The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Or The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to L=ama Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering

W. Y. Evans-Wentz

Sep 2000 · Oxford University Press

About this ebook

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is one of the texts that, according to legend, Padma-Sambhava was compelled to hide during his visit to Tibet in the late 8th century. The guru hid his books in stones, lakes, and pillars because the Tibetans of that day and age were somehow unprepared for their teachings. Now, in the form of the ever-popular Tibetan Book of the Dead, these teachings are constantly being discovered and rediscovered by Western readers of many different backgrounds--a phenomenon which began in 1927 with Oxford's first edition of Dr. Evans-Wentz's landmark volume. While it is traditionally used as a mortuary text, to be read or recited in the presence of a dead or dying person, this book--which relates the whole experience of death and rebirth in three intermediate states of being--was originally understood as a guide not only for the dead but also for the living. As a contribution to the science of death and dying--not to mention the belief in life after death, or the belief in rebirth--The Tibetan Book of the Dead is unique among the sacred texts of the world, for its socio-cultural influence in this regard is without comparison. This fourth edition features a new foreword, afterword, and suggested further reading list by Donald S. Lopez, author of Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Lopez traces the whole history of the late Evans-Wentz's three earlier editions of this book, fully considering the work of contributors to previous editions (C. G. Jung among them), the sections that were added by Evans-Wentz along the way, the questions surrounding the book's translation, and finally the volume's profound importance in engendering both popular and academic interest in the religion and culture of Tibet. Another key theme that Lopez addresses is the changing nature of this book's audience--from the prewar theosophists to the beat poets to the hippies to contemporary exponents of the hospice movement--and what these audiences have found (or sought) in its very old pages.

Ratings and reviews

Please, for those of you who are truly interested in the subjects that seem to be described in this version of the original teachings, be very aware that the translations presented here are very much in error. There are recent translations of these materials that are very accurate and clearly present these teachings in their true light. Simply checking online will reveal to you the many good translations that are currently available. Don't waste your time, your energy or your quest on materials that will not reveal the true meaning of the subjects supposedly contained in this translation. They are neither accurate nor meaningful.

even though I haven't downloaded yet. This is THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION from 1927. Every other version is based on this one. If Buddhism interests u, this book is a must.

This ebook appears to be an OCR scan of the book that had minimal to no proofreading - full of typos and missing footnotes.