A Step Away from Paradise: A Tibetan Lama’s Extraordinary Journey to a Land of Immortality

0.0

A Step Away from Paradise tells the story of Tibet’s Tulshuk Lingpa, a visionary lama who in 1962 launched an expedition to what he and his followers believed to be the land of immortality described in twelfth- century Tibetan tradition. With over 300 disciples, he ventured up a remote Himalayan mountain at the Nepal-Sikkim border in order to ‘open the way’ to a hidden landof plenty found on no map. Fifty years later, Thomas K. Shor tracks down the surviving members of this visionary expedition and entwines their remarkable stories of faith and adventure with his own quest to discover the reality of this land known as Beyul. What emerges is a breathtaking story alive with possibility, bringing the reader as close to the Hidden Land as a book possibly can. As the astounding account unfolds, the reader is sure to repeat the question constantly raised by the author in his interviews: And then what happened? The story recalls and evokes one of humanity’s oldest aspirations—that of finding a stairway to paradise

0.0

Writer and photographer, Thomas K. Shor was born in Boston, USA, and studied comparative religion and literature in Vermont. With an ear for unusual stories, the fortune to attract them and an eye for detail, he has travelled the planet’s mountainous realms—from the Mayan Highlands of southern Mexico in the midst of insurrection to the mountains of Greece and, more recently to the Indian Himalayas—to collect, illustrate and write stories, with a uniquely personal character often having the flavour of fables. Shor has lectured widely on his writings and has had solo exhibits of his photographs in Europe and in India. He is the author of Windblown Clouds and can often be found in the most obscure locales, immersed in a compelling story touching upon fundamental human themes. The author’s website is www.ThomasShor.com.