Novice

This book features an extraordinary quest for peace of mind. In this unforgettable memoir, a young man finds himself disillusioned by the conventional expectations of his parents, teachers, and culture. Desperate to articulate his deepest hopes and dreams, he discards his university education and abandons home, family, and possessions to journey through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia in search of a meaningful life. Narrowly escaping death by sickness and drugs, he encounters the Tibetan refugees in exile and, entranced, finally stops running. He takes the ancient teachings to heart but, eight years later, finds that his path is neither straight nor narrow ...and that there's no turning back.

"Writings about spiritual journeys have the potential to read like deadly dull navel-gazing. This book is not like that. Schettini is a keen observer of what's around him and what's going on inside him. He has obviously spent decades mulling over the material and has a nice, self-aware style." -- Michael Hill, Associated Press "A lively read with a deep meaning ... told with ruthless honesty and understated humor in an engaging combination. I recommend it enthusiastically." -- Robert Thurman, Professor of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University, author of Inner Revolution and Why the Dalai Lama Matters "What a story! By turns epic and heroic, tender and touching, The Novice imparts a hugely important lesson to our times. It is a gift to every Western seeker of the 'spiritual' East. With the seductive verve of a novelist, Schettini tells a subversive and liberating tale." -- Glenn Wallis, PhD, author of Basic Teachings of the Buddha, The Dhammapada, and Mediating the Power of Buddhas "A wonderful achievement, gripping and calmly insightful by turn, honest to the point of being a sustained howl of pain at times, with some brilliantly succinct portraits of the author's teachers and friends." -- Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism without Beliefs

Namaste Radio:Author Stephen Schettini discusses his book, The Novice: Why I Became A Buddhist Monk, Why I Quit and What I Learned.

Schettini, as a middle-class Italian Catholic boy, hitch-hikes from his native England to India to become a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan tradition, from 1972 to 1980.

He learns to speak and read Tibetan, lives and studies in Sera Monastic University as the only resident Westerner, and is trained at the École des Hautes Études Tibétaines in Switzerland to interpret and teach Tibetan Buddhism to other Westerners.

Eight years later, and after a year in a Tibetan refugee camp in Southern India and a prolonged encounter with austere southern Buddhism, he grows disillusioned and abandons his monastic path.