Other Resources
|
What Makes You Not a Buddhist
|
Music Books > Beastie Boys > Item 1
 |
What Makes You Not a Buddhist
|
by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse
Sales Rank: 11317
|
List Price: $19.95
$13.57
At Amazon
on 12-29-2007.
|
|
Features
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition December 5, 2006
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590304063
ISBN-13: 978-1590304068
Product Dimensions:
8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
Here at last is a crisp new voice in Tibetan Buddhism. Khyentse, a lama from an influential family and Buddhist lineage in Bhutan, is also a filmmaker, responsible for the sleeper hit The Cup, about a group of Tibetan monks obsessed with soccer. The monk brings the same multicultural fluency to his first book. He can make references to Viagra and Camilla Parker-Bowles as easily as he can tell stories of the Buddha's life. With confidence tempered by wit, he cuts to the core of Buddhism: four "seals"—truths—that make up a Buddhist "right view" of the world and existence. This book is not, repeat not, about meditation. Instead, it looks at everyday life through a Buddhist lens, understanding happiness and suffering from that perspective. Enlightenment ends suffering but also trumps happiness. Khyentse writes persuasively about the importance of understanding emptiness: disappointment lessens, expectations soften, and change is not a shock. There is much food for thought in this short book for Buddhist students and for anyone interested in the ongoing adaptation of traditional Eastern wisdom into postmodern Western settings. "You can change the cup," Khyentse writes, "but the tea remains pure." (Jan. 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Review
"Here at last is a crisp new voice in Tibetan Buddhism. . . . There is much food for thought in this short book for Buddhist students and for anyone interested in the ongoing adaptation of traditional Eastern wisdom into postmodern Western settings."—Publishers Weekly
"A pleasant refresher or an excellent introduction to Buddhism, even for those who choose not to be Buddhists."—New Age Retailer
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
This is a wonderful little book, 130 pages of distilled wisdom from a man who is known most widely as a film maker, the director of The Cup, but who is otherwise a well-respected teacher from the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism. Besides being deeply familiar with Buddhist scholarship, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse has traveled and worked widely in Europe and North America, knows the cultures of the countries, and is able to explicate Buddhist principles with examples that resonate for Star Wars fans and suburban Republicans. The purpose of the book, the author notes, is not to make the reader a Buddhist, but to explain what it means to be a Buddhist. It's not a book about how to be, but a book about the implications of being. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse does this through the Four Seals, truths about the physical, phenomenal, and psychological world that the Buddha himself invited his students to examine and investigate. They are: .....1. All compounded things are impermanent. .....2. All emotions are pain. .....3. All things have no inherent existence. .....4. Nirvana is beyond concepts. Each seal is discussed in separate chapters and illustrated with examples from contemporary life, as well as from the life of Siddhartha, the prince who gave up his pampered court life to seek greater truth and who later became known as The Buddha, the Enlightened One. Full of sharp humor directed at everyone from spiritual seekers to corporate suits, from tree huggers to neoconservatives occupying the White House, this witty volume is a pithy introduction to Buddhism and would make a great gift for any one interested in the philosophy. I've already purchased one volume for a friend and suspect I'll be buying a few more in the coming year.
Comment | Permalink |
(Report this)
|
What Makes You Not a Buddhist
Updated on 12-29-2007.
|
|
NOTICE: All product prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
(C) Copyright 1996-2002 Musicbookshops.com. All Rights Reserved
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Last Modified : 12-29-2007
|
