Pilgrims: Becoming the Path Itself

by Lena Herzog

update

Genres: Photography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Lily Dorin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unorthodox look at buddhism. Unsentimental and uncanny. A beautiful book.

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems to be the accompaniment to Werner Herzog's film, WHEEL OF TIME, which was a lot more interesting than these static documentary photographs.


German filmmaker Werner Herzog captures the faith of thousands on an annual pilgrimage to Bhod Gaya, the Indian village in which Buddha is thought to have attained enlightenment. Structuring his documentary around the Kalachakra initiation -- a fascinating 12-day ordainment process for Buddhist monks involving the creation of a large "wheel of time" out of sand -- Herzog traces the foundation of a lifelong spiritual journey.

[Felicia Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lena Herzog's Pilgrims: Becoming the Path Itself is one of those rare and enduring photography books one can revisit over and over again as years pass and see something new each time. In it are moments of the drama as well as the serenity of complete devotion, as the subtle, technically masterful portraits and landscapes show the practical, sometimes awkward, procedures of ritual and its context in all their complexity and wonder. Herzog's Pilgrims is in its own way a journey, an unsentimental and compassionate exploration of the human soul.