Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #182488 in Books
• Published on: 1969-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Delving deeper into Tibetan Buddhism
Lama Anagarika Govinda, a German who spent over twenty years studying at the feet of masters in Tibetan hermitages and monasteries, a member of the Kargyutpa order, brings to us much of Tibetan Esotericism in this book. In this book, Lam Anagarika Govinda clarifies many misconceptions regarding Tibetan Buddhism, mantra and more specifically, the mantra `Om Mani Padme Om'.

Essentially this book is a breakdown of the mantra `Om Mani Padme Hum' or rather `Om Mani Peme hum' according to the phonetic laws of the Tibetan language I.e. Part One `Om' The Path of Universality. Part Two `Mani' The Path of Unification and of Inner Equality. Part Three `Padma' The Path of Creative Vision. Part Four `Hum' The Path of Integration. Part Five `Om Mani Padme Hum' The Path of the Great Mantra.

The author discusses many topics such as mantra, the history of mantra and the power of the verb, the five skandhas the doctrine of consciousness, the psychic centres of the kundalini-yoga and their physiological counterparts, the chakras, physical and psychic functions of prana and the principle of motion (vayu) as starting-point of meditation, transversing the Bardo, the three currents of force and their channels in the human body i.e. Ida, pingala and susumna, the Tantras, the yoga of the inner fire in the Tibetan system of meditation (Tapas & Gtum-mo) and the Tibetan wheel of life etc. I can only recall one practice given in this book and this is a description as given in the `Tractate of the six doctrines'; see page 170-178. This practice deals with Mantra visualisation and raising the Kundalini, I make note of this here for those of you who are interested and for my benefit when I look for these pages again for when I might attempt this practice myself.

I especially enjoyed the latter part of this book which provided excellent information on thousand armed Avalokitesvara (the embodiment of active compassion) and Avalokitesvara's descent into the six realms of this world. This then followed on with information regarding the path of the Bodhisattvas I.e. the path of renunciation and sacrifice for humanity. The book ends with information on the fifth Dhyani-Buddha, the Lord of the all-encompassing wisdom, this essentially deals with `Ah', The Path of Action, "the fact that the Buddha's teachings is not some nebulous idealism, a chasing after eternal but unattainable ideals, but a doctrine of self realisation, of action, a practical doctrine, a path that can be trodden by all who are seriously bent on its aim."

This book also clarifies the differences between Hindu and Tibetan yoga. "A comparison of the Hindu Tantras with those of Buddhism (which are mostly preserved in Tibet and which therefore have long remained unnoticed by Indologists) not only shows an astonishing divergence of methods and aims, in spite of external similarities, but proves the spiritual and historical priority and originality of the Buddhist Tantras." Pg 94

As a student of Gnosis, this book filled in some blanks for me. I plan to continue reading other books on Tibetan Buddhism and especially those books made reference to by Lama Anagarika Govinda in this book I.e. `Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa', `Tibetan Yoga & Secret Doctrines', `The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation' (Evans-Wentz) and also `The Serpent Power' (Avalon, Arthur).

Mantra Magick

I first read this book twenty years ago, and it is still
a constant companion. Provides an initiation into the power
of an ancient mantra. This book guides you into deeper and
deeper meditation states, and provides the basis for
some of the Tibetan Visualization Techniques. Really a
great book.

Rather technical, good scope
This is a fine book by a 20th century practitioner, a German who became a Buddhist monk in a SE Asia monastery and traveled through Tibet with his wife Li Gotami (who published a book of fascinating photographs). The author is probably best known for both this work, which is probably a modern classic, and for "The Way of the White Clouds" a more personal description of Buddhism. He also wrote "A Living Buddhism for the West." The latter two books reflect his personal approach making them more easily comprehended and accessible than many texts from Tibetan Buddhist masters. This book, however, is far less accessible, but its topic may preclude a more personal approach. It covers a lot of territory though it is quite technical in many places. It provides an extensive and detailed description of the five Dyani (meditation) Buddhas and their families-the best I've seen. Many modern texts merely allude to these or mention one or two of them (e.g. Akshoba or Amitabha). It's not an easy read.