tibet traveling again with her spiritual friend, Lobsang, who returns to his homeland for the first time in thirty-eight years. Their dangerous mission takes them from the temples of Lhasa to towns brutalized by Chinese occupation, to destroyed monasteries, and remote nomadic outposts.

Jane Bay's memoir of transformation is inextricably linked with the heroic struggle of the Tibetan people, and the Buddhist faith that is the source of their strength--and her own. An inspiring story of the courage needed to heal suffering and loss.

For over twenty years, I have worked for George Lucas as his executive assistant during the making of the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" movies. I still serve him in that capacity, but have now written a book about my own personal saga.

"Precious Jewels of Tibet" is a memoir about a middle-aged American woman who goes off on a pilgrimage with a Tibetan Buddhist monk, gets caught up in an international political situation and discovers the meaning of life. It's about a physical journey to the roof of the world, and an inward journey of self-discovery.

My traveling companion was Lobsang Samten, the former personal attendant to the Dalai Lama. Lobsang was the religious advisor to Martin Scorsese on "Kundun" and had a small, but important part in the movie.

"Precious Jewels of Tibet" was written on weekends during the three years between my first and second journey to Tibet. I don't intend to quit my day job, but have become a Sunday writer. Currently, I'm developing two new books, a memoir about growing up Southern, and an anthology of short stories about the magic of New Mexico - the Land of Enchantment, and my experiences on the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo reservations.

Marin County, California has been my home since 1977. I am active in the campaign to free Tibet and have produced three benefit concerts with guitarist Ottmar Liebert. All of the proceeds from the sale of a Limited Edition of "Precious Jewels of Tibet" were donated to various organizations working on behalf of the Tibetan cause.

Journey to the Roof of the World

Saturday, June 21, 1997 Boarding China Southwest Airlines in Kathmandu for the flight to Lhasa, I was overwhelmed by a multitude of emotions, primarily anxious anticipation. Sitting next to me in the window seat to give him a view of Mt. Everest as we flew over the Himalayas was my beloved spiritual friend, Lobsang Samten, former personal attendant to the Dalai Lama. Lobsang was returning to his homeland for the first time in thirty-eight years, having fled at the age of seven with most of his family when the Chinese Communists occupied Tibet in 1959, the year I graduated from high school. It would be an emotional homecoming for Lobsang. He hoped to locate two of his older brothers who had not been able to escape with his parents and younger sister. They and a third brother had been captured when the Chinese army swept across the high Tibetan plateau and into their village. They were imprisoned for their part in trying to save the sacred objects in the local Buddhist temple. The younger of the three brothers died after five years in prison. The older brothers, who were in their early twenties at the time of their arrest, had spent eight and ten years in prison. Lobsang had not seen, or spoken or written to his brothers since that fateful day all those years ago. I was returning to Tibet for the second time. I hoped to find my Tibetan foster daughter whom I had met in India while on pilgrimage with Lobsang three years before this journey. She had been in school at the Tibetan Children's Village in Dharamsala at that time. Nine months after we met she was forced by an edict from the Chinese Communist government in Lhasa to "return to the motherland." She had been yanked out of her school and taken by bus across the forbidden border into Tibet. I had not heard from her since she left India. In a small container inside my purse were the ashes of our mutual friend, Barry Bryant, who had recently died of cancer. Barry had been a champion for Tibet as the founder and artistic director of the Samaya Foundation which is dedicated to making the wisdom and compassion of Tibetan culture accessible in the West. As the plane lifted off the runway, I was struck by the awareness of how connected and intertwined our lives were: Lobsang's, Barry's and mine. I met Barry in Santa Fe in 1991 when the Dalai Lama was beginning a global tour to commemorate the International Year of Tibet. I'd met Lobsang in California in 1989 during his second visit to the United States. My friendship with these two men developed separately, but on a parallel course. Years later I learned it had been Barry, through the Samaya Foundation, who helped Lobsang obtain a green card. This enabled Lobsang to remain in America, at the request of the Dalai Lama, to teach the sacred art of Tibetan sand mandalas. Here we were, the three of us, on a journey together to the Roof of the World. One could say, however, this story began a long time ago, in a place far, far away...