Words of My Perfect Teacher, Revised Edition (Sacred Literature Series)

Words of My Perfect Teacher, Revised Edition (Sacred Literature Series)
Average customer rating:

Marvelous!

A handbook to being a Buddhist.

You have to get no other books at all

perfect for anyone wanting insight to Tibetan Buddhism

Inspiring, and Informative

Words of My Perfect Teacher, Revised Edition (Sacred Literature Series)
Patrul Rinpoche
Manufacturer: Shambhala
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Dalai Lama | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Zen Philosophy | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher

The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones: The Practice of View, Meditation, and Action: A Discourse Virtuous in the Beginning, Middle, and End

The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: The Wish-Fulfilling Gem of the Noble Teachings

Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

The Life of Milarepa: A New Translation from the Tibetan

ASIN: 1570624127
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Book Description

A favorite of Tibetansâand of the Dalai Lama himselfâ The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a practical guide to the spiritual practices common to all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It is the classic commentary on the preliminary practices of Longchen Nyingthig, a cycle of teachings of the Nyingmapa school. Patrul Rinpoche makes his subject accessible through a wealth of stories, quotations, and references to everyday life, giving the text all the life and atmosphere of a compelling oral teaching. This second, revised edition (of the book originally published by HarperSanFrancisco in 1994) is the result of a detailed and painstaking comparison of the original Tibetan text with the English translation by the Padmakara Translation Group. The new edition also includes translations of a postface to the text written a century ago for the first printed Tibetan edition by the first Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a new preface by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Customer Reviews:

Marvelous!.......2007-02-19

Right to the heart of the matter. Words of my Perfect Teacher is a spiritual friend.

A handbook to being a Buddhist........2007-01-12

This text is wonderfully written, concise manual on how to be a Buddhist. Written for the layperson and illustrated with fabulous examples. If you have read the Lamrim this book will strengthen your foundation of Buddhism.

You have to get no other books at all.......2006-07-12

If someones fatigued by endless buddhists-friends-philosophical-discussion want instead rapidly to proceed to Dzogchen (Preliminaries of it) practice, they need only one book and this is it.

This brilliant guidance word by word was written by one realized Master of Longchen Nyingthig lineage from the Oral Instruction of the other realized Master of Longchen Nyingthig. Then it was translated under control and with vast pile of commentaries of nowdays realized Masters.

Because of this it really lacks nothing.

"Read this book again and again, do everything it says to do.
The day you will know the book by heart and take it into your heart, you will have just to snap your fingers to achive Liberation" my Lama usually says, when I ask him to give me the most pith instructions.

perfect for anyone wanting insight to Tibetan Buddhism.......2006-02-18

Great to teach about Tibetan Buddhism. A great starting point.

Inspiring, and Informative.......2005-09-26

This book is a must read for all Tibetan Buddhists. I am only half way through chapter 2, but from these two chapters I can tell you that Patrul Rinpoche goes into great detail on all topics he covers. Warning: this book is not intended for beginners, it could be overwhelming for the un-initiated. I highly recommend getting the guide to this book, although the word "guide" is a little misleading, it is more of a complimentary book.

For beginners I would recommend: Essence of Buddhism by Traleg Kyabgon

Comes the Peace: My Journey to Forgiveness

Average customer rating:

Great Book
Reconciliation
A MUST READ
A fabulous look at something most of us never hear about
A curious and unique person

Comes the Peace: My Journey to Forgiveness
Daja Wangchuk Meston , and Clare Ansberry
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743287479

Book Description

"I packed a blue Samsonite suitcase with my belongings -- a couple of pairs of jeans and shirts, UB40 tapes, the Swiss army knife I had stolen from my mother, my Tibetan prayer book, and a red plastic Camay soap dish I bought in Dharamsala that had become a good luck charm for me."

With these, all his worldly possessions at the age of seventeen, Daja Wangchuk Meston caught an airliner to America, the unfamiliar land of which he was a citizen, and began his arduous personal journey to discover and mend his long-severed ties to his family, his country, and, in a very real sense, his own identity.

