Product Description

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is one of the texts that, according to legend, Padma-Sambhava was compelled to hide during his visit to Tibet in the late 8th century. The guru hid his books in stones, lakes, and pillars because the Tibetans of that day and age were somehow unprepared for their teachings. Now, in the form of the ever-popular Tibetan Book of the Dead, these teachings are constantly being discovered and rediscovered by Western readers of many different backgrounds--a phenomenon which began in 1927 with Oxford's first edition of Dr. Evans-Wentz's landmark volume. While it is traditionally used as a mortuary text, to be read or recited in the presence of a dead or dying person, this book--which relates the whole experience of death and rebirth in three intermediate states of being--was originally understood as a guide not only for the dead but also for the living. As a contribution to the science of death and dying--not to mention the belief in life after death, or the belief in rebirth--The Tibetan Book of the Dead is unique among the sacred texts of the world, for its socio-cultural influence in this regard is without comparison.
This fourth edition features a new foreword, afterword, and suggested further reading list by Donald S. Lopez, author of Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Lopez traces the whole history of the late Evans-Wentz's three earlier editions of this book, fully considering the work of contributors to previous editions (C. G. Jung among them), the sections that were added by Evans-Wentz along the way, the questions surrounding the book's translation, and finally the volume's profound importance in engendering both popular and academic interest in the religion and culture of Tibet. Another key theme that Lopez addresses is the changing nature of this book's audience--from the prewar theosophists to the beat poets to the hippies to contemporary exponents of the hospice movement--and what these audiences have found (or sought) in its very old pages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #299552 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 354 pages

From Library Journal
Probably the single most recognizable Tibetan title to Western readers, this text (elaborated in the 14th century) discusses the process of death and rebirth as understood by Tibetan Buddhists.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Dr. Evans-Wentz, who literally sat at the feet of a Tibetan lama for years in order to acquire his wisdom...not only displays a deeply sympathetic interest in those esoteric doctrines so characteristic of the genius of the East, but likewise possesses the rare faculty of making them more or less intelligible to the layman."--Anthropology (on the previous edition)

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Tibetan

Customer Reviews

The Tibetan Book Of The Dead
A very interesting book. Many of the texts are foreign to me but a learning experience throughout my reading. I enjoy reading about the many types of religious cultures. This book kept me motivated to learn more about how Tibetans view life after death.

A classic
This translation deserved the good reviews. The text has been summed up well in other reviews. A word about the author seems appropriate. It is worth pointing out that W.Y. Evans-Wentz was an American (one reviewer stated that W.Y. E-W was English).The confusion here stems from the fact that W.Y. E-W went to Oxford, England, as a Rhodes scholar. He was a very articulate and erudite man - well versed in the Western classics, Western mystery tradition etc. - and in his footnotes, he made frequent cross references to such.

A few people now fault E-W' work - because of the universal sweep of his intuitions.It has even been suggested that he corrupted the purity of the Tibetan teachings - by his inter-cultural or trans-cultural horizons.Some Tibetan Lamas (i.e. Trungpa) have faulted E-W's work on such grounds.Western afficionadoes of Tibetan Buddhism - people who like to imagine themselves among the elect(Professors and pop followers alike) have chimed in.

Such people forget (or prefer to ignore) the fact that W.Y.Evans-Wentz spent many years studying and working with Tibetan Lamas. Be assured, W.Y. Evans-Wentz' projects had the blessing of his Tibetan co-worker - Lama Kazi Dawa Sammdup. There are those who would argue that this blessing did not extend to the commentary material - subsequently added by E-W, after his work with the Lama. But how E-W presented the material to a Western audience - was his business.

Death is most certainly a universal experience - and E-W placed it in a truly universal context. Is that so surprising?
The Jungian commentary appended to the first ed. of this text has also come in for criticism (some editions now delete it). But Jung had something - when suggesting that we ought to read the TBD 'BACKWARDS' - to understand the difficulties modern minds get into - when trying to approach such territory. Still, as E-W points out, late medieval Western culture had a similar perspective on death. It was part of life, we similarly understood the need to 'live our dying' - and the need to 'die-in-life' to find the greater spiritual life. There are chapels in Europe, constructed entirely of human bones. It looks morbid to modern people - but, in fact, it signified a triumph over death. Death is the greatest adventure. Whatever we may be doing, death is the ultimate destination that awaits us. Many European cathedrals have a 'memento mori' - an image of death, saying: "I was as you are;as I am, so shall ye be. " Will you be able to pay the ferryman - when the boat comes?

Not "Pop Buddhism," A Guide For The Living
This is not the Richard Gere "pop Buddhism" approach. This is the work of an English academic in the early 20th Century, as he uncovers an "Oriental" classic for a Western audience. Evans-Wentz even brings Carl Jung into the picture for the Westerners, as Jung's psychology was "New School" at the time and offered a sublime link between Oriental and Occidental thinking. I hold this book in the highest regard, not because it is a mystical Buddhist text, but rather because it offers tips for daily living and and self-actualization. As with most quality philosophical doctrines, this book is a paradox...a book of the dead that is really an abstract book for the living, regardless of religion or nationality. It is a refreshing and enlightening break from an increasingly fundamental world.