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ONE SPIRIT : How did your interest in Buddhist religion and culture develop?

DON FARBER: I was first drawn to Eastern spiritual traditions in the seventies and went to see great masters whenever they came to Southern California. I found truth in many traditions, but one master, Swami Muktananda said, "Choose one path," so I waited until I found what felt right for me.

In 1977 I met the Zen master and Buddhist scholar, Dr. Thich Thien-An at the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in L.A. I was moved by the compassion of the Vietnamese refugees at the temple, especially the elderly women, and decided to make a book about the life there. I became a disciple of Dr. Thien-An, studying with him until 1980 when he died tragically of cancer at age 54. Then, I practiced zazen and attended Dharma talks given by the Japanese Zen master, Maezumi Roshi, at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, which I also photographed extensively.

In the mid-eighties, I began studying Tibetan Buddhism with the Tibetan master, Geshe Gyeltsen, at his center in L.A., but continued visiting the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple to photograph, do practice, and interview the refugees. In 1987, Taking Refuge in L.A.: Life in a Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, was published by Aperture. My friend, the late Rick Fields, wrote an essay for the book and Thich Nhat Hanh wrote the introduction.

In 1988 I took a leap of faith, deciding to photograph Buddhist life internationally, and began intensive travel in Asia. In Buddhist cultures and communities I found that wisdom, compassion, and the practice of ahimsa (non-violence) was actualized in daily life. My work has been to share these precious ways of life through my photography, sometimes accompanied by my own words and sometimes with the words of others.

OS: What was your inspiration for creating Tibetan Buddhist Life?

DF: My idea to make the book developed after years of photographing Tibetans as part of my international project. In 1986 I photographed the great Tibetan master Kalu Rinpoche in Santa Fe. He was in poor health but his teaching was phenomenal. Kalu Rinpoche came to L.A. in 1988 and I made a formal portrait of him, several months before he died at age 84. I went to his monastery in Darjeeling, India to photograph the last ten days of his 49-day funeral, an extraordinary ceremony described in detail in Tibetan Buddhist Life. I then returned to L.A. to photograph His Holiness the Dalai Lama at a Kalachakra Initiation he gave here in 1989. I made portraits of great Tibetan masters and received teachings from them whenever I could.

In 1997 I received a Fulbright grant to photograph and research the religious life of Tibetan Buddhist refugees in India and Nepal. My wife, who is Tibetan, and our two-year-old daughter moved to my wife's village, a Tibetan refugee settlement in northern India, and from there I traveled with my brother-in-law in India to photograph Buddhist life in the Tibetan settlements and holy places. It was during this trip that the idea for the book took root and I began interviewing the masters I photographed. Tibetan Buddhist Life includes a number of these interviews.

OS: Your photographs have been published in a number of books, how does Tibetan Buddhist Life differ from these earlier works?

DF: My photographs have been used on many book covers, including The Art of Happiness. I have had two books published of my own photography. In addition to Taking Refuge in L.A., last fall Visions of Buddhist Life was published by the University of California Press, with a foreword by Huston Smith. It is a photographic retrospective of 25 years of chronicling Buddhism, with text about my personal and spiritual journey.

Tibetan Buddhist Life is very different. It is a visual and literary testament to Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan people and their history, and way of life. Much more than a reference book, in the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama: "I have no doubt that readers who know little or nothing about Tibetan Buddhism will learn a great deal from this book and that those who know something will learn a little more."

Several years ago, Barbara Berger, a senior editor at DK, discovered my website, www.BuddhistPhotos.com. She contacted me about a photo she needed. Later, I met her in New York, and when I shared my idea to make a book on Tibetan Buddhism, she was enthusiastic. The idea became a reality, and Barbara started guiding the making of the book, doing a fantastic job. Barbara, DK's art director Dirk Kaufman, and I, began to shape my photography and research into a book. We looked through thousands of my images, finding ones that best illustrated each subject. I have 195 images in the book, but we also included some images by other photographers including the late Galen Rowell and one of my heroes, Ernst Hass, from places that I have not yet photographed. There are also historic pictures and reproductions of Tibetan art from museum collections.

E-mails flew for months, with all of us viewing layouts simultaneously on our computers in New York and California. Because of the many people working together as a team, it felt more like we were making a movie than a book. The designers, Sherry Williams and Tilman Reitzle, did an amazing job. By using state-of-the-art computer graphics, pictures fade into areas of text in ways that bring words and images together. With the invaluable assistance of writer, Rebecca Novick, we have amassed a great deal of important information on many aspects of Tibetan Buddhist life and made it accessible in an exciting format. The book can be read from beginning to end, or can be opened at any page to learn more about a particular subject. Most important is that the book be of service, and I feel that it will be.

OS: All the images in Tibetan Buddhist Life are gorgeous, but do you have a personal favorite?

DF: I think my favorite is many other people's choice: the photo of two young monks (on the One Spirit cover). As I mentioned, I went to photograph Kalu Rinpoche's funeral in India. While there, I found this extraordinary quality of life in the monastery, where lay people, monks, and nuns were engaged in intense spiritual practice together, praying for the swift rebirth of their guru, Kalu Rinpoche. About 60 child monks lived there and I developed a rapport with two little brothers, who clowned for the camera. One day, I saw them standing together, looking off into the fog. I wonder sometimes if this moment was revealed to me by the grace of Kalu Rinpoche. I have two young children: our son Jigme is three and our daughter Palmo is eight. When children have opportunities to spend time in spiritual communities, what they may realize there will benefit not only themselves but the entire world. Tibetan Buddhist Life includes an exclusive interview that I did with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in which he says, "Parents should be the guru for their own children. The guru in the ordinary sense-that comes much later."

OS: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

DF: I hope that the book will be helpful for readers on their spiritual path. At the same time, they can learn about the remarkable contributions of the Tibetan Buddhist civilization as well as gain some understanding of the struggle and great effort by the Tibetan people to save their spiritual traditions, which continue to be under intense persecution under the Chinese occupation of Tibet. I feel that the way of life of the communities that are guided by the Tibetan masters is something precious to record and to share with the world. I also hope that readers will make a connection with the Tibetan people and the other ethnic groups who practice Tibetan Buddhism. There are many fantastic books on Tibetan Buddhism with teachings of incredible benefit. I see all of my books as being supportive, giving a context that can complement books of teachings, giving people a greater knowledge of the spiritual cultures that these teachings come from.

OS: What inspired you to donate part of the proceeds from the book to the Tibet Fund?

DF: These traditions need everyone's support if they are to survive. The monasteries, nunneries, refugee intake centers, orphanages, schools, clinics, and old age homes for Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal need help to support the people they serve. Refugee settlements are in serious need of basic infrastructure and clean drinking water. Rebuilding of monasteries in Tibet needs support. Clinics and orphanages in Tibet also need help. The Tibetan Buddhist way of life is seriously endangered.

The idea was suggested to give a portion of the royalties to a Tibetan relief organization and I immediately thought of Tibet Fund, the principal fund-raising organization of the Tibetan government-in-exile under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The organization's president, Rinchen Dharlo, who is an old friend, was formerly the representative for the Dalai Lama in the Americas. While living in India, I realized that one of the critical ways to save the Tibetan way of life was to help the refugees live longer; they are dying too young due to the primitive medical care and sanitation in rural India. Since this book is about Tibetan Buddhist life, it is the least I can do to share part of the royalties to directly benefit the Tibetans who are in dire need of help. Tibet Fund is doing very important work. People can give the book as gifts and have the satisfaction of knowing that they are directly helping Tibetans in need.