Selected Product:
| What Makes You Not a Buddhist
Paperback
Edition: 1
Author: Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse
Publisher: Shambhala
Release Date: 2008-08-12
ISBN-10: 1590305701
ISBN-13: 9781590305706
List Price: $14.00
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
With wit and irony, Khyentse urges readers to move beyond the superficial trappings of Buddhism—beyond the romance with beads, incense, or exotic robes—straight to the heart of what the Buddha taught. And after he explains what makes you not a Buddhist, he kindly explains what a Buddhist is. The author is one of the most creative and innovative young Tibetan lamas teaching today.
Lama crosses the line
| Customer Rating:  | I was both taken aback and intrigued by Lama Khyentse's title, specifically because it appears to cross what is an implicit taboo in many Buddhist traditions: reinforcing judgementality about what is and what is not Buddhism. In the end, I'm glad my curiosity won out. I would however, disregard the marketing hype provided by the likes of Publisher's Weekly. I didn't see much worthy of an academic interest in the "ongoing adaptation of traditional Eastern wisdom into postmodern Western settings." There's simply Dharma here. That Lama Khyentse makes it accessible to a contemporary audience reflects the perfection of his vocation.
Lama Khyentse's done practitioners and the curious alike a greater service by compassionately cracking "what is not a Buddhist." He highlights the risks of Buddhism ala carte, and provides a compact framework by which readers may address or redress the central point of conversion: am I or am I not?
I follow a different Buddhist tradition, so I it is with further gratitude that I note Lama Khyentse's gentle discussions of the world's other Great Faiths and sectarian variety within the universal Sangha itself. I have never read an introduction to Buddhism at once so concise and satisfying. If you know someone at the crosspath or who simply wants to know what it's all about, this is a great starting point. |
A Great Intro to Buddhism
| Customer Rating: | | I have been a student of Buddhism for over 30 years, and have read many books on the subject. This is one of the best I have ever read because it is clear, concise, easy to understand, and cannot be disputed in the truth of it's content. This book spells out the essential beliefs shared by true practitioners on the Buddhist path. I am buying copies to share with friends who have wondered about Buddhism, as this book will give them a very, very clear idea! |
Brilliant
| Customer Rating: | | A brilliant book. He is both profound and humorous. He cuts to the essence of Buddhist thought and philosophy. I have bought four or five copies to pass to friends as I think it is one of the best books on Buddhism that I have ever read. |
Must read book even for Buddhists' practitioners or not.
| Customer Rating: | | The writing style is amazing. Short chapters and subchapters and beautiful history illustrate complex Buddhist's concepts, helping them to be well understanding. |
A good contemplation... for those in the know
| Customer Rating: | The best feature of this book is that Khyentse presents Buddhist concepts in a current events context. Many classic Buddhist parables aren't understandable to someone unfamiliar with the workings of the Ancient Indian society the Buddha lived in; someone unfamiliar with concepts such as atman, caste, clan, and other aspects of the culture may not understand the Buddha's analogies and humor. Khyentse makes an incredibly insightful, cosmopolitan Buddhist analysis of the modern world. This is something contemporary readers can greatly appreciate.
This book's fatal flaw is that, while it attempts to explain away certain misconceptions about Buddhism, it also uses old, bad translations of classic Buddhist terms that perpetuate those very misconceptions. This leads someone unfamiliar with the original Pali either completely bewildered or put off, as a few other reviewers, it appears, have been.
For example, Khyentse translates the second seal as "All emotions are pain". To his credit, he does note in "Postscript on the Translation of Terms" that this statement loses clarity in translation, and points out that the original statement said something that's difficult to express in English. In my opinion, he chose the most misleading translation possible. Alternate translations of the second seal have read, "All conditioned states are unsatisfactory," which I think is a much more accurate translation. Khyentse's decision to render the word dukkha as "pain" in English was certainly a poor decision in my book; the Pali Text Society's Pali to English dictionary would have something to say on that. Second, the word "emotion" not only is a bad translation, but as far as I have read, an unprecedented one.
If you are familiar with the Pali language and can therefore take the poor translation with a grain of salt by understanding what he's actually referring to, this book can be incredibly uplifting and enjoyable. If you're unfamiliar with Pali or Buddhism, I would NOT recommend this book as a first read. The poor translation of certain terms could give you the wrong impression. |
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