Author(s): Vicki MacKenzie

Biography

In 1976 Diane Perry, by then known by her Tibetan name, Tenzin Palmo, secluded herself in a remote cave, 13,200 feet up in the Himalayas, cut off from the world by mountains and snow. There she engaged in twelve years of intense Buddhist meditation. She faced unimaginable cold, wild animals, near-starvation and avalanches; she grew her own food and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three-feet-square - she never lay down. Her goal was to gain Enlightenment as a woman. In 1988 she emerged from the cave with a vision to build a convent in northern India dedicated to helping women to achieve spiritual excellence. From living as a mendicant on 50[pound] a year, she became a globe-trotting fund-raiser, talking to thousands of people from the fount of her profound wisdom. As such, Tenzin Palmo had come full circle: being of the world, leaving it, and then returning once more to help it. Tenzin Palmo tells her story to Vicki Mackenzie with candour, humour and clarity. She speaks of the challenges she faced, the hardships she endured, her spiritual aspirations and the insights she experienced in the cave. She also reveals the inner conflict between her love for a man and her calling. Cave in the Snow is a gripping story of courage and phenomenal persistence.