Servants of the Buddha: Winter in a Himalayan Convent

I went to High School with Anna Grimshaw and so my opinion may be biased by my personal admiration for her. That being said I found the book to be a fascinating insight into life in a Buddhist nunnery. Few westerners have ever been afforded such a unique opportunity and I suspect that fewer still would have had the fortitude to withstand the privations she experienced. I found the book to be a thought provoking account of the role of women in the Buddhist clergy. Clearly the monks believed them to be lesser persons, fit only for manual labor but where would the men have been without the support of the women. Furthermore, it probably never occured to the monks that their belief in reincarnation would have to include the possibility that they were women themselves in a previous life. I coudn't put it down until I had finished the book.

Grimshaw tells an interesting and important story. She dispels many of the myths and orientalized perceptions Westerners have about monastic life in a Tibetan Buddhist community. Unfortunately, even though she presents herself as a former scholar, her facts about Tibetan history and philosophy are flawed and therefore distracting. Grimshaw makes numerous generalizations about Tibetan nunneries that are incorrect. Buy this book for a good story, and some lessons on the nature of suffering in a person's life, but buy Hanna Havenik's "Tibetan Buddhist Nuns" for factual information on Tibetan Buddhist nuns.