An authoritative, if somewhat dry, presentation of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition from a Tibetan perspective. I have instigated the use of this book in a study group setting, in which people agreed to read a particular chapter and topic ahead of time. It was very useful in giving people an opportunity to bring their understanding and misunderstandings to the surface, to be clarified (or at least narrowed!) by discussion with others.

This is an excellent book presenting the stages of the Mahayana path to all those interested in Buddhism. Written in the 1100's by Gampopa, a great Kagyu scholar, it is invaluable to all beginners and especially to those on the path. This book never gets old, and you can always use it as you proceed on the path. A wonderful achievement in spiritual literature, and a great gift to the English reader who does not have the ability to read the original Tibetan text.

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Saraha, an arrow maker, was a highly individualistic Indian yogi, one of the "drop outs" from Indian society who provided a poetic rendition of the philosophy of the mind. This book contains the root text and a commentary, as well as Guenther's articulate explanations. Saraha analyses perceptions, and of particular interest to me was what is said about memory. Memory is what comprises most of our thought processes, and what causes most of us much pain and discomfort. Conventional notions of memory assumes a past, present and a future, whose validy Saraha challenges. Each philosophical point is illustrated by a simile, which facilitates the reader's absorption of each point. So this is an excellent account of dealing with the status of our thoughts and feelings about our experiences.

I have found this book to be an excellent guide in the absence of having an accomplished teacher present. Reading it over several times, meditating on the meaning, sincerely trying to understand what is meant, yields results with this book because of the tremendous care taken to accurately communicate knowledge to the reader.

this man attained because he followed no convention except for the indweeling truth, which is God, known by other names, that always leads to the light, but only if it is listened to....

This is more than a book. It is a study. I have been studying it for almost 15 years. Well worth the time and effort.

Get out your dictionary. Msrs G and Longchenpa are very exact. They say more in a paragraph than most "experts" on the human mind and livingness say in a lifetime.

Mr G and L deserve highest praise.

Michael Mourer

This is probably the most reader-friendly introduction to Herbert Guenther, one of the greatest translators of Tibetan Buddhist texts of today. It consists of his collected articles, which means his work is more easily introduced to the newcomer. What is attractive about Guenther's work is his depth of learning: he progressed from the modern German thinkers (in his native German) to the Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist exponents. It his ability to use modern language and modern concepts to bring us the brilliance of the Tibetan tradition. Of particular note is his article "The Spritual Teacher in Tibet" which really does elucidate that phenomenon of the "relationship with the guru" which so troubles onlookers. He demonstrates that the Tibetans creative developed the concept of the spitual teacher(lama), and indeed the Tibetans' own literary corpus was a brilliant and humanly relevant extension of the Indian tradition.His writings are very suitable for readers who may find translations (by other translators) of Tibetan texts inadequate.

I'm not so certain that this book is as good as people here are saying it is. I read it based on the fact that people who read Julian Jaynes' masterpiece ('The Beginnings of Conscience in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind') have a tendency to buy it. It is a good book, and very thought provoking in sections. But, as a whole, it alternates between relatively unsophisticated philosophy and kinda popularizes a bunch of stuff that has been out there. Perhaps it's a bit too New-Agey for my tastes.... but I can't reccommend reading it..... Unless you have already read it (like me) read the Jaynes book mentioned above...

(Please don't hate me for writing this!!!!)

If by "new agey" you mean drawing upon Eastern philosophy to expand current scientific thought on consciousness and its evolution, then the book will disappoint, yes. For me it served as potent seed material on further research into the origins and development of consciousness, of which Jaynes was certainly the next logical step. But Jaynes does not make the important connections between Western scientific thought on consciousnes and ancient wisdom of the Eastern mystical traditions which Combs treats quite carefully and creatively in his book. So I would suggest the two be read concurrently. Combs is decidedly more psychological, which I suspect will make it more accessible to readers interested in considering what chaos theory might mean for how we think, develop, and live, and what our next quantum leap might look like. Jaynes is more anthropological, and speaks to the human species. Combs speaks to the human being. I consider both views essential to understanding human consciousness evolution. As for readability, I believe Combs to be far ahead of Jaynes, but then I'm more at ease with psychology texts than anthropology. Plus, I think Combs has specific relevance to those who are interested in spiritual dimensions of consciousness -- for whom an Eastern world view cannot be overlooked. He spins physics with mysticism and evolution to inspire fresh thinking on the subject. That's not necessarily a "new age" approach... it's diversity of thought to which a Western thinker might do more than just tip the hat.

This is an excellent introduction to the role of complexity in thought. When read in conjunction with Paul Cilliers's Complexity and Postmodernism, Andy Clark's Being There, and Alicia Juarrero's Dynamics in Action, one gets the sense that a new paradigm is in the making. Kudos!

Many say Geunther is a genius. I might agree. He has some extraordinary, unique perspectives, apparently born from many years of study, in both Tibetan as well as European philosophies. But a translator? It seems he fancies himself more a sort of "decoder," if you will, and his (sometimes lengthy) reasonings behind his peculiar, intense word choices often appear sound. Yet as the years go on, and students of this genre grow in there understanding of key terms, key-term translation is becoming more-and-more standardized, leaving his "translations" less-and-less accessible.

