Our Members Recommend:
Northwest Authors for Buddhist Readers

Heavy Earth, Golden Sky: Tibetan Women Speak about Their Lives
by C. Michelle Kleisath

Michelle Kleisath is an anthropology graduate student at the University of Washington who lived and worked in the Amdo region of Tibet for four years. While teaching English at Qinghai Normal University in Xining, China she became acquainted with the contemporary Tibetan women who tell their life stories here, stories of deprivation and aspiration, struggles and successes. Proceeds from books sales benefit Shem Women’s Group, a non-profit founded by Kleisath to benefit Tibetan women.

A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism
by Lama Bruce Newman

From the back flap: “A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism speaks powerfully and directly to the Western student who is working to integrate this incredibly vast tradition into the realities of daily life. Drawing on his many years of practice and teaching, the author skillfully addresses obstacles, doubts and confusions that every reader will recognize.” Lama Bruce Newman practices and teaches under the guidance of Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche in Ashland, Oregon. He has studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions for almost thirty years.

Everlasting Sky
by Kaj Wyn Berry

Everlasting Sky is an historical novel of the life, loves and times of the First Empress of China, 626-705 A.D. Talima, later Empress Wu, lived during the introduction of Buddhism to China and played a role in its development. Kaj Wyn Berry, a former NWDA board member, lives on Vashon Island and is a member of the Puget Sound Zen Center.

Buddhist Goddesses of India and Buddhist Goddesses of Tibet and Nepal (forthcoming)
by Miranda Shaw

According to “Choice” magazine, “Buddhist Goddesses of India” “fills a major gap in knowledge of the breadth of divine female figures in the Buddhist world. . . . Well documented, and with a fine, full bibliography, this book is beautifully and lavishly illustrated in color and black and white.” With a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Shaw has spent the last year on sabbatical finishing the book’s companion, “Buddhist Goddesses of Tibet and Nepal.” Although she doesn’t live in the Northwest, Miranda Shaw often collaborates with Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya and Helen Appell of Dance Mandal in Portland. Shaw is Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Richmond and has studied Buddhism since she was a graduate student at Harvard University.

Northwest work-in-progress:

Tulku Yeshe Gyatso of the Sakya Tibetan Monastery in Seattle has written his autobiography with co-author David Spiekerman. They are currently preparing the manuscript for submission to a publisher.