Book Description

Fans all over the world are in awe of the Chinese pianist Lang Lang’s magnificent talent and won over by his immense charm. The excitement his performances evoke is well documented in the legions of reviews and profiles about him. What is less known, however, is the heart-wrenching story of his journey from a young prodigy in an industrial city in northern China to one of the greatest pianists of our time.

Journey of a Thousand Miles documents the remarkable story of a boy and his father who sacrificed almost everything—family, financial security, Lang Lang’s childhood, and their reputation in China’s insular classical music world—for the belief in a young boy’s talent. An engaging, informative cultural commentator who bridges east and west, Lang Lang has written more than an autobiography; his story opens a door to Chinese culture at a time when the world's attention will be on Beijing. Written with David Ritz, the coauthor of many bestselling autobiographies, Journey of a Thousand Miles is an inspiring story that will give readers new insight into China and classical music, and appreciation for the courage and sacrifice it takes to achieve artistic greatness.

Product Description
Hardcover book (green cloth with gilt lettering on the spine). 289 pages. Includes numerous illustrations, three maps, notes, bibliographical notes, and index. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of David Marshall Lang, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thomson Gale. The length of the entry is 568 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Customer Reviews (1)

4.5 Rating. Very interesting, and great details.
12 chapters of knowledge. David Marshall Lang has created a masterpiece which breaks down the history of Armenia little by little. There area also tons of pictures of ancient Armenian artifacts, and incredible pictures of Armenian locations. This book was incredible. Page after page of facts. Only problem was it seemed to be a little short (300 pages). Could have been a bit longer.

Gave it a 4.5.

Do I Recommend This?: Yes ... Read more

Book Description

One of the best known examples of the hagiographic novel, this is the tale of an Indian prince who becomes aware of the world's miseries and is converted to Christianity by the monk Barlaam. Barlaam and Josaphat (Ioasaph) were believed to have re-converted India after her lapse from conversion to Christianity, and they were numbered among the Christian saints. Centuries ago likenesses were noticed between the life of Josaphat and the life of the Buddha; the resemblances are in incidents, doctrine, and philosophy, and Barlaam's rules of abstinence resemble the Buddhist monk's. But not till the mid-nineteenth century was it recognised that, in Josaphat, the Buddha had been venerated as a Christian saint for about a thousand years.

The origin of the story of Barlaam and Ioasaph—which in itself has little peculiar to Buddhism—appears to be a Manichaean tract produced in Central Asia. It was welcomed by the Arabs and by the Georgians. The Greek romance of Barlaam appears separately first in the 11th century. Most of the Greek manuscripts attribute the story to John the Monk, and it is only some later scribes who identify this John with John Damascene (ca. 676-749). There is strong evidence in Latin and Georgian as well as Greek that it was the Georgian Euthymius (who died in 1028) who caused the story to be translated from Georgian into Greek, the whole being reshaped and supplemented. The Greek romance soon spread throughout Christendom, and was translated into Latin, Old Slavonic, Armenian, and Arabic. An English version (from Latin) was used by Shakespeare in his caskets scene in The Merchant of Venice.

David M. Lang's Introduction traces parallels between the Buddhist and Christian legends, discusses the importance of Arabic versions, and notes influences of the Manichaean creed.

Customer Reviews (3)

Early Christianity Meets Buddhism
I came upon this book by chance through a reference to an early Christian text which was based upon the story of the Buddha.I was intrigued and needed to read the book for myself.

This book, Barlaam and Iosaph, has long been attributed to St. John of Damascus and was written in about 750 A.D. subsequent to the Nicene Creed (mentioned in the text) and about the time, the editor informs us, of the Iconoclastic Controversy within the Christian Church.

The book begins with an introduction which describes a journey of an Apostle to India for purposes of encouraging conversions to Christianity.A remarkable feature of the story is the clear parallels it has to the life of the Buddha.

There was a mighty king, Abener, a pagan who persecuted the Christians.He had a son, Iosaph.At his birth, it was predicted he would be either a world ruler or a Christian holy man.The king sheltered Iosaph in a palace and gave him every pleasure imaginable.At Iosaph's entreaties, he was allowed to see the palace grounds.During these sheltered trips, he encountered an old man, a sick man, and a beggar and became aware of the transitory, suffering character of human life.

This story, of course, will be familiar to every student of Buddhism.

Iosaph is tutored in secret by a Christian ascetic, Barlaam.After many lengthy discourses on the nature of Christian doctrine, based primarily upon the Hebrew and Christian Bibles and upon Church fathers, Iosaph converts to Christianity.He is persecuted by his father.We see a debate between defenders of Christianity and the idolators.Iosaph is tempted in the flesh by a lovely wanton woman but with the help of God resists the temptation -- with great difficulty.Abener offers Iosaph one-half his kingdom.Iosaph accepts and Christianity is spread throughout this land.

Abener sees the error of his ways, repents of his persecution of the Christians and of his son, converts to Christianity, and dies redeemed.Then, Iosaph meets his destiny.He renounces his kingdom and leaves to assume the life of a mendicant monk in the desert.