If you work at it, you can squeeze out many of the original Tibetan terms from his indexes, footnotes, etc., and thereby triangulate with the more commonly-used terms. -Somewhat tiresome if what you really want is a more direct translation, for use in a student-teacher situation for example. Furthermore, this book and the other two in the trilogy are much more commentary than translation. This is a shame, since Longchenpa himself wrote an auto-commentary to them.

That said, Guenther IS a great thinker, and if you would like to read Guenther, as opposed (in this case) to Longchenpa, then I'll say, this and all of the books I've read by him (some dozen) are truly fascinating. Very original and thought-provoking.

Maybe look for a translation elsewhere. -no offense, Herb.

...One must realise that dzogchen was developed in a certainculture therefore much is taken for granted in dzogchen works. Oneonly has to look at the four gospels, words that according to Jesus himself are extrinsic to the teachings to his disciples and note the ramified results of that: materialism in a dying world. Herbert Guenther's ramifications of the implications of dzogchen driven through the western mind set are some of the most valuable dzogchen works these days. In the twenties there was the discovery of quantum physics, that really upset the establishment apple cart, it went forward too fast to be suppressed, however they have managed to limit quantum physics to the subatomic level, thus allowing the civilisation to be frozen in accord with their desires to retain power and position. Translations of tibetan works that remain in a taken for granted mindset already commodified in the west maybe ok for lotus eaters, but won't have much impact.

I have been reading wonderful books that help lead one to true emancipation, enlightenment, and self-acutalization.

Tibetan Buddhism expresses many sound psychological and personal paths to a life and death in peace.

This book, written by Longchenpa and translated by Herbert V. Guenther, is an excellent guide along the path of enlightenment introducing to us the mind of meditation. A few lines give you a tiny taste of what is in store for you: You are an individual who has become the site for the realization of limpid clearness and consummate perspicacity ... The main body is about pure awareness, encountered in the experience of Being by means of meditation involving pleasure, radiance, and non-dividedness. As sheer lucency, a pristine cognitiveness, defying any propositions about it; it rises in naturalness and togetherness.

I invite you to read each word; each word is most important; the message comes easy to the expansive mind.

One has to read atleast 3 books written by H.V.Guenther before becoming familiar with his style of writing with liberal "free" translations. It is clear that Guenther is well versed in the Buddhist experience which can be understood beyond doubt from this book. All the four chapters in the part two(Tibetan sources)require a detailed study. I have collected the following treasures: "....we must develop a middle view and become convinced that our mind is of the nature of great bliss by thinking that all appearances are but the projections of our mind and that there is nothing existing in truth". "....to unite bliss with no-thing-ness means that our mind which is this great bliss becomes a mind which understands no-thing-ness. "to see no-thing-ness is the cognition that all things do not exist by virtue of a principle through which they are what they are". Embedded in these statements is the essence of the Vajrayana teaching. This book will be very useful for all serious seekers of the Buddha Dharma.

This book is an ungainly, incoherent mass of plodding and unhelpful exegesis that adds very little to our knowledge-base about Nying-ma practice or doctrine. It is plagued by serious problems in form, style, and content.

To begin with, Guenther's reliance on a Heideggerian vernacular to expound Buddhist thought is strikingly dated and unhelpful. One wonders what Tibetan term he could possibly be rendering as "Being-as-such". Rather than methodically illustrate the numerous convergences required to justify this usage, Guenther disingenuously proceeds as though the fundamental sameness of Heidegger and Buddhism is already well-established. In addition to being thoroughly misleading, this approach renders obtuse what was once straightforward.

Perhaps worse than this often-annoying idiom is the author's lack of basic clarity. As a previous reviewer indicated, this book is indeed difficult, but it is made so by Guenther's proliclivity to discuss terms for several pages before defining them. His prose is inarticulate and undisciplined.

The most fundamental problem with this book, however, is that its thesis is so comically unrealized. While Guenther promises to demonstrate how Nying-ma Tantra frees us from the stultifying effects of scholastic doctrine, this book itself is the epitome of lifeless learning. It is hair-splitting in the extreme, enamoured with terminological precision, and apparently unaware that Dzog-chen is fundamentally a system of MEDITATION. One would think, reading this tome, that the primary goal of Buddhist teaching is to arm us with new weapons with which to flog the long-dead horse of Cartesian dualism.

For vastly superior introductions to Dzog-chen, see Samten Karmay's The Great Perfection or Tulku Thundup's The Practice of Dzogchen.

This is the book to read for everyone who has to think of the philosophical issues (in science or the humanities) when doing their post graduate theses. Thouogh it deels with Eastern thought, it highlights one of the basic drives in Western thought, reductionism, which freeze-dries (my expression, not Guenther's!) concepts to such an extent that it stultifies thinking and leads the mind astray. Guenther looks at the development of the Indo-Tibetan tradition of Buddhist thought and examines those tendencies which reduces ways of thinking and understanding in misleading ways, and contrary tendencies in this tradition which gave life to recurring concepts.For a start, the Buddhist emphases on the ways we come to know and understand rather than on the Western definntions of a static world give Buddhists an upper hand, but even in this tradition there have been tendencies to reify and concretise. Given that our researchers' starting points are cut-and dried-definitions, which we all know are unsatisfactory, it is useful to have this well-argumented and documented exposition of more creative ways of dealing with concepts.