Today we welcome Bruce Berlin to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Bruce is the author of the memoir, From Camden to Kathmandu: You Don't Have to Know Where You're Going To Get Where You Want to Be, and this interview is part of his Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!
Bruce Berlin has been a Buddhist meditator for over fifty years, beginning in the spring of 1973 when he spent a month training with Thubten Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe at Kopan Monastery outside Kathmandu. He began his legal career at the Legal Aid Society in Trenton, New Jersey, later practicing poverty law at Western Massachusetts Legal Services. A former US Institute of Peace Fellow, he cofounded and directed New Mexicans for a Bilateral Nuclear Freeze and created The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He later founded New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics and spent eight years as a senior attorney with the New Mexico Public Education Department. He is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America and resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Connect with him on social media at:
➢Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bruce.berlin.5
➢Substack: https://openroadopenheart.substack.com/
In your book, From Camden to Kathmandu, a young lawyer’s improbable 1972 journey from the streets of Camden through pre-war Afghanistan, India and Nepal becomes a lifelong path of Buddhist practice, social activism, and the discovery that you don’t have to know where you’re going to get where you want to be. What set you on this incredible journey?
After completing one year of practicing law right out of law school, I felt frustrated and dissatisfied. I wondered whether I was even cut out to be a lawyer. So, I quit my job with no idea what I would do next. I began substitute teaching to pay my living expenses. Eight months later I still had no direction. I was in a rut and had to do something. I decided to sell my car to have some extra money to get away. Never having travelled abroad, I felt it was a perfect time to take off and explore the world, which is exactly what I did.
Overall, which country did you find more fascinating? Which more dangerous if any?
Afghanistan was both the most fascinating and most dangerous country I visited. For much of my time there, I felt like I had been thrust several hundred years back in time. On a three-day journey through the high desert from Herat to Mazar-i-Sharif, I was squeezed in the back of an open transport truck amongst twenty or so Afghan men with their rifles and packs. We stopped in a village where our old, beat up truck was the only vehicle in sight. The village square was filled with men in white robes and turbans, carrying rifles on white horses. I felt like I was on a movie set about the Arabian Nights.
While I was in Afghanistan, I heard about Westerners who had been killed by bandits. At one point, our truck broke down in the middle of nowhere. The driver called for help on a walkie-talkie. An old army surplus jeep soon came and picked up my three travelling companions and me. As the jeep took the four of us on toward Mazar, it began to get dark. I was riding next to the jeep driver. I was shocked when he opened the glove compartment, pulled out a revolver and handed it to me. Though we had no common language, I quickly realized I was literally riding shotgun to protect us in case we were attacked by bandits.
What drew you to the Buddhist religion?
Like a number of events on my journey, Buddhism sort of just fell into my lap. While I was wandering the streets of Kathmandu one day, I saw two classmates from my time at NYU School of Law, whom I didn’t actually know. I walked up to them and introduced myself. They told me they were there to take a month-long Buddhist retreat for Westerners conducted by two Tibetan lamas. It felt like divine intervention. Out of the blue, I was presented with an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I decided to forego the trek I had planned on and signed up for the retreat. During the retreat, I was captivated by the Buddhist concept that we are all part of one interconnected universe. Running into my two classmates halfway around the world that opened the door to my introduction to Buddhism was a real life validation of what the religion teaches.
Did you ever feel you found peace of mind after that?
Yes, but not on a permanent basis. I often feel peace of mind when I meditate or I’m out in nature, as well as at other times. Being present in the moment helps me feel peace of mind.
Surprise me. What is something that happens in the book that would make my mouth drop without giving too much away?
I was on a bus in the Nepalese mountains heading back to India when an avalanche blocked the mountain road. What followed was totally unexpected and a once-in-a lifetime experience.
What’s next for you?
I’m now 81 and retired. It’s been over 50 years since I returned from my journey to India and Nepal. While I continue to write my blog (https://openroadopenheart.substack.com), I’ve just gotten involved in an effort to have the NM legislature pass an act to prevent corporations from funding election campaigns and spending money to influence legislation. I’m also spending more time gardening, journaling and taking it easy.
In 1972, Bruce Berlin — a young poverty lawyer from Camden, New Jersey — set off on a journey with no clear destination. What began as a restless escape became one of the most formative adventures of his life. Traveling overland through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan at a time when those borders were still open to wanderers, Berlin found himself riding across the Afghan desert in the back of a truck with armed men and their rugs, navigating a world that would soon be transformed by war.
In India, something shifted. Visits to the sacred Buddhist sites of Bodh Gaya and Sarnath planted a seed. Then, in Kathmandu, a chance encounter with former law school classmates led Berlin to a month-long Tibetan Buddhist retreat at Kopan Monastery — an experience he would later describe as perhaps the most important month of his life. Guided by Lama Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, Berlin began a practice that would sustain him for the next fifty years.
From Camden to Kathmandu is a memoir about following the open road before you know where it’s going — and discovering that the destination finds you. Written with the documentary authenticity of real letters sent home, it is the story of a restless young man’s transformation into a meditator, activist, and lifelong seeker.
From Camden to Kathmandu is available at Amazon.
╰┈➤ Book Details:
➺ Title: From Camden to Kathmandu: You Don’t Have to Know Where You’re Going to Get Where You Want to Be
➺ Author: Bruce Berlin
➺ Genre: Memoir
➺ Sub-genre: Motivational Self-Help
➺ Language:English
➺ Pages: 190
➺ Publisher: Our Time Books
➺ Publication Date: October 2, 2025
➺ Formats: Paperback, Kindle
➺ Paperback ISBN: 978-0996623223
➺ Price: Paperback $18.00, Kindle $2.99, FREE with Kindle Unlimited
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