Description
Norma Levine has an extraordinary story to tell, a story that spans continents, cultures and even centuries. She had the great destiny to meet, fall in love with, and be loved by the ninth incarnation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the reincarnate “lama king” of Bhutan, whose position in Bhutan was somewhat equivalent to that of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet … the Shabdrungs were pushed out in 1907 by an ambitious and cruel warlord who was backed by the British Raj. The lineage descending from that warlord has ruled Bhutan since that time… Norma’s saga is not just a personal memoir of the fi ve years that she spent with Shabdrung. It looks at the human side of the reincarnate lamas of Tibetan Buddhism, at their emotional vulnerability when uprooted from homeland and cultural environment, and displaced from their traditional roles as temporal and spiritual leaders. It is a good read for any armchair traveler, and an insightful one for anyone who has ever met a reincarnate lama. I give it two thumbs up. – Glenn Mullin The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation. In this intimate memoir, Norma Levine describes her love relationship with a Tibetan tulku, the incarnation of the Shabdrung – spiritual ruler – of Bhutan. Vividly evoking the alternativeculture scene in the Western Himalayas when transmission of the Tibetan dharma to the West was still in its fresh, vital phase, she takes us into the heart of Tibetan Buddhist culture and offers a slice of its politics with Bhutan. … Chronicles of Love and Death, takes us into a meditative reality, and, furthermore, it is a compelling read from beginning to end. – Keith Dowman The Divine Madman; Masters of Mahamudra; Sky Dancer. Chronicles of Love and Death is a wonderful synthesis of spiritual journey and profound human drama; a gripping portrait of an unique historical fi gure – part guru, part madman; a fascinating insight into the tantric practices of Tibetan Buddhism; an account of a love affair written with the page-turning pace of a thriller. ?I found myself being rapidly drawn into a story in which spiritual aspiration and sexual love, ‘crazy wisdom’ teachings and black magic, the sacred and the profane are woven together into an utterly compelling tale. This is a story unlike any you will have read before, a story which defi es belief, all the more extraordinary because ?it is true. – Mick Brown The Spiritual Tourist; The Dance of 17 Lives The Incredible True Story of Tibet?s 17th Karmapa
