Words of My Perfect Teacher, Revised Edition (Sacred Literature Series) by Patrul Rinpoche Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $14.91 You Save: $10.09 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $10.74 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Words of My Perfect Teacher, Revised Edition (Sacred Literature Series)
Book Review: perfect for anyone wanting insight to Tibetan Buddhism
Summary: 5 Stars
Great to teach about Tibetan Buddhism. A great starting point.Book Review: Inspiring, and Informative
Summary: 5 Stars
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
Book Review: A great book to the practise of Ngondro
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a great book from a great Lama (Patrul Rinpoche). The various issues are written in a way that provides good information and good understanding of the inner and outer preliminaries and have detailed instructions for the Ngondro practise and for the Right Conduct of the practitioner.
It is really an indispensable book.
Book Review: Kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness
Summary: 5 Stars
And some more kindness. Kindness is the theme of The Words of My Perfect Teacher.
I find the teaching presented here to be of great help in dealing with people and situations I'd rather not be involved with, but have no choice. It's very practical (but yes, some passages do include very involved visualizations) and very effective in a rubber-meets-the-road kind of way. This book is a generous helping of good advice, and I think the world would be a much safer and saner place if more of is took such advice directly to heart and put it into practice. Kindness, remember?
Here's a representative quotation: "Always take the lowest place. Wear simple clothes. Help other beings as much as you can. In everything you do, simply work at developing love and compassion until they have become a fundamental part of you" (p. 207). The secret is that they're already a fundamental part of you, even if it seems otherwise.
A reviewer elsewhere has raised the concern that The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a Nyingma ngondro. Yes. Good. Nyingma does not mean "cooties." It's just the name of a particular tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that traces its history to the great teacher Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche. (Gurdjieff called him Saint Lama.) Nyingma represents a legitimate body of teachings which has a lot to offer the world. And The Words of My Perfect Teacher may be the best place to start looking into it and not just taking my word for it, or rejecting it out of hand for no good reason.
Book Review: Excellent Translation
Summary: 5 Stars
I wanted to write quick rebuttal to the reviewer who questions the quality of this translation. I've read both the original Tibetan text (kun bzang bla ma'i zhal lung) and the translation, and I'm very impressed with the work the translators have done. The Tibetan text has been rendered into excellent, clear and grammatical English prose without sacrificing the literal meaning of the original. In addition, the book is clearly footnoted with commentary from high lamas, alternate translations and references.