In this moving memoir, the author tells the incredible story of a young man who used his Buddhist upbringing and the love of a good woman -- his young wife -- to learn that forgiving others can play a critical role in healing a damaged soul.

Daja had much to forgive. In the early 1970s, at the age of three, he was taken by his hippie American parents to Nepal and left in the care of a Tibetan family. The Tibetans in turn placed him in a Buddhist monastery where, at the age of six, he was ordained to be a monk. There, in scenes reminiscent of the novels of Charles Dickens, he was ostracized by the other boy monks, who taunted him for his Caucasian physical traits, left so hungry he stole scraps of bread, and slept on a flea-infested straw mat. He was an outsider in an insular monastic world, unable to understand what had befallen him and longing for the warmth of his mother's embrace.

His mother became a Buddhist nun, and caring for a child, she thought, would impede her spiritual journey. Her occasional and brief visits with young Daja became increasingly rare. As he grew up, there were often years without a single maternal visit. His father, unbeknownst to the boy, had suffered a mental breakdown and returned, helpless, to Los Angeles.

The story of Daja's self-generated ouster from the monastery as an adolescent (he pretended to have slept with a prostitute), his eventual migration to his homeland, his lifelong attempt to understand and reconnect with his parents, and his eventual and dangerous work on behalf of Tibetan rights under Chinese oppression make for a compelling reading experience.

But more than that, the story of Daja Meston reminds us of the universal human need for roots and family bonds. It is ultimately an unforgettable story of love, hope, and forgiveness and of a gentle man with an enormous capacity for all three.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-09-20

Comes the Peace was a great book. Daja Wangchuk Meston tells his story very humbly and with alot of class. He seems to be a very sweet, and pleasent person. I hope nothing but the best for him and his wife in the future.

Reconciliation.......2007-06-27

Daja Wangchuk Meston has written a fascinating and very brave and honest account of his life. All the players in his life, his mother, the monastery, his wife and himself he writes about with complete and utter frankness. This is not a hagiography but a very human book. By the end of it the reader is given a complete and very rounded picture of the motives of his mother, who acted in what she thought were the best interests for her son and which may well have been because the adult Daja is imbued with the qualities his mother wanted him to gain.

A MUST READ.......2007-04-23

This story is so unusual. I have never read a memoir like it. Wangchuk Meston has survived such trials of neglect and loss as a child that one wonders how he comes away with any sense of peace. But he does.

Perhaps he would never have learned all that he has learned if he had remained a monk. He lives the essence of Buddhism.

I highly recommend this book.

A fabulous look at something most of us never hear about.......2007-04-17

I didn't buy this book off of amazon...I found it through a local bookstore. I was looking for something that would inspire me and inform me more about what Monks really go through when they take their vows. There are just no books out there that cover this topic. I am halfway through the book and absolutley love it. It is hard for me to put down sometimes and complete my daily work. I never imagined a monk leaving the monkhood and experience things we do every day; eating a hamburger, going to disneyland, even eating with silverware. It stops and makes you think of the the things you normally take for granted, like the love of a family member. I would reccomend this book to any Buddhist, even to people who just want an insipring story in forgiveness and overcoming differences. A beautiful book. Definatley 5 stars.

A curious and unique person.......2007-04-16

Late in this memoir, Daja Wangchuk Meston writes about musing on the impermanence of life. He decides that, when he dies: "I...wish to be remembered as a curious and unique person." The sentiment is as simple, humble and understated as the tone of this book. And this is a credit to Meston and his co-author Clare Ansberry, because had they indulged in grand and flowery prose, it could only have distracted from Meston's astonishing story.

The author has lived a bucketful of lives in his 37 years, and only lately has he come to fit them together, put them in perspective, and draw from this strange tapestry a sense of his own human value. This is understandable, when you consider that he's a white American born to a mother who became a Buddhist nun and a father who suffered a schizophrenic breakdown, partly raised in a Tibetan family until he was dropped into a Buddhist monastary, where he became a monk at the age of six and lived a sheltered, puzzled, religiously indentured life until, at 17, he excaped by means of a lie and flew back to the US, where he found himself in a California high school, speaking rudimentary English and astonished to discover that the world was not flat... Add to this an early marriage to a wonderful, willful. deeply troubled young woman, a pair of crushed ankles earned by jumping out the window of a hotel room in Tibet while incarcerated by Chinese authorities...

