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Title: The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation or the Method of Realizing Nirvana Through Knowing the Mind: Proceded by an Epitome of Padma-Sambhava's Biography and Followed by Guru Phadampa Sangay's Teachings, According to English Renderings by Sardar by Sonam Wangfel Laden La, W. Y. Evans-Wentz, Lobzang Mingyur Dorje, Zla-Ba-Bsam-'Grub, Donald S., Jr. Lopez ISBN: 0-19-513315-3 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best
Comment: This is one of the earliest and still one of the best volumes to come out of the still-intact Tibetan region into the English language. Lots of Voltage.
It's interesting to see in these reviews how many people want to show off what they know.
Best Wishes
Rating: 5
Summary: The 4th book in the Tibetan Series by W.Y.Evans-Wentz
Comment: This is the forth and final book in the Tibetan series from W.Y.Evans-Wentz. Although this book can be used as a stand-alone book it is certainly not best read that way. Basically this is part of a developing series. The first book in the Tibetan series - The Tibetan Book of the Dead, is the fundamental book of the series which describes Buddhist philosophy, psychology and metaphysics. It is the best translation out there and the original! The second book in the series is called Tibets Greatest Yogi Milarepa and is the story of a great yogi who puts into practice most of what we learn from The Tibetan Book of the Dead. It is through the story of Milarepa that we learn more about The Tibetan Book of the Dead. In the story of Milarepa the yogi studies the Seven Books of Wisdom of the Great Path as taught to him by his gurus. Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, the third book in the series, is an expansion that explains those wisdoms and describes the yoga that is used to achieve them.
The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation is a three act book which ties together everything learned from the other three books. Essentially the start of the book develops a clearer understanding of the metaphysics associated with the first three books in the form of a general introduction. The book then lays out the premise for a type of yoga practice called the Supreme Path or Mahayana, that was created to serve as an INSTANT ENLIGHTENMENT yoga. It is mostly psychological. The middle section of the book is devoted to the guru Padma-Sambhava who brought this yoga to Buddhists in the eighth century. The latter part of the book expounds on that yoga in a full translation.
Make no mistake about it. This is the ORIGINAL and best work because this was the man who brought the work to the occident! These texts are ancient and old but have served millions since their inception. The work that Evans-Wentz has done here is substantial if not some of the most important Tibetan Buddhist concepts ever seen by the occident - all directly translated by master gurus whom which Dr. W.Y.Evans-Wentz was a student for years.
There is nothing wrong with the translation. Forget those who seek to play down the originals so that they can sell their new version. This book has stood the test of time. It was first published in 1954! The original book in the series was published in 1921! Evans-Wentz was in Tibet at the turn of the century learning under these gurus! He is held is highest esteem by Oxford University for his endeavors!
*** The other books in the series are - The Tibetan Book of the dead - Tibets Greatest Yogi Milarepa - Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines - all before this one, the final book in the Tibetan Series. ***
Rating: 5
Summary: Ian Myles Slater on: Still Worth It, But Check Competition
Comment: The title text of this collection of translations has recently appeared in a significantly clearer and better-annotated translation, as "Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness." Like the other three books in W.Y. Evans-Wentz's "Oxford Tibetan Series," it suffers from a dependence on Tibetan translators working at time when few clear guidelines for translating technical terms had been developed, and from Evans-Wentz's own lack of familiarity with Mahayana Buddhism and its various schools.
As Lopez points out in his introduction to this new edition (part of an end-of-the-century reissue of the series, in which the publisher formally acknowledges over a half-century of additional scholarship), Theosophy and Hinduism are the real points of departure. There is a commentary to the translation offered by C.G. Jung, which is of great importance - but to students of Jung, not of Tibetan Buddhism. The historical significance of the translation series is enduring; its value as a set of primary sources is not.
However, a large section of the book is given over to an (abridged) translation of one of the traditional biographies of the *Lotus-Born Guru*, the "Apostle to the Tibetans." In western terms, it is a mix of popular hagiography (like "The Golden Legend"), heroic romance, and supernatural thriller. So far as I have been able to determine, it is the only English-language version of this particular text (there are other Tibetan treatments of the subject), and it makes fascinating reading, simply as a piece of story-telling.
The translation of the story has extensive, and sometimes obsolete, annotations which attempt to tie down the places and times mentioned, but which also recognize that portions, at least, are intended to be symbolic or allegorical (which does not mean that the original audience would not have regarded them as literally true, as well). Padma-Sambhava, besides introducing advanced forms of Buddhist Yoga, is supposed to have written, and concealed for future generations, a number of important texts, including, besides the one translated as "The Great Liberation," the so-called "Tibetan Book of the Dead" (Evans-Wentz's catchy, but potentially misleading, title). He also appears as a major character in some versions of the Tibetan "Gesar" epic.
The presence of this fascinating piece of Tibetan literature may account for the interesting fact that Snow Lion, the publisher of the competing "Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness," offers this book in its catalogue as well (as of Summer 2003).
Those who find this portion of the book interesting will probably also enjoy the traditional "biography" of a Tibetan holy man, in "Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa," another volume edited by Evans-Wentz. (It is a companion volume in the Oxford Tibetan series). It presents itself as its hero's own account of his progression from black magician (to avenge his family) to Enlightenment. (There are several editions of the translation available; the 1999 Oxford paperback reprinting, uniform with the present volume, including a new introduction, should be in print at this writing.)
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