China Books

Yeshe Tsogyal, or White Tara, was a rare example of a female buddha. She has walked the earth many times but her 200+ years here with Padmasambhava left a legacy for all mankind that we are still learning from. She left behind many treasures and teachings for us to use as we grow. Some treasures are still to be found.

To understand Yeshe Tsogyal is to understand the true meaning of compassion and detached giving. These are lessons for all time.

it seems the tradition of retelling life-stories in tibet was largely for teaching purposes. this book does that part well. a valuable support for the depressed yogini.

The Lake Ching Murders is a wonderful twisty mystery. My complaint, however, is that the book notes....you know, the stuff on the inside flaps...told me more than I wanted to know before I read the book. However, since I don't think that that was the author's fault, the book still gets a five.

As I said, a wonderful twisty.
I enjoyed the protagonist. I have not read this author before, but his character is a discerning man. I liked that he knew himself quite well. The mystery itself...well, there is gory stuff, understated. If you cannot abide blood, skip this book, but, the brutality of the murders is a part of the story. I fear to say too much. Not, that I am afraid of retribution, but, that I am afraid of saying too much to the next reader.

So, again, this book is a wonderful twisty whodunnit....set in China....a great read.

I found this mystery very satisfying. It brought me into a totally different world of unusal and interesting characters and presented me with a puzzle I couldn't easily solve. Lots of plot twists kept me interested and the view of a totally different culture kept me engaged. I can't wait to read other books by Rotenberg and I guess that's the bottom line. I want more.

This a great book combining fascinating insights into politics, history and the day to day lives of people living in the borderlands as well as being a riveting account of travelling in the area combining adventure and danger at every turn.

If you have ever comtemplated travelling in contested areas, this is a book for you. Highly recommended.

When Bertil Lintner and his wife, Hseng Noung, set out to visit the Kachins in Upper Burma, little did they know that the journey would take 18 months and involve walking from India to China. But they did it and this book is the result. It's a fascinating description of a part of the world cut off from the outside for over 30 years. The Lintner's spent most of their time with various rebel groups, and this account delves deeply into both the politics and culture of this little-known land.

It only takes a brief reading of Mr. Freke's interpretation of the Tao to see that this is undoubtedly the deepest insight you'll ever find into the true/intended meaning of the original text. A book to live by, translated by someone who really got it and was able to make his vision coherent for the rest of us.

the best translation i've read. Freke does well at conveying the uncapturable. "It feels wonderful." -Ram Dass

Another "greyt" Leo book! I couldn't put it down. It's a great read for any age. The book stresses the importance of leashes and fensed in yards for the retired greyhound. Very entertaining...I loved Duster! I am glad he and Leo ended up friends!! I'll be waiting for the next episode in the life of Leo!!!

I love Luv You Too Much! Leo In China: A Greyhound's 2nd Tale is another fun, action packed tale of Leo the Greyhound. This story is a whirlwind of thought-talking, stacking and heroic fun. Humorous and smart, a 5 knuckle-in-the-ear-rub read. Thank you Cindy for sharing another Leo adventure!

Liberty Blue Dinnerware is compact, concise and provides everything a collector or dealer needs. Debbie and Randy Coe have done an excellent job of providing the history of Liberty Blue Dinnerware with pictures of original ads adding value to the readers experience.

The pictures are excellent and the organization of the book makes it easy for identification purposes including descriptions, measurements and current values. Although the book is a "soft cover" the glossy pages are first rate and enhance the quality of the pictures.

Buy it, use it, enjoy it. Value pricing makes it that much better!

This book is a MUST for all collectors of patriotic Liberty Blue dinnerware, a grocery store premium that celebrated the Bicentennial years of the mid-1970's. The Coes combine excellent photos, realistic values and lots of historical information in this brief book.

Despite the seriousness of the subject, the author manages, through virtuosic and deeply felt writing, to treat her characters with wit, humor, and affection. Her characters never give in to the desperation of the situation. And while this is a book that gives readers a lot to think about, the journey is as pleasurable and moving as it is thought-provoking. A wonderful read by a terrific writer.

This book is an interesting study of a two worlds, which intersect in an unforced way in this well-crafted book. It is a story of a model who tries to get out of a bad, abusive relationship, and the story of two young boys who are raised in poverty and neglect. Their worlds come together and create a believable, and very poignent look at their lives. Well worth reading.

At long last, a non-sectarian study on Rinzai roku. How refreshing! Congratulations to the author.

