About this ebook
"Floating Lanterns on Murky Waters: Night Vigils by the Pier" is a deeply moving, philosophically resonant memoir exploring the universal human struggle between our desperate need to control life and the transformative liberation of letting go.
Trained in London as an architectural engineer, author Andrew Tearence Jackson spent the first four decades of his life treating reality as a construction project—clinging white-knuckled to blueprints, risk matrices, and rigid five-year plans. When a four-year urban renewal project is abruptly canceled, leaving him devastated by grief and professional disillusionment, he retreats to an ancient riverside monastery in the tropics.
Guided by the gentle wisdom of venerable abbot Luang Por Somchai and local river villagers, Andrew learns the traditional sacred craft of the floating lantern (Loy Krathong): slicing buoyant discs of fresh green banana trunk, folding supple leaves into delicate lotus petals, crowning the vessel with golden marigolds and sandalwood incense, and lighting a trembling beeswax candle.
Kneeling on the cold, mossy granite steps of the temple pier, he faces the terrifying spiritual moment of truth: lowering his fragile, glowing creation into the dark, swirling current and taking his hands away.
Written with exquisite literary prose, profound psychological insight, and rich sensory descriptions of tropical river life, "Floating Lanterns on Murky Waters" offers an essential sanctuary of peace for an anxious, overworked modern world. It is a timeless testament to the power of surrender, proving that true freedom is found not in fighting the current, but in trusting the river with an open palm.
Discover more
About the author
Andrew Tearence Jackson is an architectural historian, sensory anthropologist, and emeritus professor of cross-cultural heritage. Born in the United Kingdom to an Anglo-Asian family and educated in London and Paris, he has spent over four decades documenting the vernacular timber structures, riverfront trading communities, and traditional botanical curing arts of Southeast Asia. His work explores the deep psychological and philosophical parallels between ancestral artisan craft and human resilience. "Floating Lanterns on Murky Waters: Night Vigils by the Pier" is his fourth critically acclaimed memoir, capturing the timeless wisdom of riverside spiritual rituals and the liberating peace of non-attachment.
