About this item

Spiritual biography meets edge-of-your-seat undercover reporting: how an American Buddhist smuggled out hard evidence of abuse and torture in Tibet. For nearly a decade, Matteo Pistono smuggled out of Tibet evidence of atrocities by the Chinese government, showing it to the U.S. government, human rights organizations, 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. Disillusioned by a career in American politics, he had gone to the Himalayas looking for a simpler way of life. After encountering Buddhism in Nepal, 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.



About the Author

Matteo Pistono

Matteo Pistono is a writer and meditation teacher and author of "Roar: Sulak Sivaraksa and the Path of Socially Engaged Buddhism" (North Atlantic Books 2019) , "Meditation: Coming to Know Your Mind" (Hay House 2017, "Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Terton Sogyal" (Hay House 2014) and"In the Shadow of the Buddha: One Man's Journey of Discovery in Tibet" (Dutton 2011) . Pistono's photos and writings about meditation, Buddhism, yoga, and Himalayan and Southeast Asian cultural, political, and spiritual landscapes have appeared in The Washington Post, The Global Post, Buddhadharma, Tricycle, BBC's In-Pictures, Men's Journal, Kyoto Journal, and HIMAL South Asia. Matteo was born and raised in Wyoming where he completed his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming, and in 1997 he obtained his Masters of Arts degree in Indian Philosophy from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. After working with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. on Tibetan cultural programs, Pistono lived and traveled throughout the Himalayas for a decade, bringing to the West graphic accounts and photos of China's human rights abuses in Tibet, which was documented in "In the Shadow of the Buddha." Matteo sits on the Executive Council of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. Matteo and his wife, Monica, live in southern California with their dog. http://www.matteopistono.com



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