Whew! It's amazing this man is alive. It's doubly amazing that he has been strong enough--and wise enough--to sort through all the craziness and survive.

Comes the Peace is one helluva tale, by turns incredible, heart-wrenching and cautiously triumphant. This book not only tells the story of this "curious and unique person" simply and well, but it gives the reader a gift of empathy, an honest look at our skewed world through that person's eyes. We are premitted to see how it feels to be the odd man out, the minority of one, the new arrival to a life everybody else takes for granted. If Meston had to scramble to catch up, so, when it comes to respecting the cost of such effort, do most of us. There is much to learn here--about attachment, abandonment, family, love, salvation, forgiveness.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. May it fly off the shelves, and may we all appreciate our stumbling humanity a bit more for reading it.

Susan O'Neill, author, Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Vietnam

My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet

Average customer rating:

A Simple and Informative Read
Inspiring
An Amazing Story
Tibet never belonged to China
A little disappointed, but still a good and important read

My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet
The Dalai Lama
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446674214

Book Description

Written by the Dalai Lama as a young man in exile, this dignified testament re-creates the miraculous search that identified him as the reincarnated leader of his country. It paints a rare, intimate portrait of Tibetan Buddhisma way of life that would end with a terrifying foreign invasion surpassing sanity and reason. And it reveals the evolution of a man from gentle monk to a world leader, one struggling to this day to free his country one able to touch our hearts with the goodness that makes him one of the most beloved men of our time.

Customer Reviews:

A Simple and Informative Read.......2006-09-27

This book is a wonderful, simple, and quick read. Of course the subject matter does get unpleasant, but it's good to know the facts from the perspective of His Holiness at the time that he wrote it in 1962.

The book tells the story which everyone knows: how the Chinese invaded Tibet and the Dalai Lama was forced to feel to India. But this book goes in to detail and as a reader, it was great to finally get the "real" details of that story, again from his perspective. Prior to reading this, I only knew the story based on films and summaries in guide books, etc.

I highly recommend this book, and I would suggest reading this one prior to reading his second autobiography, "Freedom in Exile" from the early 1990's.

Inspiring.......2006-06-29

Even if you already know the life story of His Holiness, this is a great read. Written in the Dalai Lama's usual clear and forthright style, the story is deeply moving. Recommended for students of both Buddhism and history.

An Amazing Story.......2006-03-18

Having long been a fan of the Dalai Lama and his other books, I was anxious to read his autobiography. It is an amazing story that he has to tell. We should hope that our world had evolved beyond invasions after World War II, but that proved not to be true when China invaded Tibet and eventually ousted the ruling party in 1959.

Having been previously familiar with the story of the exile of the Dalai Lama to some degree, I was anxious to learn about it in more detail. Truly the people of Tibet are and continue to be victims of China. China crept into Tibet saying only that it would help to modernize the "backwards" people of Tibet. After numerous broken promises the Dalai Lama exited just ahead of the first morter blasts that rocked his palace. China's only real goal was to take possession of the land at any cost.

Few religions place a greater emphasis on peace than the Tibetan form of Buddism. While the author gives readers some of the basic principles of the faith, the language should not be confusing to those not familiar with Buddism. This amazing story, though it ends with the Dalai Lama's arrival in India, is still fresh and eye-opening today.

Tibet never belonged to China.......2004-11-29

I enjoyed this narrative, my first experience with the writing of H.H. Dalai Lama. He writes so well. It's clear, descriptive, and engaging from the first sentence to the last. Suitable for all ages, the earlier the better. It has really sparked my interest in this country,, or at least how it once was. It has been almost two generations since this tragedy and I doubt things will ever be the same. Well, at least the chinese have thier railroad at the expense of an entire nation. Oh, but the writing isn't bitter at all. Just me.

