In the shadow of the Buddha - Matteo Pistono

For nearly a decade, Matteo Pistono smuggled out
of Tibet evidence of atrocities by the Chinese government, showing it to
the United States government, human rights organisations, and anyone who would
listen. Yet Pistono did not originally intend to fight for social
justice in Tibet - he had gone there as a Buddhist pilgrim.

Pistono's quest led him to Tibet and to a meditation master
whose spiritual brother is Sogyal Rinpoche, bestselling author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
Pistono not only became the master's student but also couriered
messages to him in Tibet from the Dalai Lama in India. This began an
extraordinary, and ultimately vital, adventure.

In the Shadow of the Buddha
is a book about Tibet through the eyes of a devotee - a stranger hiding
in plain sight. It's about how a culture's rich spiritual past is
slipping away against the force of a tyrannical future. It's about how
Tibetans live today, and the tenacity of their faith in the future in
spite of dire repression and abuse. It's also about Pistono's own
journey from being a frustrated political activist to becoming a
practicing Buddhist mystic, a man who traveled thousands of miles and
risked his own life to pursue freedom and peace.