Check out Perry's Blog on the Huffington Post
"Buddha or Bust" NOW IN PAPERBACK From Three Rivers Press
Published originally in hardcover June 2006 by Harmony Books
- National Bestseller
- Selected for “Best Buddhist Writing” of 2006 by Shambhala Press
- Published in Brazil May 2007 by Rocco as “Buda ou Desapego”
- Published in Italy August 2007 by the Sonzogno division of Rizzoli as “Alla ricerca del Buddha”
Why does a 2,500-year-old tradition seem more relevant today than ever before? That was the question that drove journalist Perry Garfinkel, on assignment for National Geographic magazine, as he circumnavigated the globe to discover the reason for the growing popularity of Buddhism. (The magazine story was published in the December 2005 issue.)
From the U.S. and Europe to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Tibet, and Japan, he tracked the Buddha's teachings through the worldwide movement of "engaged Buddhism," which addresses social, environmental, health, political and other contemporary problems.
Along the way, Garfinkel met and interviewed dozens of Buddhist scholars and leaders, including the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh, and a colorful array of Buddhist practitioners -- from kung fu monks in China to the world's first Buddhist stand-up comic (only in America).
In this original and entertaining book, Garfinkel separates Buddhist fact from fiction, sharing his humorous insights and keen perceptions about everything from spiritual tourism to Asian traffic jams to his own endless road to enlightenment.