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| What Makes You Not a Buddhist | 
 enlarge | Author: Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse
Publisher: Shambhala
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00 (32.96 RON)
Buy New: $11.20 (26.37 RON)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 15932
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.5
ISBN: 1590305701
Dewey Decimal Number: 294
EAN: 9781590305706
ASIN: 1590305701
Publication Date: August 12, 2008
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Product Description
With wit and irony, Khyentse urges readers to move beyond the superficial trappings of Buddhism—beyond the romance with beads, incense, or exotic robes—straight to the heart of what the Buddha taught. And after he explains what makes you not a Buddhist, he kindly explains what a Buddhist is. The author is one of the most creative and innovative young Tibetan lamas teaching today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Brilliant September 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A brilliant book. He is both profound and humorous. He cuts to the essence of Buddhist thought and philosophy. I have bought four or five copies to pass to friends as I think it is one of the best books on Buddhism that I have ever read.
Must read book even for Buddhists' practitioners or not. September 16, 2008
The writing style is amazing. Short chapters and subchapters and beautiful history illustrate complex Buddhist's concepts, helping them to be well understanding.
 A good contemplation... for those in the know September 11, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The best feature of this book is that Khyentse presents Buddhist concepts in a current events context. Many classic Buddhist parables aren't understandable to someone unfamiliar with the workings of the Ancient Indian society the Buddha lived in; someone unfamiliar with concepts such as atman, caste, clan, and other aspects of the culture may not understand the Buddha's analogies and humor. Khyentse makes an incredibly insightful, cosmopolitan Buddhist analysis of the modern world. This is something contemporary readers can greatly appreciate.
This book's fatal flaw is that, while it attempts to explain away certain misconceptions about Buddhism, it also uses old, bad translations of classic Buddhist terms that perpetuate those very misconceptions. This leads someone unfamiliar with the original Pali either completely bewildered or put off, as a few other reviewers, it appears, have been.
For example, Khyentse translates the second seal as "All emotions are pain". To his credit, he does note in "Postscript on the Translation of Terms" that this statement loses clarity in translation, and points out that the original statement said something that's difficult to express in English. In my opinion, he chose the most misleading translation possible. Alternate translations of the second seal have read, "All conditioned states are unsatisfactory," which I think is a much more accurate translation. Khyentse's decision to render the word dukkha as "pain" in English was certainly a poor decision in my book; the Pali Text Society's Pali to English dictionary would have something to say on that. Second, the word "emotion" not only is a bad translation, but as far as I have read, an unprecedented one.
If you are familiar with the Pali language and can therefore take the poor translation with a grain of salt by understanding what he's actually referring to, this book can be incredibly uplifting and enjoyable. If you're unfamiliar with Pali or Buddhism, I would NOT recommend this book as a first read. The poor translation of certain terms could give you the wrong impression.
 Pessimism or Buddhism ? June 8, 2008
12 out of 24 found this review helpful
I seriously could not finish this book. I gave 2 stars because there is some Buddhist content in this book.
I have been studying Buddhism for over 5 years and I have never read something so judgmental and cynical in my life. The interpretation of Buddhism by Dzongsar is as pestering as an unhappy wife.
I am sure that some readers would love to read on "how tragic life is" and "how the world is doomed". But if you want to do that, just turn the TV in CNN and you might get information without personal opinions.
This book is purely opinion based, rarely his statements are supported by facts or Buddhism history.
He nags about American culture, Confucius and even Theodore Roosevelt. But he does tell the story of our prince Siddhartha.
Here are some of his "delightful words"
"This planet earth that you are sitting on right now as you read this book will eventually become as lifeless as mars- if it`s not shattered by a meteor first."
( uau, I hope I can live until tomorrow)
"Your sweet little -behaved kids can grow up into cocaine-snorting thugs who bring home all kinds of lovers. The straightest parents in the world produce some of the most flamboyant homosexuals, just as some of the most laid-back hippies end up with neoconservative children."
( humnn...so let us all give up in trying to educate our children and just hand them some white powder . "flamboyant homosexuals"? A little Prejudice there Dzongsar?)
Buddhism is about contentment, acceptance, awareness and compassion.
If you want to read about that try Thich Nhat Hanh and our Holiness Dalai Lama books. These are truly Faithfull to Buddhism concepts and easy language.
If you are a mother try Sarah Napthali, she is amazing and enthusiastic. Good peaceful literature for mothers.
Wonderful introduction to Buddhism March 29, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
"Consider generosity. When we begin to realize the first truth" (impermanence), "we see everything as transitory and without value, as if it belonged in a Salvation Army bag. We don't have to necessarily give it all away, but we have no clinging to it. When we see that our possessions are all impermament compounded phenomena, that we can't cling to them forever, generosity is already practically accomplished."
Thus we begin a journey into the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in the city of Lumbini and was raised in Kapilavastu.
Born a prince, his father, King Suddhodana, was said to have been visited by a wise man shortly after Siddhartha was born. The wise man said that Siddhartha would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a holy man (Sadhu). Determined to make Siddhartha a king, the father tried to shield his son from the unpleasant realities of daily life. Despite his father's efforts, at the age of 29, he discovered the suffering of his people, first through an encounter with an elderly man. On subsequent trips outside the palace, he encountered various sufferings such as a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and a monk or an ascetic. These are often termed 'The Four Sights.'
Gautama was deeply depressed by these four sights and sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic. Gautama escaped his palace, leaving behind this royal life to become a mendicant. For a time on his spiritual quest, Buddha "experimented with extreme asceticism, which at that time was seen as a powerful spiritual practice...such as fasting, holding the breath, and exposure of the body to pain...he found, however, that these ascetic practices brought no genuine spiritual benefits and in fact, being based on self-hatred, that they were counterproductive."
After abandoning asceticism and concentrating instead upon meditation and, according to some sources, Anapanasati (awareness of breathing in and out), Gautama is said to have discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way--a path of moderation that lies mid-way between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He accepted a little milk and rice pudding from a village girl and then, sitting under a pipal tree or Sacred fig (Ficus religiosa), also known as the Bodhi tree, in Bodh Gaya, he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth. His five companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After 49 days meditating, at the age of 35, he attained bodhi, also known as "Awakening" or "Enlightenment." After his attainment of bodhi he was known as Buddha or Gautama Buddha and spent the rest of his life teaching his insights (Dharma). According to scholars, he lived around the fifth century BCE, but his more exact birthdate is open to debate. He died at the age of 80 in Kushinagara (Pali Kusinara) (India)
From these facts, a little book by master Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse is born out of his frustration that Siddhartha's teachings have not caught on enough to his liking.
He goes through the basic concepts of Buddhism in a relevant way, easy to read, and entertaining tale. This book is a jewel for anyone who is interested in Buddhism.
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