Ask HN: Anyone read Tibetan Book of Living and Dying?
Just curious. I've met a lot of interesting people through this discussions about this book.
One of the translations of the original sub-title is: "the precious way of liberation through listening", meaning that the purpose was to read it to the dying person in order to liberate his mind from the subconscious baggage which resurfaces and takes over during dying.
The images, scenes and dramatis personae (including gods, demons and stuff) occuring in the text are all projections of the subconscious impressions in mind, accumulated during a life and resurfacing when dying. The fact that this is not explained in the book is because every tibetan buddhist knows / takes for granted that mind works this way, so there's no need to explain it additionally.
The other funny thing and a source of misconception is the translation: while tibetan culture was perceived inferior, mystical and over-religious by westerners, it was actually discovering lots of stuff about consciousness and subconsciousness since centuries, same as the whole buddhism. But the western discoverers couldn't believe that tibetans, being technologically inferior, were able to make a progress in different areas, so when translating they didn't used then-new terminology like counsciousness and stuff, but used church-like terminology like if they were translating european middle-ages material. This trend, though diminishing, continues to this day.
My advice is to remember this book was written for different people and then translated using language and metaphors the translators could bear. Yet since 70s some people made a huge advance of making a connection between asian and western way of thinking in order to bring the buddhist methods to the west, cutting off the misconceptions and cultural baggages. Such teachers, whether would they be Zen or Diamond Way representatives, can teach practical stuff on what to do during dying or how to help dying people in our modern world. If anyone's interested I'd reach such teachers instead of taking such books too seriously.
The book is about shedding all the layers of delusion that separate man from the universe.
Einstein believed Buddhism would be an ideal candidate for a universal religion for lifeforms outside of Earth too.
What I got from the book is a simple way to focus on the immaterial instead of the material. To see the entire universe with consciousness and compassion instead of an expanse to be colonized and conquered.
I think the world is just reaching a point where the Eastern and Western perspectives are starting to become one. The 21st century is the dawn of the universal age where we all start to realize we are made of equal atoms and cells striving for survival and transcendence.
This book seems to be in tune with modern science journals too.
I'm making this point just to strike a common misconception, not that you're certainly in it, but for anyone reading this thread. People often have an impression that buddhism is mystical, it says about all things being one and that if they got into it seriously they would be given next levels of beautiful thoughts and ideas up to the final nirvana.
It's not like that at all. Buddhism is practical. Deadly practical. Meaning one has to fight his own limitations first. You get some meditations and instructions from a teacher, usually tied specifically to you, and you do meditate. It changes you. Ego fights back. But if you continue the practice you loose some previous obstacles and in general you see a new value in your relations with people, your view, in everyday things. Then another obstacles come, and so on.
The crucial are meditations from a teacher - it all makes sense only when you trust him. The trust must be earned somehow, it's not measurable. One of the meditations is a conscious dying meditation which I for example relearn every year. Others work best if you repeat them every day. It changes you inevitably. There's no warranty it will change you for the good, but you observe yourself. You observe the mind. It's a constant work, meant to finally relax you not tire you, though.
All this sweat is for understanding that everything we feel and see, including material world, is only a projection of the mind, so it's best to focus on mind itself instead of images which it mirrors. And keep this view possibly all the time.
Of course this view is kinda related to recent discoveries of science, esp. quantum physics and so on. But what does it mean in an everyday life? Did Einstein had a hunch buddhism is related to physics and is probably very useful? Yes. Did he follow that path? No. Did he remember in every minute of his life that things are impermanent and world is a dream? Probably not. Was he impervious to anger because of that understanding? Probably not. Some people say he was terrible person, others say he was excellent and nice. Whatever. Einstein's words may be a trampoline for someone to become interested in buddhism but he's no expert on the topic.
So, to really judge if it works it'd best to actually find the people who do it, or even know such people and compare how they behaved in the past and how they behave now. I know it's not easy. But Einstein, well, is dead... We're not, yet.
edit: Thank you HNers if you read this, these are important things and it seemed urgent to share my few cents.
To me, Buddhist thought just makes logical and intuitive sense with everything I have studied about astronomy, physics, biology, and chemistry. It just feels natural and has no arrogance about it, just a gentle affirmation of life and love. It also shows the darkness inside us and how to conquer it with mental force, not physical force.
Buddhanature, from my experience, is about fully embracing life and transforming your suffering into potential. And the most practical way to achieve this goal is to have a clear vision of reality, live in accordance with natural principles, and keep developing your mental capabilities.
I fully agree that Buddhism is not about anything mystical and that people overthink and project a lot of madness into it. The only thing people can do is keep striving, there is no higher goal than enlightenment.
I don't know if Buddhism assumes a material world, but Western world's assumption of a material world goes back to Newton who defined nature to be physical, that is, material.
I think that if we are living in definitional and not material world our current definition of the "spiritual" and "immaterial" breaks down. http://matterandreality.wordpress.com/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6...
Definitely tainted the advice presented in the book: "Do as I say, not as I do", etc.
you didn't gain anything positive from the book?
However, Sogyal Rinpoche's message about compassion seems a little thin to me in light of the allegation. He is accused of abusing his position to coerce followers into a sexual relationship. Doesn't seem compassionate to me.
I'll admit that I've judged the man based solely on accusations and intimations. But the accusations are strong and are repeated. I encourage you to read the article I linked in my original response.
I'm not trying to provoke with the above, I'm just pointing out that the argument doesn't hold water if you look at it in its strictest terms and apply it universally.
This is what turned me off the book and its also what turned me off the writings of Jiddhu Krishnamurti (accused of committing adultery with his best friend's wife).
I'd be glad to continue discussing this with you outside of HN. Feel free to email me at jrhunter at hotmail dot com
I just think about the message and let people be people. human nature is a wild elephant.
Agreed.
I also like, "“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
edit: Has been some time though.
To be clear, I don't think that it was literally meant for tripping folk, but I also think kunley (top rated comment at the moment) may have missed something fundamental maybe due perhaps to not grasping a fundamental part of tibetan and buddhist culture.
To the Buddhist, the whole of existence is a struggle between experiencing the perfection of the cosmos as your bona fide identity and your mundane ego. Liberation is not something for those on their death bed, liberation is the thing to strive for.
-- well I was writing about 'The tibetan book of the dead' I have never heard of this particular book, I just realized. I figure I will just leave this here in case anyone is interested rather than just delete it.
It is what it is. Psychedelic means mind-manifesting so the two should go hand in hand anyways. I think people just overthink enlightenment and miss how simple the universe really is. Ancient wisdom and modern science are coming together and revealing the same truths.
Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Myst...
I have read a number of books trying to tie the link between ancient mysticicsm and modern physics. I am not a physicist and have only the most basic understanding of the maths involved in quantum systems.
However, without fail, these ideas seem pretty much universally dismissed by the graduate level math and physics students I have had the opportunity to talk with these things about.
No one wants to let go of determinism it seems.