What if you set out to travel the world and got sidetracked in a Himalayan sewing workshop? What if that sidetrack turned out to be your life's path - your way home?

Part art book, part memoir, part spiritual travelogue, Threads of Awakening is a delightful and inspiring blend of adventure and introspection. Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo shares her experience as a California woman traveling to the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India to manage an economic development fund, only to wind up sewing pictures of Buddha instead. Through her remarkable journey, she discovered that a path is made by walking it--and that some of the best paths are made by walking off course.

For more than 500 years, Tibetans have been creating sacred images from pieces of silk. Much rarer than paintings and sculptures, these stitched fabric thangkas are among Tibet's finest artworks. Leslie studied this little-known textile art with two of its brightest living masters and let herself discover where curiosity and devotion can lead. In this book, she reveals the unique stitches of an ancient needlework tradition, introduces the Buddhist deities it depicts, and shares insights into the compassion, interdependence, and possibility they embody.

Threads of Awakening: An American Woman's Journey Into Tibet's Sacred Textile Art, Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo, She Writes Press, Paperback, 328 pp, $24.95

One of few non-Tibetans to master the Buddhist art of applique thangka, Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo stitches bits of silk into elaborate figurative mosaics that bring the transformative images of Buddhist meditation to life. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally and featured in the documentary, "Creating Buddhas: The Making and Meaning of Fabric Thangkas."

She teaches women around the globe through her Stitching Buddhas virtual apprentice program, an online, hands-on course bridging East and West, traditional and contemporary.

After two decades abroad, Leslie returned to southern California where she now lives near the beach with three cats and enough fabric to last several lifetimes - but never enough for the next project. Visit her at www.threadsofawakening.com.

CONTENTS: Threads of Awakening
Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama		vii
Preface		ix
Introduction		xi
Part One: FIBERS
	Piece 1: His Holiness Will See You Now	3
	Piece 2: Fabric	6
	Piece 3: First Contact	8
	Piece 4: A Finger Pointing to the Himalayas	11
	Piece 5: Stepping Out	16
	Piece 6: Making Moves	19
	Piece 7: My Good Friend, Fear	25
Part Two: THREADS
	Piece 8: Sick in Delhi	31
	Piece 9: A False Start . . . or Was It?	35
	Piece 10: Coming Home to Dharamsala	39
	Piece 11: Settling In	44
	Piece 12: Making Connections	50
	Piece 13: A Room with a View	54
	Piece 14: Dharma Class	57
	Piece 15: Where Are You Going?	64
	Piece 16: Precious Human Life	66
	Piece 17: Monsoon	68
	Piece 18: Veg Wallah	70
	Piece 19: Insiders	73
	Piece 20: Refuge and a New Name	77
	Piece 21: Norbulingka	83
Part Three: WARP
	Piece 22: Thangka? Tonka.	107
	Piece 23: Emperors, Lamas, and Silk	112
Part Four: WEFT
	Piece 24: In Search of a Teacher	119
	Piece 25: My Teacher's Teacher	123
	Piece 26: Drawing, Horsehair, Silk, and Meat	125
	Piece 27: Losing My Teacher	130
	Piece 28: Like Being Adopted	132
Part Five: PIECES
	Piece 29: Step into the Tsemkhang	139
	Piece 30: Wrapping, Turning, Making the Silk Dance	144
	Piece 31: Teatime	148
	Piece 32: Hanging Out with Buddhas	150
	Piece 33: Back to the Drawing	153
	Piece 34: The Deity Has No Shame	157
	Piece 35: Outsider In	160
	Piece 36: Choose Your Poison	164
	Piece 37: Mastering the Process	168
	Piece 38: Horse Tales	171
	Piece 39: Two, Three, Seven, or a Thousand Eyes	176
	Piece 40: Different Eyes, Different World	180
	Piece 41: Patience--Not!	184
Part Six: REVERENCE
	Piece 42: Can You Make a Thangka for Me?	189
	Piece 43: Multi-Colored Weave of Humanity	195
	Piece 44: Remembering the Silkworms	202
	Piece 45: Three Syllables, Three Doors	206
	Piece 46: Frames of Brocade	209
	Piece 47: Blessings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama	215
Part Seven: BUDDHAS
	Piece 48: Padmapani, My Patience Tester	243
	Piece 49: Green Tara, the Swift Protectress	248
	Piece 50: White Tara, Live Long and Practice	250
	Piece 51: Manjushri, Cutting Through Ignorance	252
	Piece 52: The Buddha, the Founder	255
	Piece 53: Medicine Buddha, Treating the Root Cause	257
	Piece 54: Lotus Flowers, Unstained by Circumstance	259
	Piece 55: Lotus-Born Guru Rinpoche	261
	Piece 56: Saraswati, Melodious Goddess	263
	Piece 57: Samantabhadra, Always Good	264
	Piece 58: Chenrezig, Focus on Just One	266
Epilogue		269
Acknowledgments		275
Appendix: Stitches and Steps of Tibetan Applique		279
Glossary of Selected Terms		298