A little disappointed, but still a good and important read.......2002-03-04

I am a college student who has studied China extensively in school. I can speak Chinese and have traveled to China several times and to Tibet once. While I have never agreed with many of the Chinese governments policies in the areas of religion, personal freedom, Tibet, and Taiwan, I think this book could have done more for its cause.

I decided to read this book after I spent 2.5 weeks in Tibet last year while studying in China. Tibet was one of the most fascinating places I have been to and I really wanted to know more about what happened there after China invaded. This book tells the Dalai Lama's story very well. Up until the last 15 pages or so, I really loved the book. However, before closing, the Dalai Lama makes several accusations about Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet (beatings, child abductions and the like) but provides no evidence of their existence.

While I personally feel Tibet was and still is a sovereign country and what China has done is wrong in many ways, the charges made in the last few pages don't belong in this book. While the Dalai Lama's story of his life and last days in Tibet are very powerful, I really think it would have been even better had the those last parting shots been omitted. Charges of human rights abuses such as these are very important and would be better served in a book of their own.

I think most Americans will enjoy this book but not share the same reaction I had to the last few pages. I have studied China for several years now and have heard accusations from both China and the world on countless occasions on a wide range of issues. Maybe this is why I get turned off when I don't see concrete evidence included when someone makes a charge such as the Dalai Lama does at the end of his book. I still think the Dalai Lama is a wonderful man and has an important story to tell, but feel this one could have come across a little better.

A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher
Average customer rating:

An indispensable book to all studious and apprentice of the Tibetan Buddhism. A true rare preciousness!

A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher
Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang
Manufacturer: Shambhala
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Words of My Perfect Teacher, Revised Edition (Sacred Literature Series)

The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones: The Practice of View, Meditation, and Action: A Discourse Virtuous in the Beginning, Middle, and End

Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: The Wish-Fulfilling Gem of the Noble Teachings

Zurchungpa's Testament

ASIN: 1590300734
Release Date: 2004-06-22

Book Description

This guide provides readers with essential background information for studying and practicing with Patrul Rinpoche's Words of My Perfect Teacherâ the text that has, for more than a century, served as the reliable sourcebook to the spiritual practices common to all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. By offering chapter-by-chapter commentary on this renowned work, Khenpo Pelzang provides a fresh perspective on the role of the teacher; the stages of the path; the view of the Three Jewels; Madhyamika, the basis of transcendent wisdom; and much more.

Customer Reviews:

An indispensable book to all studious and apprentice of the Tibetan Buddhism. A true rare preciousness!.......2007-01-11

Together with this guide's book mother - "The Words of My Perfect Teacher" -, this book works as a vehicle of the good, correct and true understanding of the noblemen beginnings of the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhism. Who read the book above mentioned certainly was in ecstasy, such the beauty and depth of their teachings. A book wonderful, poetic, heart writing, for a master worthy of like this to be called. And this guide could not leave for minus, because that explains and you/he/she enlarges the understanding that she can reach to the if she reads Patrul Rinpoche's book. And to everything this is added the authority in the great master's Khenpo Hgawang Pelsang subject. These two books have to be acquired together: they are the alpha and omega of the tibetan Buddhism, Yin and Yang, it Lies and Heart, Body and Soul... Without these two preciousness, every understanding and daily practice of the Buddhist teachings they would be as powerful cars without fuel. It is now, with this two books the Buddhism is a car "totalflex" (bi-fuel), as we say in Brazil.

