The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation

As a newcomer to Buddhism, this was on my most wanted book list as it is a collection of teachings on dying, Bardo and rebirth. I must stress that it would be very wise to have read elementary teachings on Buddhsim as some of the philosophical concepts are very difficult to understand for a beginner. There are numerous introductions at the start of the book, including one by HH The Dalai Lama which require you to be comfortable with many quite difficult subjects such as emptiness, dependent origination and so on. To be honest it took me a few nights just to read the introduction as I had to read sentences sometimes 10 times to try to understand them. I would suggest a newcomer should read something like "The Joy of Living" by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche first (very well written and easy to understand) and then "Turning Confusion into Clarity" by the same author. Even then you might struggle. I suppose it would be best to have a teacher to discuss the book with as you read it, I haven't found one yet. Despite all of the above, the translation is easy to read and has footnotes. I like Thupten Jinpa (one of the authors and HH The Dalai Lama's official translator), and this was part of the reason I bought the book . Good read - just persevere!

This is a great read. A little hard to understand at points and had to keep going back and re read certain bits to take it in but a very good read. Would highly recommend

Fantastic

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, the elephant of wisdom. What is it? This book has several parts. Like in the Indian proverb about a group of blind people trying to describe an elephant. What is sometimes overlooked is that they ARE ALL touching the elephant. Each part here has its hand on the elephant. The elephant is certainly in the room. But: how to attain an elephant from its parts! Can all of it be adduced? From one bit of it? How else. And: Is the synthetic view even necessary, itself an abstraction - if awareness has the elephant by the nose, and every other part? What is Buddhism? Some say it is this, some say it is that… When you are dying, bring a lama into the room. Parts of this book speak of the elephant directly, the underlying all pervasive elephant, as it were. Other parts speak of various conduits of the elephant, its partial appearance and its skin. The awareness that the book begins with is the elephant that the rest of the book reiterates in its varied manifestations and channels of access. It must be born in mind that the whole of the book is about the elephant. After a direct introduction to awareness via immediate summations of the core of Buddhist understanding with regard to the nature of reality, subsequent sections describe the varied appearances of this reality and practical modes of access to it in ways of seeing the world and touching the face of the beast of wisdom. A lot of imaginary practices that must be made real are elucidated. Seeing the world as the numinous manifestation of the empty ground of reality. These practices are necessarily repetitive – depending on how stubborn your ignorance is. The texts repeat over and over the deities with their varied accoutrements and in their varied colours and with their specific implications. All the Buddhas, all the emanations, exampling the psychological ground. They parade and resound, they beat drums. This is the mediated immediacy of the elephant in the room of your death. So, there’s a lot of that. There are comprehensive lists of the appearance of the world and the people in it, tabulated. Ha ha hah! Laughable psychological resonances – tabulated! Poetic! Just! Daunting! Seeing the peaceful and wrathful deities for what they are is the ground of enlightenment. So. When you are dying, or a friend is dying, bring a lama into the room. Be the lama in the room. And show the subject the elephant. Bring the elephant with you, calmly. Introduce everyone to the elephant and be the conduit of the elephant. Don’t shy away. That is the advice. Stay with the elephant, and pass it round. Each section of these litanies must be read with the elephant in mind. That’s why the first hand is placed on the trunk, the awareness the elephant springs from. You must know death as the absence of your self or any self, and remain in it, living every last moment as consciousness of the ground of liberation. And be the doorway and access to that for yourself and for others as you die. Hold the door open for yourself and your friends, in spite of the bouncers, because the elephant is encrusted with jewels, and it comes. To have already been born into the ground of reality is already to have no fear of death.

Good book

This is really for serious Buddhists who are novitiates and are well into religion. I bought it out of interest in 'Near death' experiences and for a perspective on the death process which contrary to Western Christian Thinking is not such a silly idea. However the intro by the Dalai Lama is very gobbledygook like and not for the faint hearted. It is very technical and a very intellectual intro which I found very inaccessible and disappointing as I know he can speak very well, simply and clearly. He just doesn't do that here!. This book is not for the 'everyman' so be aware of that before buying. Even my brother who has been a Buddhist for nearly 50 years says that you would need to be a committed monk to make something of this translation which IS probably worlds away better than the Evens-Wentz one that was produced in the 60s/70s when all the hippies were feeing so cosmic because they were probably reading it whilst tripping on LSD! I'm sure it is a really good book for those for whom it is appropriate but for me a bit of a waste of money. I will try to give it to someone who can appreciate it! It probably deserves 5 stars really.

This is a classic I was excited to read, sadly my eyes are having lots of trouble reading the print.

Have been trying to borrow this book from the library for years to no avail. Bought it for my husband - not so easy to read as other books on dying by tibetans - think you need to have read a couple of others to understand it more fully but really comprehensive and everything he thought it would be.

This is the first time I read this book. Excellent shipping and conditions. The good thing about this book is that it includes the 12 books, with explanatory introductions and colored pictures.

Deep understanding, yet simplified spirituality

If you are already a Buddhist practitioner, excellent for handling your own and others' deaths. If you are not already a practitioner, you would benefit greatly by firstly reading Sogyal Rinpoche's excellent The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. It is a wonderful introduction to the Tibetan Buddhist view of life on earth, and our purpose here. I have heard Tibetan Lamas specifically recommend the English translation by Chogyam Trungpa and Francesca Fremantle of The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

What a great guide to peaceful mind

A must read.