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Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains

Misadventures on a Buddhist Pilgrimage

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Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains

By: Paul Barach
Narrated by: Paul Barach
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About this listen

Age 28 and fed up with the office job he settled for, Paul Barach decided to travel to Japan to follow a vision he had in college: to walk the ancient 750-mile Shikoku pilgrimage trail.

Here are some things he did not decide to do: learn Japanese, do any research, road test his hiking shoes, or check if it's the hottest summer in history.

And he went anyway, hoping to change his life.

Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains is the absurd and dramatic journey of one impulsive American's search for answers on a holy path in an exotic land. Along the pathway connecting 88 Buddhist temples, he'll face arduous mountain climbs, hide from guards in a toilet stall, challenge a priest to a mountaintop karate battle, and other misadventures.

He'll also delve into the fascinating legends of this ancient land, including a dragon-fighting holy man, a berserker warrior-priest, haunted temples, and a vendetta-driven ghost that overthrew a dynasty.

Told with humor and humility, Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains is a funny, engaging memoir about the consequences of impulsive decisions, and the things you can discover while you're looking for something else.

Also, that boars are terrifying in person.

©2014 Paul Barach (P)2015 Paul Barach Asia Travel Writing & Commentary Haunted Funny Witty
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This book is funny, inspiring and informative. makes me want to go on a pilgrimage.

Loved it

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I had heard about this book via a hiking podcast and was intrigued by the pilgrimage.
The story itself is quite enjoyable to listen (with details of the temples visited, people he meets and the rituals performed during the pilgrimage) - I was unable to continue listening the book though (will be getting the text copy to finish the remaining chapters) due to some audio issues in some chapters: the audio becomes a bit too "echoey" in some chapters and some lines are repeated (it may have not been edited prior to release? When I first heard this, I thought it may have been the app playing up on my phone but it happened in several other sections with the repeated sections voiced in slightly different intonations).
Wonderful tale of a pilgrimage on Shikoku island, the audio could be better though.

Great story - some sections audio could be better

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Entirely biased due to my love of Japan. Having yet to get the courage to walk the trail, Paul has shown me it is everything I want. This includes the trials, pain and joys.
Thank you.

Everything I still want from Japan

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