Authors: Robert Thurman, Dalai Lama
ISBN-13: 9780553370904, ISBN-10: 0553370901
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Date Published: December 1993
Edition: (Non-applicable)
The most prominent expert on Tibetan Buddhism in the West offers a translation of this essential book of Tibetan philosophy that captures the true spirit and poetry of the ...
The Dalai Lama's blessing attends Thurman's translation of the Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between . Composed by Padma Sambhava in the late eighth century, this text minutely describes the ``betweens'' ( Bardos ) or after-death transition states. Thurman, who opens this work with a new section of preliminary prayers, gives a helpful commentary in terms Westerners can understand and boldface portions to be read aloud in the presence of the dead. He closes by appending Nyingma tradition works to the main text. This text has already been translated in 1927 and 1975, and some of Thurman's new translation choices are questionable. For instance, the West has adopted the term karma , which expresses the original meaning better than evolution --an alternative that obscures the personal responsibility emphasized in Buddhism. In addition, since Tibetan pronouns are sexually neutral, alternating his with her from verse to verse confuses. Still, Westerners will find this a colorful, awesome journey. For informed readers.-- Dara Eklund, Los Angeles P.L.
List of Figures | ||
List of Color Plates | ||
Foreword | ||
Preface | ||
Pt. 1 | Preparations for the Journey | |
Ch. 1 | Background | 5 |
An Outline of Tibetan History | 5 | |
Tibet: A Spiritual Civilization | 10 | |
Tibet's Present Plight | 12 | |
Buddhism in Summary | 13 | |
Tibetan Ideas About Death | 18 | |
Ch. 2 | The Tibetan Science of Death | 23 |
What Is Death? | 23 | |
The Six Realms | 29 | |
The Three Buddha Bodies | 33 | |
The Body-Mind Complex | 35 | |
Stages of Death | 41 | |
The Reality of Liberation | 45 | |
Ch. 3 | The Tibetan Art of Dying | 51 |
Introduction | 51 | |
Ordinary Preparations for Death | 52 | |
Extraordinary Preparations | 58 | |
Ch. 4 | The Natural Liberation Literature | 83 |
The History of the Texts | 83 | |
The Sections of the Book | 87 | |
Pt. 2 | The Guidebook for the Journey: The Great Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between | |
Ch. 5 | The Between Prayers | 97 |
The Prayer of the Three Body Mentor Yoga | 99 | |
The Prayer for Help from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas | 105 | |
The Prayer for Deliverance from the Straits of the Between | 108 | |
The Prayer for Refuge from the Terrors of the Between | 112 | |
The Root Verses of the Six Betweens | 115 | |
Ch. 6 | The Guidebook to the Betweens | 117 |
The Prayer of the Reality Between | 117 | |
The Mild Deity Reality Between | 131 | |
The Fierce Deity Reality Between | 149 | |
Orientation to the Existence Between | 167 | |
Pt. 3 | Supplementary Translations | |
Ch. 7 | The Dharma Practice, Natural Liberation of the Instincts | 205 |
The Ten Branches of Accumulating Merit | 206 | |
Enlightening, Protecting, and Purifying | 210 | |
The Actual Visualization | 211 | |
Ch. 8 | The Natural Liberation Through Naked Vision, Identifying the Intelligence | 227 |
The Quintessence | 228 | |
The Need for This Identification | 229 | |
The Detailed Identification | 231 | |
Glossary | 243 | |
Essential Bibliography | 277 |