What follows is the narrative of a pilgrimage around the Buddhist holy places of India and Nepal made in the winter 1990–91. We made the pilgrimage on foot over six months, but recording it has taken more than ten years. While our journey took us to all the main pilgrimage sites, it was also a pilgrimage through the sacred and profane of two very different men’s lives and the lessons learned from making this pilgrimage together.

This book is a sequel. The first half, published as Rude Awakenings , began the account of a six-month epic journey by two Englishmen, a monk and layman, to the Buddhist holy places in India. On this seven-hundred–mile pilgrimage on foot across one of the most overcrowded places on the planet, we supported ourselves by going for alms—just as Buddhist monks had done in times gone by—and slept under the stars. Rude Awakenings was a great adventure story. While the second part of the journey still had its share of adventure, and some amazing encounters with wildlife, the novelty of the endeavour had worn off, and we came face to face with both our own and the other’s deeper humanity. Thus this sequel is, to us, the more valuable of the two accounts.

This guide is aimed at providing an introduction to some aspects of monastic discipline for those lay people who are interested in understanding something of the background to the rules and conventions which structure the way of life of the monks and nuns of this tradition. It is hoped that these notes will be helpful in furthering the relationship of support between members of the Sangha and lay practitioners.

If you’re reading this guide, maybe you’re curious as to why people meditate. Why do they sit still and upright in silence for long periods of time?What are they thinking about? Is it some kind of religion; if so, what do they believe in? Well, it may be that some meditators are deliberately thinking along certain lines; and some may have profound faith in a God or a Truth. But then again, it is possible to meditate without these. To put it simply, what it all boils down to is finding peace of mind – within the mind itself. That the mind is the proper place for that search becomes evident when one acknowledges that, despite many technological, medical and social developments, humanity is profoundly stressed and troubled.