Product Description

Forty years ago the University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands. Whether read as ethnographic fact or creative fiction, it is the story of a remarkable journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of more than a million readers around the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16456 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780520256385
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Library Journal
Original publisher University of California Press here offers a 30th-anniversary edition of Castenada's Teachings. Along with the original text, this sports a new introduction by the author, who, it was revealed recently, died earlier this year. Though this is reasonably priced for a hardcover, libraries needing multiples copies may opt for the paperback.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Castaneda's sanity lends to even the most lurid experiences the force of data. It compels us to believe that don Juan is one of the most extraordinary figures in anthropological literature, a neolithic sage. It helps us to accept, from the continent we stole, a mysterious gift of wisdom." -- Life

"It's impossible to view the world in quite the same way after reading him. . . . If Castaneda is correct, there is another world, a sometimes beautiful and sometimes frightening world, right before our eyes at this moment -- if only we could see." (Chicago Tribune

"We are incredibly fortunate to have Carlos Castaneda's books. . . . One can't exaggerate the significance of what he has done." -- Roger Jellinek, The New York Times

From the Publisher
In addition to the publication of Magical Passes, 1998 marks the momentous occasion of another event in the works of Carlos Castaneda: the publication of a 30th anniversary edition of The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. This special edition includes a new introduction by Carlos Castaneda, which provides a rare glimpse into the author's own view of experiences that encompass the total teachings of the shamans of ancient Mexico. What began thirty years ago with The Teachings of Don Juan has ceaselessly captivated readers worldwide, and this introduction will quite possibly offer the single most important overview of Carlos Castaneda's work.

Customer Reviews

The Beginning of a Journey You Will Never, Ever Forget...
"The Teachings of Don Juan" is the first in a series of about 15 books by Carlos Casaneda describing the author's experiences with Yaqui Indian shamanism in Northern Mexico. As a studier of religion for many years (although not as knowledgeable as some scholars) I find these books to be utterly unique in their scope and subject matter. They are not like other New Age books. The journey that Castaneda takes his readers is mind-boggling, and his experiences are simply beyond what most people have even remotely encountered.

Castaneda first met Don Juan in the early 60's, before the hippy movement, before psychodelic drugs became popular. He was studying anthropology in Los Angeles, and Don Juan served as a field source for some fading knowledge of tribal and shamanistic rituals in Northern Mexico. Castaneda was specifically interested in peyote, a plant that gives its users hallicinations and mixes the senses in strange ways, and which LSD was meant to be a chemical reproduction of. Castaneda's first book presents a very detailed scholastic interpretation of his experiences. All books after the first simply focus on Castaneda's experiences with Don Juan.

Castaneda's drug experiences are different from other accounts I have read, because they are intimately tied with the Yaqui philosophy and mythology. The drugs only serve as a means to an end, not as the end in themselves. The first 2 books in the series describe Castaneda's drugs experiences with Don Juan, but from the 3rd book on, the drugs disappear forever and Carlos' experiences are actually more fantastic, more amazing, more unbelieveable as he slowly becomes a practicing sorceror, traveling to alternate dimensions and battling other sorcerors. Many of the books seem to reach a definitive conclusion, only to have Castaneda's perceived understanding of Don Juan's teachings completely destroyed in the next volume. Again these experiences do not in any way compare to magic and sorcery you might find in pagan, christian, or celtic mythology, nor does the "world-philosophy" of Don Juan resemble in any way the wholistic ideals of Eastern religions like Hinduism or Buddhism. How can you describe things most people have never seen before? Castaneda does a good job, considering the fantastic nature of some of his journeys. However, while the visions and magical feats are mesmerizing to read, I often found that Don Juan gave his most profound knowledge while simply talking to Castaneda.

Do to its subject matter, most Christians will find these books offensive, but I promise you that nothing in any of these volumes will turn you onto the path of Satan :) There is a certain participation required from the reader - Castaneda repeatedly affirms that everything he has ever written is absolutely true, but intelligent readers will be constantly wondering if such fantastic things could possibly exist. By turning off this little nagging "naysayer" in my own head and allowing myself to simply sink into the mood of the work and believe, I found that I was better able to intuitively understand the very abstract concepts that overwhelm you. However, because these accounts are SO unbelieveable, SO fantastic, SO unlike our everyday life here in the US, I found that I never confused my world with Castaneda's. It's like reading a book about walking on the Moon - you can understand and appreciate what it must have been like, but you don't start wearing a spacesuit to work!

NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY
To fully understand,if possible,the teachings of Don Juan one must suspend all preconcieved notions of what is real.This is true,if you follow the readings,even if you believe this is a fictionalized account of many different conversations the author had with different people.The lessons taught still hold true in most cultures;that a well trained and disiplined mind will allow a person to see things others may not.

An Excellent and Entertaining Book
I enjoy Carlos Castaneda's books because they always offer an escape from reality -- in this case, I mean that quite literally.

Castaneda's books involve an age-old technique of storytelling, the teaching of a body of knowledge from a master to a pupil. In this case, the master, a Yaqui Indian known as Don Juan, teaches the ancient Toltec art of sorcery to a young, first-person narrator, Carlos Castaneda. This narrator is dubious and incredulous as Don Juan shows him things about the nature of reality and our perceptions of it, but increasingly he has to conclude that the world of Don Juan is an accurate description of the may facets of reality, and our modern world is merely one narrow view.

There is controversy over whether Castaneda's books are "real" --Castaneda was granted a PhD for his "field" work; but other scholars have found a lot of Castaneda's research to have no anthropological authenticity. Supporters of Castaneda dispute this.

That there is even an argument over whether the books are "real" or not indicates how good the stories are -- like the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, people really, desperately want to visit Castaneda's world. His books are riveting, fascinating, beautiful, and also very scary.

Although later books in the series (Tales of Power, for instance) are better than this introductory work; I think it is important to read the books in their order of writing, in order to get the "lessons" that Castaneda learns in the correct order.

I am a great fan of the books, even if they are 100% fiction. But one is really just never sure if they are. . .