A Meditator's Diary; A Western Woman's Unique Experiences in Thailand Monasteries

Recognizing how rare it is for a foreign woman to be accepted for intensive meditation instruction in one of Thailand's Buddhist temples, this extraordinary account follows the author's experience from the inside, describing her journey into the self and the expansion of her consciousness. The intimate narrative relates her struggles and fearssome euphoric, some terrifying, some in the form of psychedelic visions, and some genuinely threatening. The author's mission to achieve "compassion without attachment" is recounted, detailing how she pursued a living flow with the universe that ultimately transformed her life. Composing an intellectually disciplined attempt to understand what Buddhist meditation techniques have to offer the Western worldwhere so many are caught in an uncontrollable cycle of destructionthis New Age companion reveals the key to accessing the art's powerful secrets.

Jane Hamilton-Merritt is a journalist and a photographer. She is the author of Boonmee and the Lucky White Elephant and Tragic Mountains. She is a former war correspondent, a Pulitzer Prize nominee for her work on the Vietnam War, and a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her work on behalf of the Hmong tribal people of Laos. She lives in Denver, Colorado.