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The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller; Revised and Updated Edition (平装)
by Sogyal Rinpoche, Patrick D. Gaffney, and Andrew Harvey
| Category:
Spirituality, Eastern philosophy |
| Market price: ¥ 208.00
MSL price:
¥ 178.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
This book, a modern classic, deals with the meaning of life and death with such an astounding simplicity and depth. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 13 items |
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Los Angles Times (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
Rinpoche's teachings have much to offe… His down-to-earth tone, peppered with songs and poetry from Buddhist sages, takes away much of the intense fear of death and makes it seem like an old friend. |
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New York Times Book Review (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
As a guide to the Tibetan tradition and its insights into life and death, Sogyal Rinpoche is without peer… Sogyal Rinpoche… has delivered the Tibetan equivalent of The Divine Comedy. One could imagine that this is what Dante might have written had he been a Buddhist metaphysician rather than a Christian poet. |
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Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
A best seller, this book by Rinpoche, a Tibetan master and spiritual director of Rigpa (an international network of Buddhist groups and centers), leads readers gently through some of the difficult concepts inherent in the Tibetan teachings. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
This book should be read by or to everyone at some point in their lives. It not is not just for the buddhist. As His Holiness, the Dalia Lama explains, no matter what religion you practice the goal is the same: happiness. This book can be an inspiration at all times in life. Once you have read it through once, it is organized in such a way, so one can go back and read certain sections to help along the way. Sogyal Rinpoche captures the essence of his purpose of creating the book when he writes: "to learn how to die, is to learn how to live." That simple statement is a social commentary on the development of modern society and the direction it is heading in. The ageing and dying are quickly isolated and doctors are rarely educated in emotional or spiritual care. Sogyal Rinpoche's proposes a new attidute to those who are in a stage that we all will reach at some point. His beautiful writing style and comforting compassion radiates from the pages themselves. I do not associate myself with any one religion, but consider myself a wanderer following my own road in search for answers, for all those who feel the same, this book can illuminate some of the darkness that surrounds us all who have not yet awakened. |
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Janet Riehl (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
Reading the currently posted 75 reviews of Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is an education in itself. Devotion, gratitude, and open-minded reading in the majority of the reviews are juxtaposed with ignorance, mis-information, and a desire to make points in other reviews. Thus is our human condition. There is a Tibetan saying, "When luck comes to the mouth, the tongue pushes it out." Let us see The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying for what it is: pure good fortune.
Sogyal Rinpoche wrote this book desiring to benefit beings and to do nothing less than to revolutionize "the whole way we look at death and care for the dying, and the whole way we look at life and care for the living." He is succeeding.
His book launched that revolution and through his organization, Rigpa, he founded a Spiritual Care Program to put a human face to his revolution. Each of us who reads The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying has the opportunity to participate as spiritual warriors and practice our own revolution in the deaths that come into our lives.
I re-read his book after the death of my sister in a car accident in 2004. I re-read his book again this spring after the death of my 90-year old mother. As I keep re-reading it, I come closer to being ready for my own death, whenever it may come.
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Ellie Reasoner (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
This is a well-researched book that covers its topic with a professional thoroughness. I admire the author's devotion to a subject that makes most of us, especially in the twenty-first century United States, cringe. I have nothing negative to say about his Buddhist slant here and think he describes the Book of the Dead and its passages well.
"In the Occident, where death is much feared, the art of dying is little practiced."
How very true.
All that said, despite Gaffney's seeming love of death (not just acceptance, but real embracing love) the state of biological conclusion seems horrific to me. Were I a believer in an afterlife, if I could just have faith, or better yet, proof, then I might subscribe to his "death is an opportunity to evolve" view, but all I can see in death is an ending filled with pain, the cause of grief, the separation of loved ones. I tried to wrap my mind around the views herein and I do find interest in contemplating another cosmology's take on the ending of a physical (chapter in) life, but to me, death remains a concept steeped in horror no matter how deeply I have tried to grasp for a way to hope that we might be reborn, either on this earth or in another plane, the bardo, Heaven...anyplace.
This book ought to become the edition of choice for those who seek an accomodating starting point for one of religion's greatest texts. My lack of feeling for its tenets in no way means I do not regard this as a fine book that might help many people study Tibetan viewpoints or find peace in the inescapable fact that is death.
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Julie Hutslar (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
A text that will change the way you look at the passing of the physical body. Not only does it provide another culture's way of honoring the soul's process, but it enlightens the reader in living more fully. Sogyal Rinpoche is as vibrant in person as an author - combining eastern thought with western mentalities. |
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Deborah Gordon, USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
If you had to pick one book to read in this lifetime, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche would be the one. I have read many, many books on many topics, I have traveled all over the world and have seen many things, but nothing even compares to reading this book. To read this book is to truely become worldly. All I can say is, I wish for everyone to have the opportunity to read this book. Take a good look at yourself before you read the book and than look at yourself in the mirror again after you read the book. You will not see the same person when you first started. All you will be able to say is: I have got to tell someone about this book, I have to talk to someone about this book, I have to share this. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
This is a book which is extremely difficult to review due to the vast wealth of knowledge contained within the actual text. Sogyal Rinpoche was raised by some of the most prolific Tibetan teachers of modern times, the most well known may well have been Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. He had been an authority on all of the traditions of Tibet and a leader in the so called, "non partisan" movement. At any rate, this book does a lot of things for us. Rinpoche explores and explains the difficult and esoteric teachings of the famous Holy Text The Tibetan Book of the Dead to us, as well as some most interesting autobiographical looks at his own life. The most important thing to keep in mind when reading this book, is that it's as much about life as it is about death. Sogyal Rinpoche has a great sense of humor, something that is almost a necessity when explaining texts like this to the modern reader; it helps take the edge off of the weighty material at hand. The one and only reason I gave this book four stars is that indeed many of the issues explored are very cryptic; as some reviewers have pointed out. Some of it merely must be taken in with a grain of salt. But all around it is absolutely a worthwhile read that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone. Enjoy! |
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Neal Pollock (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
This is a great book; a modern classic. However, it is not for everyone. I'd say its a mid-level Tibetan Buddhist text. For the most part, it is a commentary on the famous Tibetan Book of the Dead (that Evans-Wentz translated into English). The original text is dramatically Tibetan (more than Buddhist) and (for those not intimate with Tibetan Buddhism = Vajrayana) very obtuse. It assumes agreement on lots of things including the most basic one: reincarnation. Actually, it might be better described as transmigration because the Tibetans (as opposed to Western mystics) believe people can be reborn as animals or other (mythical) beings such as gods, demi-gods, etc. The orginial book takes a dying person (it's read aloud to the dying and dead person by his or her master or someone else) through the Tibetan-believed stages of death. This is not unlike the Egyptian Book of the Dead except that there the stages are more external and spacial whereas here they are internal and concern how the dying person will fare after death (reincarnation, birth into a Buddhaland, hell, god realm, etc.). Obviously, one's belief (if one truly does believe) in death will affect one's life. Sogyal Rinpoche (Rinpoche is a title not a name and it means "precious one") does the world a service by providing considerable notes and commentary upon the difficult-for-Westerners text. Indeed, he provides enough generic material on living and dying to broaden the appeal of his text to many others beyond those interested in Vajrayana or ancient texts. It should also be noted that Sogyal Rinpoche has taken as his mission to work closely with dying people. So, he seems to practice what he preaches. Pretty impressive! |
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