A Mountain in China: Living in a small rural village in the foothills of the sacred Song Mountain

• Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 18, 2015)
• Language: : English
• Paperback : 306 pages
• ISBN-10 : 1507824904
• ISBN-13 : 978-1507824900
• Item Weight : 14.6 ounces
• Dimensions : 6 x 0.69 x 9 inches

‘A Mountain in China’ is the fascinating account of an English woman’s travels to Song Mountain, in Henan Province, China. Part memoir, part travelogue, Veena Schlegel takes us to the heart of what has made this mountain a place of pilgrimage for millenia. The peaks and valleys of Song Mountain gave refuge to Taoist mystics long before it became known as the home of Shaolin Kungfu. In the sixth century CE, it also gave birth to what we now refer to as Zen Buddhism, known in China as Chan, after the enlightened Indian master, Bodhidharm, meditated there alone for nine years in a secluded cave on one of its peaks. Living in a small village in the mountain's foothills, the author explored this little-known part of China over several years, and uncovered some of its historical and spiritual heritage as well as its ties to her own spiritual master, Osho. She learned about the local customs and traditions, and shared the turmoil and joy of daily life in the village. She encountered Qigung and Kungfu masters, students and seekers who had never met a westerner before, and felt the heartbreak many travellers will recognise as modern China inevitably clashes with its ancient heritage. In 2010, the mountain and the religious and historical monuments connected to it, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 'A Mountain in China' is a story of a love affair with a mountain − an intimate and sometimes hilarious glimpse into the inner world of a seeker who has been on the path of Zen for more than forty years.

Biography

NEW BOOKS! The Trilogy! With the publication of her third book ‘A Mountain in China’ Veena Schlegel completes her trilogy about a life spent travelling on roads less travelled on.
Veena was born and brought up in South Africa. At the age of 16 she was awarded an international exchange student scholarship to study for a year in the USA. During this time she met people from all over the world and was consequently inspired to travel more, understand more, experience more.
After completing her university studies in 1966 she left South Africa to see the world.
In 1971 she travelled overland on an epic journey through unknown lands to India. This journey is the subject of her first book ‘A Vanished Road’. In India she met her spiritual Master, the enlightened mystic, Osho, in Mumbai - and her life changed forever. She now embarked on a new and different kind of journey: a journey inwards, a journey of meditation, a journey of a search for the unknown self. Until Osho died in 1991, she lived and worked in his various communes in India and around the world. Her life with Osho is the subject of her second book ‘Glimpses of my Master.’
After Osho’s death in 1990 she travelled further east on her spiritual quest, first to Japan where she taught English and explored Zen, and more recently to China which she visits often to meditate on the sacred Song Mountain in Henan Province. Living in a rural village called ShiLiPu in the foothills of this mountain, she has immersed herself in the heritage of Zen Buddhism which originated here when the Zen patriarch, Bodhidharma, sat meditating in a cave on this mountain for 9 years. As a result of his meditations he fused Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism to create Chan or Zen, which the Chinese happily adopted. From the Song Mountain area, Zen then spread to Japan and the rest of the world.
Simultaneously Veena has come to know in detail a small slice of contemporary Chinese life − observing, with the help of young English-speaking university graduates, the breathtakingly fast-paced changes from old to new ways of living and the excitement and conflicts consequently arising.
Her experiences in China form the subject matter of her third book ‘A Mountain in China’.

All three books are available as paperbacks and ebooks.
For more details please check out her FB Page and blog: https://www.facebook.com/booksbyveena/ and https://3booksblog.wordpress.com/