My Land and My People Memoirs of the Dalai Lama of Tibet

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My Land and My People Memoirs of the Dalai Lama of Tibet

Manufacturer: Potala New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GS8UT4

Average customer rating:

Very Good!
My Visit to Venus
UFOs Tibetan Style
A Must-Have for Rampa's Fans
A Must-Have for Rampa's Fans

My Visit to Venus
T. Lobsang Rampa
Manufacturer: Inner Light Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 093829461X

Book Description

RAMPA'S TRIPS TO OTHER WORLDS...WERE THEY TAKEN ON THE PHYSICAL PLANE OR WAS IT ACCOMPLISHED BY ASTRAL TRAVEL?This material is of such a controversial nature that it was kept out of his previously published work because his publishers thought it would compromise his more acceptable work. In this important publication (with Introduction by John Keel and a Foreword by Gray Barker), Rampa discusses his meetings with the Masters from other worlds who take Rampa onboard their craft where he was able to to visit several planets. Rare but a necessary addition to any Rampa library).

Customer Reviews:

Very Good!.......2006-12-27

I simply love this work of Lobsang, very inspirational and I believe honest. I would recommed this book highly for anyone who has an open mind & a sincere hunger to know the truth. This work of Lobsang may seem outrageous or unbievable to some, but thats the reaction of a mind that has accepted the lies spin disinformation and the slickest mind control dished out by the Illuminati Control Freaks thats behind Corporate America & England who own or control what 95% of the news wires dictate.

My Visit to Venus.......2003-12-10

This book is an unauthorized publication. In one of the many books by T. Lobsang Rampa he states that this is so, that the drawings are not at all good and he recommends that you do not buy it as it is a waste of money. Books that are unauthorized publications should not be sold under the authors name, especially when the author has died. How do you feel about this?

UFOs Tibetan Style.......2003-03-07

T. Lobsang Rampa is a legendary spiritual leader whose gifts to humanity have continued to offer his readers a true and trustworthy vision of the wondrous worlds that lie just within reach of our own. More than 20 years after his death, Rampa's writings still manage to touch the heart with their uncannily realistic stories about the Astral Plane, the marvels of outer space, and the beauty of the Tibet he loved so much.

"My Visit To Venus" is an excellent example of Rampa's unique genius. It begins with a section of commentary by well-known researcher and author John Keel. Keel gives the reader a short course in Rampa's life story, including the engrossing tale of how Rampa became what may have been the first modern case of the Walk-In phenomenon. How a struggling British writer was transformed into a venerated New Age teacher and spiritual adventurer is beautifully told by Keel in his customary wonderful prose. A general history of the abduction phenomenon through the millennia is also included, which helps put Rampa's experiences in the context of mankind's age-old hand-in-hand stroll with the unknown.

Next comes an introduction by Gray Barker, one of the early pioneers of UFO research. Barker discusses his decision to publish some of Rampa's earlieset work and gives a detailed account of the controversy that accompanied the publication of "The Third Eye," Rampa's first book. Both Tibetans and the British media were up in arms about it, calling it a fraudulent piece of work and claiming that Rampa had never been to Tibet at all. Rampa answered his critics by saying that while he had never been there in his present body, the spirit of a Tibetan lama had entered his body under unusual circumstances. Barker's introduction also includes testimony from Rampa's wife as to the reality of the extreme personality changes in Rampa after the lama had moved in.

From that fascinating beginning, the book moves on to Rampa's own telling of the tale, which this time around features a journey to Venus, as the title implies.

Rampa is on a journey, accompanied by a few fellow lamas, to meet with the beings that are telepathically leading them on. After a freezing trek through a Tibetan mountain range, they come to a warm and blissful garden called The Hidden Land. There they encounter a deserted flying saucer sitting on the ground, which they enter and explore.

Soon they meet an alien Rampa calls The Tall One, who briefs them on their coming tour through outer space, the real purpose of their journey. Instead of describing the experience as warm and fuzzy, sweetness and light, Rampa talks frankly about the terror he feels as he is surrounded on all sides by such "high strangeness." That is another aspect of the abduction experience he shares with the more recent spate of modern abductees--one's initial reaction to the alien presence is nearly always one of fear.

But after those first moments of fright, Rampa and his friends traverse the heavens on a flying saucer and witness all the beauty of an alien paradise on Venus. In all fairness to Rampa, it isn't really necessary that the location is literally the planet Venus. It could be anywhere in any universe and the message would still be the same--heaven is waiting for those who are ready to go there.

