Traveling in Bardo - by Ann Tashi Slater (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A luminous guide to navigating transition and impermanence rooted in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of bardo.

In a world where nothing lasts forever, how do we live? Life is perpetually, endlessly filled with change: new jobs and new loves, unfamiliar places and faces. And entwined in that change is loss: loss of what was or is, or what could have been. In the midst of this shifting landscape, Traveling in Bardo invites us to embrace impermanence in a powerful way, rooted in ancient wisdom.

Interweaving explorations of bardo in relation to marriage and friendship, parents and children, work and creativity with stories of her Tibetan ancestors and the Buddhist teachings on the fleeting nature of existence, Ann Tashi Slater illuminates what the teachings have to tell us in our contemporary lives. She relays vital wisdom from Tibetan culture, giving us a bold, new framework to navigate moments of change and live life fully.

During over forty years of writing and speaking about her Tibetan-American heritage and the relevance of Buddhism in Western society, Slater has come to see how Tibetan bardo views on impermanence can transform the way we live. In Tibetan belief, bardo is the interval between death and rebirth, as well as the intermediate state between birth and death. It also refers to liminal periods in life when the reality we know comes to an end. A time of great possibility, it offers us the opportunity to find happiness in an impermanent world.

Review Quotes

"An elegant and heartening exploration of how the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism speaks to the ceaseless change of our lives and our painful grasping for permanence. Ann Tashi Slater is a wise and humble guide, and her lucid and compassionate perspective is a wellspring to return to again and again. What a gift this book is."--Melissa Febos, bestselling author of Girlhood and The Dry Season

"Brilliant and compassionate, philosophical and practical, Ann Tashi Slater takes us on a modern-day journey through bardo. Drawing upon ancient tradition, her family's deep lineage within Tibetan Buddhism, and her own experiences of unexpected grief and joy, she gives us a map (just when we most need one!) of how to not only survive but thrive in times of great upheaval and uncertainty."--Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author

"Not only has Ann Tashi Slater written her very own contemporary Book of the Dead, but she shows us how the ancient wisdom applies to our lives. And all the while, we are enthralled by her evocative writing--she's a Scheherazade storyteller. I will be giving this book to friends who find themselves grappling with losses, and to other companions on my journey who need the refreshment of a new perspective or a big cool pour of faith and wisdom. I can't think of one person whom I wouldn't want to read this timely and timeless book."--Julia Alvarez, bestselling poet and author of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In The Time of Butterflies

"Powerfully merging the personal and the universal, Traveling in Bardo brings to life stories of Ann Tashi Slater's past, her Tibetan ancestors, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, demonstrating what it means to live fully amidst the impermanence and unpredictability of existence."--Sharon Salzberg, bestselling author of Lovingkindness and Real Life

About the Author

Ann Tashi Slater has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Paris Review, Tin House, Guernica, AGNI, Granta, and many others. Her work has been featured in Lit Hub and included in The Best American Essays. In her Darjeeling Journal column for Catapult, she writes about her Tibetan family history and bardo, and she blogged for HuffPost about similar topics. She presents and teaches workshops at Princeton, Columbia, Oxford, Asia Society, and The American University of Paris, among others, and was a regular speaker at NYC's Rubin Museum of Art during the museum's 20-year run.