Judging from this fine monograph, the historically critical study of Chan and Zen Buddhism would seem to be attaining a mellow maturity. That is, while Welter avoids accepting Linji/Rinzai orthodox pronouncements at face value with the best of them, he also exhibits none of the deconstructive sarcasm and barely-disguised malice and overreaction that often somewhat poisons otherwise useful works in this field. It's perhaps inevitable to quip that Welter has hit upon the Middle Way between the two extremes, but that's what we have here.

In and of itself this is a fine textual study, carefully and meticulously analyzing the "Linji Lu"/"Rinzairoku" and its many textual layers and differing versions. Sounds dry, but it isn't. Welter writes in a finely polished scholarly voice that is clear and engaging rather than pedantic, and he sifts through the relevant details to argue far-reaching conclusions in an utterly convincing manner. The upshot more or less is that the eccentric and spontaneous monk Linji/Rinzai as found in this key text is not a historically reliable and accurate contemporary portrait of the man himself but an imaginary figure carefully contrived to exemplify emerging concepts of orthodoxy and authority within the context of early Song culture. In other words, the so-called "Record of Linji" tells us precious little about the monk Linji but a whole lot about the Chan monks who crafted his image for their own purposes centuries later.

Given the influence of this school of Chan/Zen Buddhism in China, Japan, and now America and Europe, the startling nature of this discovery is a bit understated in the book. Here we have the very prototype of the image of the dynamic, spontaneous, crazy yet profound Zen Master that's even worked its way into the common American popular consciousness (courtesy of D.T. Suzuki among others)--and it's mostly made up from scratch so as to appeal to Song literati elites. In the process we learn a lot about the development of Chinese religion and Buddhism, social history and literature, not to mention Zen's modern repackaging in the twentieth century.

If the book has one shortcoming, it's that it shows a few too many traces of having been patched together from separate conference papers and journal articles. Whole multi-paragraph chunks get repeated verbatim in different chapters (compare pages 135-136 and pages 88-89 or pages 81-82 and pages 3-4, for example), a bit ironic for a textual study of this nature, actually. This is probably less Welter's fault than it is a symptom of the increasingly demanding knee-jerk stringent "publish or perish" atmosphere of academia rushing him to get a book out as soon as possible. These are minor nitpicks, though. The book still mostly coheres well enough structurally as a single study, and the analysis it has to offer the reader about this influential key text is far too important and interesting to get distracted by such quibbles. Indeed, this is a significant book in many ways, one that should make quite an impact in the study of Chan and Zen Buddhism as well as Chinese religion and Song Dynasty history more generally. It would also obviously go well accompanying a reading of The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi, and I for one wish it had been around when I first did so.

Desmond Powers does a masterful job to draw his reader into his life story. He led a unique and interesting life and does a superb job writing about it. The "Little Foreign Devil" is a non-fiction book that is far more interesting than any fictional story!

I recommend this book to all those who love biographies, or those interested in a look at modern history.

A beautifully written, true life experience of the life and times of foreigners in China's treaty ports. A colorful life until the bombshell of Pearl Harbor when even taipans are reduced to coolies in Japanese prison camps. Richly illustrated with contemporary photos.

Eric Stone's first novel reveals the underbelly of Macau, Hong Kong, and other colorful cities as backdrop to an original suspense story: protagonist Ray Sharp tries to rescue a Russian prostitute from a deadly crime syndicate. The novel's strength is its vividly depicted settings. Even well-traveled readers will be enlightened, often surprised, and sometimes shocked as they follow Stone on a tour of some of the most exotic places on Earth.

This book was a great read. Within a few pages, protagonist Ray Sharp feels like a real person. The descriptions of HongKong and Macau never strain for effect, yet they are incredibly vivid (and accurate, based on my modest HK experience). The plot avoids the tired "then things became implausibly dangerous but the narrator miraculously prevailed in the end" cliche that infests many thrillers. It is terribly gruesome in spots, but if you read through to the author's note at the very end, the sickening parts seem well justified. While this is definitely a "man's book" - the point of view is decisively male and our hero never once bemoans his weight or gets nagged by his mother - it is accessible to a female readership as well; in fact, Ray directly addresses a few issues in a way that seems designed to interest female readers. Finally, the world as narrated by Ray is ideal for a series. The infrequent use of details about Ray's background as fuel for the book's development seems a promising method for avoiding the excessive review that can plague series books. It will be a pleasure to see what Ray encounters in future novels.