Many travel narratives set in Tibet record a trek, a long and difficult journey by foot in mountainous areas. Two early tales by Alexandra David-Neel and Heinrich Harrer show the typical Western fascination with heroic adventure and exotic Oriental culture. Four more recent travel narratives – by Jim Reynolds (now Ajahn Chandako), Robert Thurman and Tad Wise, Ian Baker, and Matteo Pistono – show in contrasting ways how a trek triggered experiences of unselfing that they interpret through the lens of Tibetan Buddhist ideas. Circling the Sacred Mountain presents the differing perspectives of Thurman, a renowned scholar and confident practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, and his wayward and struggling student, Tad Wise. Ian Baker’s The Heart of the World records several journeys to remote Himalayan valleys in search of beyul, Tibetan “hidden lands,” where ancient scriptures are preserved and the landscape reveals the nature of the mind. Matteo Pistono’s transformation in Tibet involves learning to overcome the anger that had crippled his political efforts; he finds a capacity to unite political action and religious devotion, guided by Tibetan teachers and the ideal of the bodhisattva.

John Blofeld’s The Wheel of Life (1959) and Lama Anagarika Govinda’s The Way of the White Clouds (1966) are interpreted as the first Western Buddhist travel narratives. They integrate spiritual autobiography with the genre of Western travel narratives to Asia, which had previously been tales of adventure and fantastic otherness. Blofeld and Govinda were the first Westerners to depict in detail their own religious experiences in Asia and discuss them in terms of Buddhist ideas. In contrast to most later narratives, Blofeld’s book describes the author’s whole life rather than focusing on a single journey. Lama Govinda’s The Way of the White Clouds focuses on a spectacular and hazardous journey through Western Tibet in 1948. He describes Tibetan practices that precipitate unselfing, such as trekking (long distance walking in mountains), esoteric rituals, events that led him to believe in reincarnation, and aesthetic experiences. Blofeld and Govinda emphasize experiential dimensions of religion rather than beliefs, yet they rely on and defend Buddhist ideas to explain how travel changed them. Their writings show the transformation of Buddhism as it is interpreted by Western adherents.