1 journaler for this copy...
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Journal Entry 1 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Sunday, December 03, 2006
2006 Book #40 - Awakening The Buddha Within : Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das
I bought this book quite a while back and kept putting it off because I thought there would be a lot in it to read. I was right. It took me forever to finish this book. Not because it was boring or awful, but because there was so much in it that I found thought-provoking or which I needed time to digest. The beginning of it was a little uninteresting, though, and I was thinking I'd bought a book about Buddhism that was really about the author who's Buddhist. That wasn't the case. I think he was just trying to establish his own path to becoming a Buddhist and that turned out to be a bit long and convoluted. That's helpful in this type of belief system/philosophy since it's one that doesn't force people to one rigid slew of rituals and practices. Knowing which classes and types of Buddhism have influenced him gave me insight into where he was coming from with his own view of Buddhism and his practices.
Whenever I read a book I tend to take note as I'm reading of some pages where something was particularly good or annoying in a book, so that when I write my review I can quote it or at least remember to praise or bemoan something in particular from that book. I started doing that with this book and I ended up dogearing a ton of pages. I found so much of the topic so compelling and in tune with what I believe that I almost just stopped dogearing because it was becoming useless for quoting. For a long time I've admired Buddhism and in particular mostly Mahayana Buddhism, which according to Wikipedia focuses on "Universalism, in that everyone will become a buddha; Enlightened wisdom as the main focus of realization; Compassion through the transferal of merit." It also says that some Buddhists who follow this branch also believe in "Salvation supported by a rich cosmography, including celestial realms and powers, with a spectrum of bodhisattvas, both human and seemingly godlike, who can assist followers." I partially don't agree with this part as some followers almost want to make out bodhisattvas as gods for near-worship and I lean more towards the "universalism" side. I agree more with what Wikipedia lists as "philosophical" Mahayana Buddhism: "'Philosophical', Mahayana tends to focus on the first three characteristics (universalism, enlightened wisdom, compassion) without showing much interest in supernatural constructions, while “devotional” Mahayana focuses mainly on salvation towards other-worldly realms." Hence why I tend to agree more with the Zen forms of Buddhism than the Tibetan type which to me seems too elaborate.
I digress. This author has more Tibetan leanings since he spent a lot of years closeted up in Tibetan monasteries. However, the book does cover the main ideas of Buddhism. It's divided into mainly two parts. Part One mainly focuses on the authors experiences and history and some of the general philosophical aspects of Buddhism; Part Two covers the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path of Enlightenment. Part Two is of course the real meat of the book and near the end also includes some pointers for meditation, which is really the main thing that any Buddhist of any sect will tell you is the most important aspect of Buddhism. I read a lot of books and articules on religion and daily internet news feeds on some of the scarier followers of Christianity in the U.S. and honestly if a lot of these aggressive people would just follow more of what's found in Part Two of this book? Well, they'd be much better Christians for it.
Overall, one of the more in-depth and yet layman-clear books on Buddhism I've come across. I definitely recommend it.
9/10
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Awakening the Buddha Within : Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World