You can read "My Visit To Venus" in one sitting, but its positive effects may last you a lifetime.

A Must-Have for Rampa's Fans.......2001-11-28

This is not a paperback, it seems to be photocopied material.
It has a nice binding, and the size is Din-A4 paper.
The book is very thin, but it has extremely interesting
comments of John Keel and Gray Barker. At the end of the
book it advertises the "Special Rampa Meditation Tape".

A Must-Have for Rampa's Fans.......2001-11-28

My Path Leads to Tibet: The Inspiring Story of How One Young Blind Woman Brought Hope to the Blind Children of Tibet

Average customer rating:

Amazing story
Wonýt give up
One of the most uplifting books I've read in years

My Path Leads to Tibet: The Inspiring Story of How One Young Blind Woman Brought Hope to the Blind Children of Tibet
Sabriye Tenberken
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Sight Unseen

ASIN: 1559706589

Book Description

Defying everyoneís advice, armed only with her rudimentary knowledge of Chinese and Tibetan, Sabriye Tenberken set out to do something about the appalling condition of the Tibetan blind, who she learned had been abandoned by society and left to die. Traveling on horseback throughout the country, she sought them out, devised a Braille alphabet in Tibetan, equipped her charges with canes for the first time, and set up a school for the blind. Her efforts were crowned with such success that hundreds of young blind Tibetans, instilled with a newfound pride and an education, have now become self-supporting. A tale that will leave no reader unmoved, it demonstrates anew the power of the positive spirit to overcome the most daunting odds.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing story.......2004-04-01

Sabriye Tenbergen is a young blind woman who has accomplished a great deal. Almost single-handedly, she developed a Braille script for Tibetan, then went to Tibet, where she traveled on horseback, looking for blind children to teach. Before then, blind children were hidden away or abandoned as cursed, with no future, but Sabriye was determined to give them one. So she founded a school where she taught blind children to read, as well as other life skills such as cane travel. She herself got around by cane by using landmarks in the city.

This account is just one more example of how the best humanitarian work is often founded by determined individuals with a dream. Conversely, Sabriye was opposed at almost every turn by incompetent and apathetic bureaucrats in organizations both in her native Germany and in Tibet.

She clearly loves the land and people, but is not "blind" to the reality either. The country is frightfully cold in winter as well as being prone to floods. And she noted many of the superstitions that harm the wellbeing of the people. But she noted the strengths as well, e.g. Tibetans designed houses to cope well with the cold, while the Chinese made concrete boxes that are hopeless. [Reminds me of the opposite in sub-tropical to tropical Queensland. The early settlers designed open-structured "Queenslanders" that caught the breezes very well, but later architects in New South Wales and Victoria designed houses that became convection ovens in Queensland]

Sabriye has a way of writing that seems very visual, so sometimes it's easy to forget she's blind.

Wonýt give up.......2004-03-29

This book tells the story of a young woman with an impossible dream, and how she set about accomplishing it. Tenberken was born with vision problems that led to complete blindness by the time she was a teenager. Once while she was in middle school, she and her class visited a special museum exhibit about Tibet. From that point on, she was fascinated with Tibet, and when she started university, she decided to major in Asian languages with the goal of going to Tibet. Pursuing a major in Asian languages is quite difficult for any Westerner, but even more so for a blind Westerner, since Braille materials and computer software for language study in these languages are limited, if they exist at all. Indeed, Tenberken ended up creating her own Braille system for writing Tibetan script (which proved so useful in her studies that she was even able to use her class notes to tutor sighted students in her classes). Upon graduation from university, she set off for Tibet by herself to found a school for blind children and teach them how to read and write using her Tibetan Braille alphabet with the goal of allowing them to be integrated into regular schools once they became literate. The very thought of just picking up and moving to a country that happens to be occupied by a communist government and establishing an independent school for unschooled children, especially when you yourself do not have teaching experience, sounds positively ludicrous. Fortunately for the blind children of Tibet, Tenberken doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the phrase "you can't do that"- -perhaps a result of her upbringing, since her parents obviously supported her endeavors, or perhaps a simple character trait that drives her.

