"Reading this book, The Buddha in the Jungle, is to take a wondrous journey to an exotic land, full of magic chants, wise grandmothers, ghosts, elephants, snakes, and compassionate Buddhist monks. After extensive research, Kamala presents us with a collection of marvelously readable and evocative stories that recreate the flavor of a way of life that has now disappeared. This is a book of history, anthropology, and Buddhist teachings, and it is delightfully easy and fun to read."—Wes Nisker, co-editor of the Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind, and author of The Essential Crazy Wisdom and The Big Bang, the Buddha and the Baby Boom Author Kamala Tiyavanich is a Thai Buddhist. She earned a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian History from Cornell University and is the author of Forest Recollections: Wandering in Twentieth-Century Thailand.