Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains

Misadventures on a Buddhist Pilgrimage

By: Paul Barach

Narrated by: Paul Barach

Age 28 and fed up with the office job he settled for, Paul Barach decided to travel to Japan to follow a vision he had in college: to walk the ancient 750-mile Shikoku pilgrimage trail.

Here are some things he did not decide to do: learn Japanese, do any research, road test his hiking shoes, or check if it's the hottest summer in history.

And he went anyway, hoping to change his life.

Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains is the absurd and dramatic journey of one impulsive American's search for answers on a holy path in an exotic land. Along the pathway connecting 88 Buddhist temples, he'll face arduous mountain climbs, hide from guards in a toilet stall, challenge a priest to a mountaintop karate battle, and other misadventures.

He'll also delve into the fascinating legends of this ancient land, including a dragon-fighting holy man, a berserker warrior-priest, haunted temples, and a vendetta-driven ghost that overthrew a dynasty.

Told with humor and humility, Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains is a funny, engaging memoir about the consequences of impulsive decisions, and the things you can discover while you're looking for something else.

Also, that boars are terrifying in person.

©2014 Paul Barach (P)2015 Paul Barach

Thank you for accepting this commitment

Thank you for sharing . Your story allows all who have attempted a pilgrimage to relive those moments This is a great gifts

Multiple narration problems

I like the text, but I wish I'd bought this as a paperback. Problems include an early echoey chapter that should have been re-recorded, mispronunciations (cicada, quay, for example), MULTIPLE re-recorded sentences and chunks where the first attempt was not deleted.

A great bar story for friends

Would you listen to another book narrated by Paul Barach?

The author seems a little tired of reading his book by the time he recorded this book. He also seems to lose his place frequently and repeats a sentence several times.

Any additional comments?

This book probably started out as a story he told friends over beers after he returned from his trip. Unfortunately, like most bar stories it seems like a really good idea at the time to write a book about it, but loses something in the longer form. He tries to intersperse a bit of humor, but even that seems forced. While the trek must have been amazing, the retelling is less impressive.

Ignore the editing issues, the story is fabulous!

I read about this book's audio editing issues before using one credit for the purchase. Yeah, there were some problems, but they did not detract from the author's excellent retelling of his epic physical and spiritual journey on the Shikoku Pilgrimage in Japan.

I downloaded this book because my wife and I are retired (she a Buddhist Chaplain) and we wished to resource other Westerners' experiences walking the entire 750-mile route. Like the author, we also ride bikes and backpack great distances. Paul Barach narrates this route like it is...no sugar coating the suffering he did on his arduous walk through Japan's rural communities, coastlines, and countryside.

If you are finding this book because you read June 2023 New York Times article about the Shikoku Pilgrimage, then this book will provide you a dose of reality should you intend to walk all or part of the route the author completed in 42 days.

Paul Barach is a great writer and an inspiration. I hope he publishes another book someday.

upsetting

Paul, you had a pile of good Intel on the history of this place. You were on a trail that sounds legit, your relatively funny. You cried about your blisters for fifteen chapters now and I'm tired of listening it. I want to hold out for your epiphany but as an American of your generation I'm truly upset at the way your representing us. It's like going on a car ride with a five year old screams the whole time, "I want McDonald's".