Sacred Buddhist dance is a tradition that goes back to the ninth century. Today monk dancers in the Shechen monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, keep this Tantric tradition alive. Matthieu Ricard, author of The Monk and the Philosopher, has written this fascinating book and taken the photographs for it. These dances play an important role in Tibetan Buddhism: "With their alternation of beauty, humor, emotion, and deep symbolism, they awaken our awareness of the fragility of existence, the swift passage of time and the importance of an altruistic attitude and an upright way of life." The dances are teaching stories, and Ricard explains the meaning of a number of them that are linked to the End of the Year and the Festival of the Tenth Day. The full-color photographs put on ample display the bright costumes, masks, and instruments connected with the dances. Here is another cultural heritage from Tibet that must be saved.