In a few places in the book, Tenberken's style is a bit stilted, or she seems to gloss over details that beg to be explained. She carefully avoids any mention whatsoever of the political situation in Tibet, since any hint of criticism would no doubt result in the immediate closure of her school and the undoing of all of her efforts. In any case, she taught her students Tibetan language from the start, rather than only sticking to Chinese. The book is quite interesting for its story of how one determined person can have a tremendous impact on the lives of many, many others.

One of the most uplifting books I've read in years.......2003-02-11

Sabriye Tenberken is a young woman from Germany who happens to be blind. She has written one of the most amazing and uplifting books I have read in years. MY PATH LEADS TO TIBET is an account, in her own words (translated from the original German), of how Sabriye fulfilled her dream of helping the blind children of Tibet achieve independence and attain a sense of dignity. She has done this by establishing a school for blind children in Lhasa against incredible odds -- all alone and before she reached her 30th birthday.

There could be no better introduction than her own words: "Strange as it may seem, whenever I'm about to take a leap into the unknown, I always have the same dream. I'm standing at the top of a sand dune, looking down at the sea. The sky is clear and blue, the sea flat and dark. The sun is bright, the beach is filled with people. Then all of a sudden, on the horizon a huge towering wall of water is moving slowly toward us in total silence. Everyone is running in my direction. The wall of water, growing ever more menacing by the second, blots out most of the sky. Instead of running away, I walk toward it. And the wall of water crashes over me. To my surprise, however, instead of being crushed by its mass, I am in my dream left feeling tremendously light, filled with new energy. And I know that from now on nothing will be impossible." (pp.11-12)

Sabriye was diagnosed with a serious eye disease in childhood and became completely blind at age 12. She uses a white cane when she walks and travels around the world without assistance. In a place where she has never been before, she relies on strangers to help her and trusts that they will. She is rarely disappointed. The faith she has in herself and in the best of human nature is extraordinary --- and extraordinarily rare to read about at a time when, more often than not, we are being bombarded with words of worldwide deceit and destruction.

The book is written in a flowing, straightforward and easy-reading manner in first person, much like a journal. Yet Sabriye never forgets that we who are reading her book have never had the experience of being blind. She takes us into her world and shares with us her experiences in such a way that we gradually begin to realize what an extraordinary teacher she will be, when and if she is able to get her school started.

On a previous trip to Nepal with her mother, Sabriye spent a brief time in Tibet and learned that blind people are viewed as having been cursed at birth and are treated very much like lepers, or worse. She developed a burning desire to teach Tibet's blind children that they can have full lives, that they do not need to be ashamed or handicapped and that they can live as Sabriye herself lives --- to the fullest.

Tibet, now a part of the People's Republic of China, is famous for its exotic isolation. Yet she set off with only a few pieces of luggage, her white cane and a promise of a small amount of financial backing from sources in her native Germany. She had to apply for permission to the Chinese government and faced bureaucratic obstacles that must have seemed as insurmountable as the mountains themselves. She doesn't give up. She makes friends. She buys a horse that knows its way through the mountain passes.

Not only does Sabriye have to get permission to build a school, she must also go out among the people --- some of who are nomadic tribes --- and find the blind children who will become her pupils. Because their parents are ashamed of them, these children are often hidden away. Thus she travels on horseback and tells us of her travels, the hardships, the joys and the people she meets along the way. Even though you know she will achieve what she has set out to do, the fact that she was able to do it is so remarkable that you will read with your heart in your throat much of the time.

The publisher has included a selection of color photographs that, for us sighted folks, add much to the book.

Reading MY PATH LEADS TO TIBET is an unforgettable experience. Sabriye Tenberken has done us all a kindness by taking us with her on her incredible mission.

