What makes Richard Bernstein’s Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of a Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment a particularly interesting book is that it is not wholly a history. Neither is the book a wholly autobiographical memoir or a travelogue. Rather, Bernstein’s Ultimate Journey is a hybridized combination of all three genres. Bernstein opens his book by telling the story of the seventh century Buddhist monk, Hsuan Tsang, who set off on his own ultimate journey to search for enlightenment. Hsuan Tsang, just 26 years old at the time of his departure, was dissatisfied with the translation of seminal Buddhist texts, and intended to trace the history of Buddhism back to its roots in order to arrive at the clearest and most precise teaching of Buddhism that he could find.
Although Bernstein was completely different from the young monk in terms of the place and time he occupied in history, as well as his own belief systems and motivations, his book describes his own journey for a different kind of enlightenment, a journey that is patterned after the pilgrimage of Hsuan Tsang. Bernstein’s motives may seem curious. He admits to the reader that he is a secularist who borders on outright atheism, despite the fact the fact that he was raised by Jewish parents who observed the traditions and rituals of their religion and culture. Yet Bernstein’s narrative substantiates the possibility that two people who are separated by vast chasms of difference can be somewhat similar, and the sharing of his own journey is as revelatory as the tale that he tells about Hsuan Tsang, if not more so.
Bernstein, a literary critic for the venerable newspaper The New York Times, is somewhat of a scholar of Chinese culture. Prior to this book, Bernstein had written a book called The Coming Conflict with China. He recognizes the value of Buddhism, though he himself is not a practicing Buddhist. The enlightenment which he seeks, then, is not exactly the same kind of enlightenment that Hsuan Tsang was seeking so many centuries earlier. In fact, it is radically different. While Hsuan Tsang was committed to discovering the tenets of Buddhism as they were articulated and recorded by the earliest practitioners of this faith, Bernstein is completely preoccupied by uniquely secular concerns. In fact, the primary dilemma that motivates his journey for enlightenment is entirely foreign to the Buddhist monk, for Bernstein is seeking answers to his questions and doubts about the marital relationship. Ultimately, through the experiences of his journey, he determines that the best way to resolve his dilemma is to simply be present to it, grappling with it day by day, a Buddhist concept indeed.
Bernstein is burdened with concerns and fears that were absent for his predecessor, Hsuan Tsang. In particular, Bernstein is worried about the possibility that he will be discovered and somehow sanctioned by Chinese authorities because of his earlier book, which was not, apparently, a particularly positive portrayal of China. He fears “being accused of being a journalist impersonating a Buddhist pilgrim….” (Bernstein 57). Such fears may not have been entirely unreasonable. Initially, Bernstein’s motives really were to follow in Hsuan Tsang’s footsteps precisely and he was, obviously, an American journalist. As the journey evolves, however, Bernstein becomes less concerned about being discovered, mainly because his motives have changed completely. While he is still following in the young monk’s footsteps, Bernstein has become more clear about his own particular motives and more attentive to his own experience of the journey. Initially choosing to mimic Hsuan Tsang’s journey for its “theological purpose” (Bernstein 33), Bernstein begins to find his own authentic purpose, and it is at this point that the text begins to develop greater profundity and meaning. When Bernstein makes the transition from trying to assert his identity and purpose as journalist and to embrace the authenticity of the other aspects of himself, Ultimate Journey begins to feel more appealing to the reader, more true and more convincing.
As the result of his journey, Bernstein feels that he has begun to understand more about the monk’s journey and his motives, but more importantly, he begins to truly understand himself. This is the function of a journey or quest, and Bernstein’s narrative is most compelling and authentic when he is most open about his own spiritual and existential dilemmas. While the book does not end with Bernstein radically changing his religious or spiritual beliefs or practices, what is notable is the way in which Bernstein has, indeed, been transformed. The urgent questions that he had about Hsuan Tsang and his journey begin to fade in importance compared to the urgent questions that he has about himself and his place in the world. Although Bernstein’s journey was probably somewhat easier, both physically and logistically, than that of Hsuang Tsang, Bernstein was still confronted with the challenges of learning how to negotiate unfamiliar territories, cultures, and beliefs, reconciling them with his own lived experience. Along the way, Bernstein invites the reader, albeit subtly, on his or her own spiritual journey. By accompanying Bernstein through his narrative, the reader can confront some of the same questions and dilemmas that Bernstein addresses, even if from the position of an armchair. Bernstein, then, serves the function of not just offering the reader a history, an autobiographical memoir, or a travelogue, but an invitation to enter into the center of one’s own belief and being.
Bernstein’s Ultimate Journey is a vivid and compelling text that hybridizes conventional genres and, in doing so, leverages the power and strength of each. Bernstein goes beyond telling the history of Hsuan Tsang, transcends his own existential concerns and experiences, and avoids reducing his text to a simple journal of a journey. By combining the strengths of each genre, Bernstein arrives at a better understanding of himself, and invites the reader to do the same.
Works Cited
Bernstein, Richard. Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of a Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment. New York: Vintage,
