Article: A stony path to enlightenment: Travel

MY SEARCH for Geshe Yeshi Tob-den, a Tibetan hermit living in a shepherd's hut above the snow line in the Himalayas, began several months back with a car ride in northern India that easily could have been my last. Night had fallen, and the villag e whereI was staying in Bihar was surrounded by a small army of communist bandits who were moving in from the darkness out beyond the rice paddies. We had to get out, fast.

We had two bodyguards, but my guide decided that wasn't enough. A third rifleman piled into the back of the Ambassador car, so that we had guns poking out of every window except the driver's. The road was cratered and rutted, so it was impossible to drive at more than 15 mph. ...