Sera

The Sera Jey Monastery, reestablished near Mysore, India, houses 5,000 Buddhist monks living in exile—including survivors of the destruction of the Tibetan monastery in 1959. Sheila Rock's moving portraits are a celebration of the everyday simplicity and subtle beauty of the ascetic life. More than a hundred duotone photographs document the compassionate expressions, emotional openness, and aura of serenity inspired by lives of renunciation and seclusion.

A percentage of the royalties from this book go to the Sera Jhe Health Care Committee in aid of various humanitarian projects.

Tibet was once home to thousands of thriving Buddhist monasteries. But in 1959, following a Tibetan uprising against China's long occupation, nearly all were destroyed by the Chinese military, the practice of Buddhism was outlawed, and the Dalai Lama was forced into exile. In March of that year, Chinese tanks bombarded the 540-year-old Sera Jey Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, killing hundreds of monks and destroying ancient texts and invaluable artifacts that had been collected over centuries. Thousands of survivors fled over perilous mountain passes to neighboring India, many with only thin robes and light footwear to shield them from the harsh winter conditions of the Himalayas.

The Sera Jey Monastery, reestablished near Mysore, India, now houses 5,000 Buddhist monks living in exile-including many who escaped the attack on the Tibetan monastery in 1959, and many more who have never known their ancestral homeland. Providing an intimate glimpse of this rarely seen world, Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk evokes the subtle moods and rhythms of this Buddhist community that has steadfastly carried on the legacy of the original Sera Jey. More than 100 duotone photographs capture daily rituals and sacred ceremonies, serious moments and playful gestures, compassionate faces and expressions of inspired serenity. Moving and unforgettable, Sheila Rock's portraits celebrate the tranquility, simple joys, and unadorned beauty of the ascetic life, offering a powerful testament to the strength and resilience of a persecuted people.

A percentage of the royalties from this book go to the Sera Jhe Health Care Committee in aid of various humanitarian projects

Sheila Rock is a professional photographer living in London. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and has been accepted into the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. She began photographing the Sera Jey monks in 1998.

Robert Ellwood:
These remarkable photographs by Sheila Rock... will entrance every lover of the religious world in all its vigor and diversity.

Rock discovers beauty in the simple...Her lens seems to capture another kind of light--the luminous glow from within.

Louise Wilde:
...these illustrations of their simple life, offers a powerful testament to the strength and resilence of a persecuted people.

Rupert Cornford:
An expertly written forward by Robert Thurman is a captivating introduction to the book... [and] these carefully composed images have the power to illuminate, explore and question the controversial relationship between the Tibetan people and the West, and strengthen the view that photography is a powerful medium with which to stir opinion.

In more than 100 dramatic duotone photographs, Sheila Rock tells the story of Tibetan Buddhist life at Sera Jay Monastery in Mysore, India. Readers will find this 10-by-11-inch book about Buddhist monastic life enlightening and stereotype-shattering. Rock's perceptive eye yields vivid images...Sera will intrigue and delight.

The book features a series of portraits done in the same spirit as the horse photos, looking beyond the physical characteristics of the subjects in order to penetrate and record their essential spirit.

Sheila Rock, a profesional photographer[,] presents moving portraits of the monks and their community that carries on the legacy of the original Sera Monastery.

Sera: The Way of the Monk is an exceptional union of words and images.... Together Thurman and Rock communicate the rich, vibrant life of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery—a learning community where everyone is a seeker.

R. K. Dickson:
Sera is a moving collection of black-and-white photographs by Sheila Rock showing the monks of Sera Jey Monastery near Mysore, India.... She has made an eloquent statement with her photographs of the monks at work, worship, and play.... The simplicity ofSera is intimate and very appealing.

An absolutely stunning collection of black-and-white photographs that document the lives of the Sera Jey monks of Tibet.