In Dreams of Tibet: Poetry by Julian Bound

By Julian Bound

IN DREAMS OF TIBET by JULIAN BOUND

A poetic journey through Tibet inspired by the author's travels through the country on visits over a ten year period. From the bestselling author of 'The Geisha and the Monk', Julian Bound. From village life on the Tibet's southern borders of Nepal, to the landscape of Mount Everest base camp, the cities of Shigatse and Gyantse and the capital of Lhasa, and the great lake of Nam Tso, 'In Dreams of Tibet' offers an insight into a country steeped in ancient traditions and culture, still alive in its practice of Buddhism and the eternal intricacies of Tibetan heritage. 'In Dreams of Tibet' also provides an insight into the change evident across the country over a ten year timespan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in England, Julian is a documentary photographer, film maker and author. With photographic work featured on the BBC news, his photographs have been published in National Geographic, New Scientist and the international press. His work focuses on the social documentary of world culture, religion and traditions, with time spent studying meditation with the Buddhist monks of Tibet and Northern Thailand and spiritual teachers of India's Himalaya region.

Present for the Nepal earthquakes of 2015 he documented the disaster for eighteen months whilst working as an emergency deployment photographer for various NGO and international embassies in conjunction with the United Nations.

The author of novels 'The Geisha and the Monk', 'Subway of Light' and 'Life's Heart Eternal', when not on the road in Asia, Julian is based in the UK.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julian Bound
• Release date: Feb 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393940494

Julian Bound

Born in the UK, Julian Bound is a documentary photographer, film maker and author. Featured on the BBC news, National Geographic and in the international press, his work focuses on the social documentary of world culture, religion and traditions, spending time studying meditation with the Buddhist monks of Tibet and Northern Thailand and with spiritual teachers of India’s Himalaya region. His photography work includes documenting the child soldiers of the Burmese Karen National Liberation Army, the Arab Spring of 2011, Cairo, Egypt, and the Thailand political uprisings of 2009 and 2014 in Bangkok. With portraiture of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Julian has photographed the Tibetan refugee camps of Nepal and India. His other projects include the road working gypsies of India, the Dharavi slums of Mumbai, the rail track slums of Jakarta and the sulphur miners at work in the active volcanoes of Eastern Java, Indonesia. Present for the Nepal earthquakes of 2015, he documented the disaster whilst working as an emergency deployment photographer for various NGO and international embassies in conjunction with the United Nations. Julian has published  photography books of settings across the world, including portraiture work, and city guides, and has also published several poetry books, including ‘Haiku, a Journey Through the Deepest Emotions’, Julian is also the author of  the novels ‘The Geisha and the Monk’, ‘Subway of Light’ and ‘Life’s Heart Eternal’.

Book preview

Foreword

STEEPED IN TRADITION, culture and intrigue, Tibet holds a great fascination like no other country, displaying an array of different landscapes from emerald green forest valleys to desolate desert, and where the vast turquoise lakes of Nam Tso and Yamdrok compliment the snowcapped peaks of the Himalaya Mountain Range.

Predominant within Tibet, the influence of Buddhism can be observed throughout the ‘roof of the world’, as seen in the dominant temples and monasteries present in the leading Tibetan cities of Shigatse and Gyantse, where the sacred grounds of the Tashi Lhunpo and Palcho monasteries found in the southern reaches of the country continue to uphold age old Tibetan beliefs and ceremony.

This portrayal of Buddha’s guidance within Tibet is justly evident on the streets and surrounding areas of Lhasa. At an altitude of 11,450feet/3,490meters, and Tibet’s capital since the mid-17th Century, Lhasa is home to Buddhism’s most revered holy sites.

With Barkhor Square welcoming devotees who make pilgrimage from across the country so they may take prayer beneath the golden rooftops of Jokhang Temple, similar journeys are made to the tall red topped white washed walls of Potala Palace, where in the heart of Lhasa, it remains the true seat of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

First visiting Tibet in the autumn of 2004 it would not be until a return ten years later, which chance would have it was of the same exact autumnal week, that the difference to Tibet’s infrastructure and resulting effect on the Tibetan people could be measured in the passing of a decade of economic growth.

The Tibetan capital of Lhasa had become almost unrecognisable. A place where new wide highways running into the city now tried to blend with roads once filled with only footfall and dust; a time when it was a delight to roam the candle lit shrines and alcoves of Potala Palace with only the curiosity of monks to a westerner’s visit as accompaniment.

Change is of course inevitable within all countries, and adheres to Buddha’s lessons in impermanence, and so these concepts are captured in the following poems, portrayed in moments spent beneath endless autumnal