The Tibetan Book of the Dead : A Biography.

By: Lopez, Donald S., JrContributor(s): Lopez, Donald S. SMaterial type: TextTextSeries: Lives of Great Religious BksPublisher: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2011Copyright date: ©2011Description: 1 online resource (186 pages)Content type: text Media type: computer Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 9781400838042Subject(s): Death -- Religious aspects -- Comparative studies | Future life -- Comparative studies | Karma-gliṅ-pa, -- 14th cent. -- Bar do thos grolGenre/Form: Electronic books.Additional physical formats: Print version:: The Tibetan Book of the Dead : A BiographyDDC classification: 294.385 LOC classification: BQ4490.K373 -- L66 2011ebOnline resources: Click to View
Contents:
Cover -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1 America -- CHAPTER 2 India -- CHAPTER 3 Tibet -- CHAPTER 4 The World -- CONCLUSION -- CODA -- NOTES -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.
Summary: The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, having sold more than a million copies since it was first published in English in 1927. Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it, Timothy Leary redesigned it as a guidebook for an acid trip, and the Beatles quoted Leary's version in their song "Tomorrow Never Knows." More recently, the book has been adopted by the hospice movement, enshrined by Penguin Classics, and made into an audiobook read by Richard Gere. Yet, as acclaimed writer and scholar of Buddhism Donald Lopez writes, "The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not really Tibetan, it is not really a book, and it is not really about death." In this compelling introduction and short history, Lopez tells the strange story of how a relatively obscure and malleable collection of Buddhist texts of uncertain origin came to be so revered--and so misunderstood--in the West. The central character in this story is Walter Evans-Wentz (1878-1965), an eccentric scholar and spiritual seeker from Trenton, New Jersey, who, despite not knowing the Tibetan language and never visiting the country, crafted and named The Tibetan Book of the Dead. In fact, Lopez argues, Evans-Wentz's book is much more American than Tibetan, owing a greater debt to Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky than to the lamas of the Land of Snows. Indeed, Lopez suggests that the book's perennial appeal stems not only from its origins in magical and mysterious Tibet, but also from the way Evans-Wentz translated the text into the language of a very American spirituality.
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Cover -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1 America -- CHAPTER 2 India -- CHAPTER 3 Tibet -- CHAPTER 4 The World -- CONCLUSION -- CODA -- NOTES -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, having sold more than a million copies since it was first published in English in 1927. Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it, Timothy Leary redesigned it as a guidebook for an acid trip, and the Beatles quoted Leary's version in their song "Tomorrow Never Knows." More recently, the book has been adopted by the hospice movement, enshrined by Penguin Classics, and made into an audiobook read by Richard Gere. Yet, as acclaimed writer and scholar of Buddhism Donald Lopez writes, "The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not really Tibetan, it is not really a book, and it is not really about death." In this compelling introduction and short history, Lopez tells the strange story of how a relatively obscure and malleable collection of Buddhist texts of uncertain origin came to be so revered--and so misunderstood--in the West. The central character in this story is Walter Evans-Wentz (1878-1965), an eccentric scholar and spiritual seeker from Trenton, New Jersey, who, despite not knowing the Tibetan language and never visiting the country, crafted and named The Tibetan Book of the Dead. In fact, Lopez argues, Evans-Wentz's book is much more American than Tibetan, owing a greater debt to Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky than to the lamas of the Land of Snows. Indeed, Lopez suggests that the book's perennial appeal stems not only from its origins in magical and mysterious Tibet, but also from the way Evans-Wentz translated the text into the language of a very American spirituality.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

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