Snowboarding to Nirvana Book

The success of Lenz's earlier book, Surfing the Himalayas (a fictionalised account of his meeting with the Tibetan Buddhist monk who changed his life) will create a ready market for this sequel, in which the playfulness of the earlier book is consolidated. After a metaphorical trip down the side of a mountain, the snowboarding protagonist again encounters the wry Master Fwap and is introduced to a mystery: "the missing dimension." To attain the next level of Buddhistic enlightenment, the snowboarder must solve this problem and he does so with help from the mysterious Oracle of Nepal who presents him with the Tibetan tantric texts that will help solve the riddle. The revelation of this final secret is handled with the careful accretion of detail that is found in the best thrillers, and by introducing the element of earthly love (a striking young Danish woman who assists in the quest) Lenz again avoids producing a mere tract--the bouts of tantric sex are treated with the same unforced naturalness as the rough guides to meditation techniques and transcendental experience. The ironic cultural references (popular novels, movies) along with the narrator's heavy scepticism, makes the communication of enlightenment a lively and diverting experience. --Barry ForshawRead More