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Cave in the Snow

By: Vicki Mackenzie
Narrated by: Georgina Sutton, Vicki Mackenzie, Tenzin Palmo
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Publisher's summary

Includes a bonus track of Tenzin Palmo introducing a retreat.

This is the story of Tenzin Palmo, the daughter of a fishmonger from London's East End who became a Tibetan nun. After meditating for 12 years in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, she became a world-renowned spiritual leader and champion of the right of women to achieve spiritual enlightenment.

Diane Perry grew up in London's East End. At the age of 18, however, she read a book on Buddhism and realised that this might fill a long-sensed void in her life.

In 1963, at the age of 20, she went to India, where she eventually entered a monastery. Being the only woman amongst hundreds of monks, she began her battle against the prejudice that has excluded women from enlightenment for thousands of years.

In 1976, she secluded herself in a remote cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, where she stayed for 12 years between the ages of 33 and 45. In this mountain hideaway she faced unimaginable cold, wild animals, floods, snow and rockfalls, grew her own food and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three feet square - she never lay down.

In 1988, she emerged from the cave with a determination to build a convent in Northern India to revive the Togdenma lineage, a long-forgotten female spiritual elite. Despite her international teaching schedule, Tenzin Palmo maintains a deep commitment to her nunnery, Dongyu Gatsal Ling, in Himachal Pradesh.

©1999 Bloomsbury Plc (P)2015 Ukemi Productions Ltd
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Critic reviews

" Cave in the Snow is full of extraordinary insights. It is a desert island book - one we can't very well live without." ( Tricycle Magazine)

What listeners say about Cave in the Snow

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Outstanding and magical

loved the insights into mystical Tibetan buddhism, the honesty, the courage of this amazing woman and blown away by the immensity of her dedication and tenacity. a true inspiration and beautifully written.

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Spiritually enlightening book, a great biography of a great woman.

She is truly inspiring and motivating, she has done something many people cannot dare to achieve.

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2 people found this helpful

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Listened to this in Nepal and Bhutan...

Was excellent and probably one of fastest books I have listened to. Couldn't wait to hear what else was happening.

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Beyond belief inspiring

As a small Buddhist meditator for 20 years, I was flattened with inspiration by the book on the life of Tenzin Palmo, who spent 12 years in a cave meditating. It is a lovely, clear, fascinating book. It should be interesting for even non-Buddhists, just to see what is possible.

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The best book in the last 10 years

So inspiring, absolute treasure. Very well written, fantastic lecture. You can listen it hundred times and will always find jewels 👏❤️👏

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3 people found this helpful

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Life Changing

This book has truly made me change the way I see and live my life. I was only somewhat familiar with Buddhism before this book, but I have learned so much and plan to continue studying.

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The author vs. the sage

There were some real gems in terms of meditation and the nature of mind in chapter 14.
In terms of getting valuable information about meditation, this is a good book because Tenzin Palmo spent a great deal of time in retreat.
There were interesting signs of her spiritual capacity that were present as a child and the story is a good reference for people interested in pursuing a spiritual path.
It was interesting to know how someone eats and survives on retreat in an isolated cave.
It was interesting to know how someone plans/organizes a Buddhist nunnery. Tenzin Palmo was innovative and hearing about how she approached the Dalai Lama and other lineage masters with her innovations was surprising.
The sexism of the system and the lamas willingness to admit it and change was interesting.
Tenzin Palmo was very brave and opened the door/preserved the possibility for women to be Buddhist in some sense.

I wish some of the really good stuff had come sooner in the book.

I felt like the book presented things in such a way that there have been no spiritual women or enlightened women until Tenzin Palmo.
I felt like a lot of examples of women, like Krisha Gotami, Boudica, the priestesses of Isis, or the tantric cultures or goddess religions the world over in prehistory, that show strong development/leadership by women in the area of spirituality were ignored.
The book seems to accept its true that no women have been enlightened and then Tenzin Palmo tries to do it.
The book is very sympathetic towards women and gives good account of women's experiences in spirituality in terms of Buddhist nuns and what they tend to encounter, but at the same time, I felt like it gave women precious little credit and delivered a very pathetic story of women through history which I don't feel is accurate. Maybe a more tragic Riane Eisler approach would have been a better flavor for me.

The narration was really nice. The voice and tone and aliveness were all very good.

This book would be good for someone who is contemplating going on a long retreat in isolation or someone interested in the experience of women on the Buddhist spiritual path is like.

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Insight at any moment

I loved it learned a lot ans found peace within her story and her lessons

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Audio version is best format for this book

I’m not sure I would've read this book so fast if not for the audio version. The writing is very plain and contains lots of attributions such as “she stated” and “she commented,” like a newspaper article. Also, for those who are unable to read books that take the supernatural seriously (and I’m one such person), it can be difficult to accept all of the Tibetan Buddhism mysticism. All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learning about Tenzin Palmo’s journey from young woman in England to Buddhist nun. What makes the book so engaging, in addition to adventures like being buried in her cave under an avalanche, is its strong and unapologetic feminism. She vows to attain enlightenment in female form “no matter how many lifetimes it takes.” I especially liked when she made the Dalai Lama cry when she explained all of the sexism women must face when pursuing Tibetan Buddhism. Excerpt: “What she had promised was to become a female Buddha, and female Buddhas (like female Christs and female Mohammeds) were decidedly thin on the ground. Certainly there had been plenty of acclaimed women mystics and saints in all parts of the world, but the full flowering of human divinity had, for the past few thousand years at least, been deemed the exclusive domain of the male. The female body, for some reason, had been seen as an unfit or unworthy vessel to contain the most sacred. Now Tenzin Palmo was publicly announcing she was intending to overthrow all that.” The audio version includes two half-hour talks given by Tenzin Palmo in Israel. Grade: A

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Inspiring journey

Very inspiring path bringing hope for the heart & calm for the mind. A reminder to keep practicing.

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