On an expedition to the Ganges-Satleg watershed, Marco Pallis first began to study the lamas' teachings and way of life, studying Buddhism, Tibetan living, and art. Peaks And Lamas: A Classic Book On Mountaineering, Buddhism And Tibet has long been recognized as a 'bible' on the Himalayan-Tibetan tradition of Buddhism and mountain climbing, and this edition returns to print a classic which has been unavailable for thirty years, adding fine black and white photos taken by Pallis and his friends.
Marco Pallis made several hiking treks with a number of companions into remote Himalayan regions in the 1930's. Primarily, this book is a narrative of those journeys.
You will most likely not be able to find a writer in English today who can write so well, with such precision and yet lightness. Mr. Pallis takes us into the mountains of Ladakh and Sikkim, with an observant eye that can identify even the rare flowers along the path. An excellent chapter by his fellow traveler C.F.Kirkus gives us a first-hand account of a mountain-climbing experience that tested the nerves of the climbers and left them exhausted.
The author's prose has true elegance, yet it is limpid and direct, so that the reader can easily imagine the delights of the almost pristine Himalayan mountain valleys and passes through which the explorers passed. We are given word-pictures of monasteries, remote towns, the interesting clothing worn by a mountain tribe, the landscape as one rounds a bend or climbs up a trail ... And the author weaves into this travelogue many observations about the beliefs and customs of the people he meets along the way. The sometimes vexing, sometimes humorous vicissitudes of traveling with porters and packs add lightness to the narrative. There are notes about the history of the region ... the reader quickly realizes how little we understand of this remote part of the world.
We are taken along a metaphysical path as well. One chapter is given over to an explanation of the Doctrine, as it is called among the Tibetans whom the author so admires. The Buddhist influence is seen in the context of the Tibetan (perhaps one should say Himalayan) beliefs that take the reader into a world quite apart from our materialist concerns. In other chapters, Mr. Pallis discusses, somewhat in passing, the Tantra and the deities of Hinduism. His closing section on Tibetan art may seem esoteric to some readers, but will interest others who are specialists in that area.
A fine book, with some of the rarefied air of the Himalayas in it ... Remember, Marco Pallis was a noted Tibetan scholar; his book will probably not appeal to a weekend or casual reader. However, if you enjoy fine prose and good travel writing, and wish to gain a greater appreciation of the metaphysical underpinnings of Buddhist and Tibetan thought, you will like this book.
