Pico Iyer
Pico Iyer
Siddharth Pico Raghavan Iyer, known as Pico Iyer, is a British-born essayist and novelist of Indian origin, best known for his travel writing. He is the author of numerous books on crossing cultures including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk and The Global Soul. An essayist for Time since 1986, he also publishes regularly in Harper's, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, and many other publications...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionWriter
CountryIndia
adventure responsibility discovery
So travel for me is an act of discovery and of responsibility as well a grand adventure and a constant liberation.
frustration long suffering
He [Dalai Lama] feels, and I feel, and everyone feels the suffering and frustration of the Tibetans who long for action, who long for a militant response. But, in some ways very few of those individuals have ever been in the position of being head of state.
chinese suffering tough
As soon as I began to talk to Dalai Lama, I realized that Chinese and Tibetans from his point of view are mostly the same. And as he pointed out during the recent disturbances, the Chinese are suffering under a tough government much as the Tibetans are.
oddities worry world
The Australians, it seems to me, thrive on their remoteness from the world and see it as a way of keeping up a code of "No worries, mate," while peddling their oddities to visitors: nonconformity is at once a fact of life for many, and a selling point.
chinese flight tibetan
When I was two years old, I heard about his [Dalai Lama] flight from Tibet. Being very little, I said, "Oh, good Tibetans, bad Chinese." Those were the black-and-white ways that I thought.
humility
Travel is an act of humility
buddhist heart acknowledge
The Dalai Lama acknowledges that he's met Westerners who to some extent are clearly Easterners at heart, and he would never want them not to become Buddhists just because they happened to be born in California.
easter past korea
In the past, Ive visited remote places - North Korea, Ethiopia, Easter Island - partly as a way to visit remote states of mind: remote parts of myself that I wouldnt ordinarily explore.
tragedy comedy
Comedy is nothing more than tragedy deferred.
eden curiosity purgatory
One curiosity of being a foreigner everywhere is that one finds oneself discerning Edens where the locals see only Purgatory.
moon water way
Like the moon on the water, in a way. When you confront a Zen master, what you're really seeing are not his limitations but yours.
liberation knows
As soon as I'm on the road, I see, often palpably, that I know nothing at all, which is always a great liberation.
waiting praying dalai
The Dalai Lama says don't pray for peace, don't wait for peace, don't talk about peace - do it right now.
buddhist catholic speak
The Dalai Lama says that when a Catholic and a Buddhist speak, the Buddhist becomes a deeper Buddhist and the Catholic becomes a deeper Catholic.