Book Description

One of the world's spiritual leaders and a renowned wilderness photographer combine their vision of Tibet in this stunningly beautiful book. Essays by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama appear with Galen Rowell's dramatic images in a moving presentation of the splendors of Tibet's revered but threatened heritage.
When Chinese communist troops invaded Tibet in 1950, the author was fifteen years old and the spiritual and temporal ruler of a nation the size of western Europe. Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, appealed to the United Nations for help and then fled across the Himalaya in winter to a border town, where he anxiously awaited political aid that never came.
Like the mythical kingdom of Shangri-La, Tibet had sought isolation from the rest of the world. Diplomatic relations and foreign visitors had been shunned, and few people in the West knew what cultural and natural treasures lay threatened there. In the years that followed, the Dalai Lama struggled to maintain peace in Tibet and to protect his people's ways, but in 1959 he was forced to flee to India, where he remains today. There he has established a government in exile in Dharamsala that has endeavored to preserve Tibetan culture while preparing for a peaceful return to a free Tibet.
As the Chinese cautiously opened select Tibetan doors to visitors in the 1980s, a sickening realization stole over the rest of the world: Tibet had been ravaged by the Chinese occupation. All but a dozen of Tibet's six thousand monasteries had been destroyed.
Much of the once-bountiful wildlife had disappeared. A sixth of the population had perished. The picture seemed so bleak that many wondered whether there was anything worth saving in this wounded land.
The Dalai Lama's heartening answer and Galen Rowell's magnificent photographs leave no doubt that the mystery and enchantment of Tibet, though seriously endangered, are still alive. To Tibetans the Dalai Lama is an incarnation of the Buddha of compassion. He has spent the last thirty years tirelessly advocating nonviolence and compassion to all living things as the answer to Tibet's plight. "My religion is simple," he says, "my religion is kindness."
My Tibet movingly elaborates this message: here the Dalai Lama offers his views on how world peace, happiness, and environmental responsibility are inextricably linked. He explains the meaning of pilgrimage for Tibetan Buddhists and gives an engaging account of his early life in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. In addition, he reveals many sides to his nature--compassion, profound faith, common sense, generosity, a playful sense of humor--in personal reflections matched here to 108 photographs of the land he hasn't seen since 1959. Together the breathtaking photographs, which express Rowell's own commitment to the natural world, and the Dalai Lama's observations help preserve the enduring meaning of Tibet's culture, religion, and natural heritage.

Customer Reviews:

A great book...........2002-11-04

The photographs in this book are simply breathtaking. The daily life of the everyday Tibetan come across vividly. The commentary by the Dalai Lama gives insight to the photos. I don't know if I would want to ever move to Tibet, but this book made me realize that it's a beautiful country.

... wow ..........2001-03-15

I received this book today ... and I'm stunned ... don't hesitate, just order it ... put together by 2 individuals, each enlightened in his own unique way ... a king in exile, a monk, a man ... the other, an image maker, who sees with his soul, and lives for his craft ... about a land on top of the world, with history and culture as old and deep as the Himalayas are high ... the results are magical ... the photography and text flow from page to page ...

STUNNING!!!.......1999-08-18

My husband bought this book to use the images of buddhist monks for a tattoo. He was going to leave it with the tattoo artist as a gift but decided to bring it home instead. I am so very glad he did!!!! I have become very interested in Tibetan Buddhism as well as the nature of the Tibetan land and people. Of all the information I have come across, this book is by far the most beautiful! The photography is stunning and the Dalai Lama's text is very moving. I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in Tibet or Buddhism. It is simply awe inspiring!

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My Life in Tibet
Edwin John Dingle
Manufacturer: Institute of Metaphysics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Comparative Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006DYIBS

Japanese Agent in Tibet: My Ten Years of Travel in Disguise

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Japanese Agent in Tibet: My Ten Years of Travel in Disguise
Hisao Kimura , and Scott Berry
Manufacturer: Serindia Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Japanese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Travel | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Asia | Travel | Subjects | Books

Mongolia | Asia | Travel | Subjects | Books

Tibet | Asia | Travel | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Fascinating and adventurous true story of a Japanese agent in disguise as a Mongolian pilgrim. After a year's detention, he continued to Tibet and India where he was recruited by British Intelligence to gather information on Chinese intentions in Eastern Tibet.

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