He is able to find Barlamm and continues under his tutelage until Barlaam's death.Iosaph renounces his kingship at the age of 25, we are told, and spends 35 years as a monk wandering the desert.

There is much Buddhism here but much of early Christianity as well.The closing scenes of the book, including Iosaphs' renunciation of his kingdom and the description of his life in the desert as a monk, are for me powerful moments, strange as they may be to current sensibilities.There are also a good many digressions and parables throughout the text that help take the weight from the lengthy expositions of doctrine.

This book is one of the earliest in the Loeb Series of the classics.I didn't know about early Christian awareness of Buddhism and this book showed it to me.There many books that explore current relationships between Buddhism and Christianity and Judaism.Here we have it at and early date, and I would love to learn more.

This is a tale of the life of the spirit which still has power to move the reader with the power of the religious, ascetic life.

"An Epic of Faith and Triumph"
To place this on the shelves of classic christian literature would indeed be appropriate.This book is essential for the layman or scholar alike.I would also suggest reading it to your children at home.The content of the text has a serene fluidity that will keep you paced and at ease with the storyline.Although, there are no really big climatic peaks in this story, but the book just seems to maintin a poetic and heartwarming balance the whole way through.I will read this masterpiece again, and I hope you will grasp ahold of this wonderful relic of Christian literature.

The Great Classic of Eastern Christanity
Each of the major Christian traditions may be said to have a classic thatexpresses it's spirit in words.For Catholicism, Dante's "DivineComedy" can arguably be said to be the greatest literary work by abeliever.Reformed Protestantism might claim "Paradise Lost" inthe same way.For Independant Protestentism, Bunyan's "Pilgrim'sProgress" serves as a common touchstone and expression of the faith. All are well-known to educated Westerners.From the East, nothing olderthan Dostoyevesky enjoys a wide reading.St. John Damascene's"Baralam and Iosaph" takes the place within Eastern traditionthat the other classics do in their own.Early Church tradition heldthat St. Thomas converted India. That conversion did not hold.St. John ofDamascus, writing in the 6th century, told the story of India's secondconversion.The story may be a legend based on the life of the Bhudda, wholived a millenium before.Certainly there are resemblences: St. Johnwrites of a prince, brought up in a palace, who never sees anything butbeauty and ease, until he leaves as a young adult.On the first day of hisjourney, he meets with a cripple, a sick man, and an old man, and is throwninto a spiritual crisis.This is consistent with Bhuddist traditionsregarding their founder.The stories differ with what comes after.Unlikethe Bhudda, Iosaph does not found a religion; rather, in fleeing hisfather, King Abenneir, he takes counsel from a monk, Baralaam, who impartsthe faith to him.Eastern Christanity, in the sixth century, was in astate of spiritual ferment, as the faith constructed what Malachai Martincalled "castle visions" in his book, "The New Castle." The castle vision was a culture's original but fully-developed concept ofhow life on Earth ought to be, and what Man's relationship to God was meantto be.(The other great castle visions included Catholicism, the LutheranReformation, Angkor Wat, and American idealism, according to Martin.)St.John wrote in a century that saw the rise of Mohammad and Islam; the fallof the Zoroastrian Persian Empire; and the Iconoclast schism that threatnedto tear the early church apart.Other heresies abounded: Arian kings ruledGothic lands in the West; Nestorians abounded in the East, even reachingChina.A writer of the previous century remarked that when one asked thebaker for a loaf of bread, the reply was likely to include a discussion ofthe nature of the Son, or on His procession through the Father, or on thetwo Natures in one Person, and the like.Stylites stood upon pillars foras much as a half-century, praying and fasting, in all weather, wearingtheir beards for garments, living on what the birds and pilgrims broughtthem.The world was then near the zenith of what Spengler called"Magian" civilization, in his "The Decline of theWest."Magian civilization was the name given to all the religousmovements, beginning with Zoroaster in the 7th Century, B.C., and thepost-Captivity Jewish prophets, including both Christanity, Islam, and thehost of neo-Platonist, Gnostic, and other movements, that looked beyondthis world to a Judgement Day and taught that a spiritual war was beingfought between Good and Evil.Even as these religons were, in many cases,mutually exclusive, they shared the common characteristics noted above, andgave a distinct flavor to the age between the conversion of Constantine andthe Crusades.In this milieu, St. John wrote of Iosaph's flight fromhis angry father, of his life in the desert with Baralaam, and of theireventual capture by Abenneir.Iosaph's meek and holy example broke throughthe old King's hard heart, and he, too becomes a monk, after a life livedas a bloody tyrant.(Abenneir is even named on the feast day of Baralaamand Iosaph in some Eastern communities.) The passages on Iosaph andBaraalam's life as desert monks will conjur strange feelings in Westernminds:the joy with which they fasted, denied their bodies, andvoluntarily endured pain in pursiut of holieness are utterly strange to ourway of life.Whether or not St. John was passing on a legend of theBhudda unknowingly or not, the spirit of the East, when it was first andfully the East, prevades this remarkable work.Reading it is like openinga wondow into the soul of a distant world, yet one that was, in time andspace, much nearer to the beginning of Christanity than we are (and perhapsnearer spiritually, too). -Lloyd A. Conway ... Read more