© Columbia University Press
Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk
Paper, 144 pages, 113 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-12891-9
$31.00
/ £18.00
November, 2003
Cloth, 144 pages, 113 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-12890-2
$80.50
/ £47.50
"An absolutely stunning collection of black-and-white photographs that document the lives of the Sera Jey monks of Tibet." — Asian Week
"Sera is a moving collection of black-and-white photographs by Sheila Rock showing the monks of Sera Jey Monastery near Mysore, India. . . . She has made an eloquent statement with her photographs of the monks at work, worship, and play. . . . The simplicity ofSera is intimate and very appealing." — R. K. Dickson, The Bloombsbury Review
"Sera: The Way of the Monk is an exceptional union of words and images. . . . Together Thurman and Rock communicate the rich, vibrant life of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery—a learning community where everyone is a seeker." — Shambhala Sun
"Sheila Rock, a profesional photographer[,] presents moving portraits of the monks and their community that carries on the legacy of the original Sera Monastery." — Tibet Foundation Newsletter
"The book features a series of portraits done in the same spirit as the horse photos, looking beyond the physical characteristics of the subjects in order to penetrate and record their essential spirit." — B&W
"In more than 100 dramatic duotone photographs, Sheila Rock tells the story of Tibetan Buddhist life at Sera Jay Monastery in Mysore, India. Readers will find this 10-by-11-inch book about Buddhist monastic life enlightening and stereotype-shattering. Rock's perceptive eye yields vivid images . . .Sera will intrigue and delight." — New Age Retailer
"An expertly written forward by Robert Thurman is a captivating introduction to the book . . . [and] these carefully composed images have the power to illuminate, explore and question the controversial relationship between the Tibetan people and the West, and strengthen the view that photography is a powerful medium with which to stir opinion." — Rupert Cornford, Free Tibet
"...these illustrations of their simple life, offers a powerful testament to the strength and resilence of a persecuted people." — Louise Wilde, Light, The College of Psychic Studies
"Rock discovers beauty in the simple...Her lens seems to capture another kind of light--the luminous glow from within." — Black & White Magazine
"These remarkable photographs by Sheila Rock... will entrance every lover of the religious world in all its vigor and diversity." — Robert Ellwood, Nova Religio
"Perhaps Sheila Rock felt the power . . . in these faces, as she was enfolded in the atmosphere of this ancient theater of inquiry into the deepest matters, the 'great matter' of life and death, of endless, unnecessary bondage and ultimate, infinite liberation. This drew her back again and again. She opened the lens of her camera, the gateway of her artistic sensitivity, the doorway of her heart. And so her luminous pictures focus on the clear light at the heart of the life of this ancient monastery; they bring it to you as nondually illuminating the cracks and crevices of the homeless home, the absolute relativity of faces and masks, bodies and objects, rooms and shrines. To visit with her pictures is to enter this sacred yet lively space, sublime yet earthly realm, human yet divine serenity, ordinary yet extraordinary intelligence and sensitivity." — from the foreword by Robert A. F. Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Columbia University