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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great place to start., December 4, 2005
This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism, Second Edition (Paperback)
I am young. I am unknowing. And I am in search of the truth.
For those of you that hear the call of the East and are drawn to it, this is a fantastic place to start.
Unlike the Idiot's guide to Taoism (which gets WAY too caught up in how Taoism affects our culture...if you read it, you'd know what I mean) this guide gives us a lot of facts about Buddhism, its schools of thought, meditation techniques, and other fun ti-bits.
However, the only daraw-back of this book is that it doesn't cover as much ground as I wish it did. However, this is just meant as a starting place. Read some books by the Dalai Lama if you wish to learn more.
But this book captures that love and compassion that is at the root of Buddhism, and because of that I am grateful I found this book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN excellent overview for the beginner, or for a refresher, November 10, 2004
This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism, Second Edition (Paperback)
Initially, I had great skepticism - c'mon a "Complete Idiots" book to get me started down the Buddhist path? Really? It just seemed so...so...<b>American</b>. But, I had to start somewhere, and my good friend Ben recommended it to me, so I gave it a shot. Now, having finished the book, I realize I owe both my friend and Gary Gach an immense debt of gratitude - this book is really amazing. One problem I (and many others) have had with other beginning Buddhism books is that the format isn't one that's easy to soak up; the flow isn't as logical as this one's, or not enough detail or context is given to drive points home to a more understandable place. Gach has done a phenomenal job of keeping things simple enough not to overwhelm a newcomer, yet goes into enough detail to keep things interesting and real. Gach goes beyond teaching the basic belief system into giving examples of how to apply what we've learned in real life, and where else to look for more information. He offers dozens of anecdotes, many koans, a plethora of historical tales and data points, a glossary, and a multitude of other items. One small criticism I have of this book is that he very often doesn't cite his sources when giving statistics. Throughout the book, Gach returns to important concepts, but not in a manner which I found to be condescending at all - it was merely helpful to be reminded of X, Y, and Z at certain points throughout the book, because they were important to the current subject. The author gives the reader a very solid foundation to build his or her beliefs upon, should the reader desire, including a rich and detailed historical background of Buddhism throughout the world. I will be unreservedly suggesting this book to anyone who expresses an interest in this spiritual path.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent overview for the beginner, or for a refresher, November 10, 2004
This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism, Second Edition (Paperback)
Initially, I had great skepticism - c'mon a "Complete Idiots" book to get me started down the Buddhist path? Really? It just seemed so...so...*American*. But, I had to start somewhere, and my good friend Ben recommended it to me, so I gave it a shot. Now, having finished the book, I realize I owe both my friend and Gary Gach an immense debt of gratitude - this book is really amazing. One problem I (and many others) have had with other beginning Buddhism books is that the format isn't one that's easy to soak up; the flow isn't as logical as this one's, or not enough detail or context is given to drive points home to a more understandable place. Gach has done a phenomenal job of keeping things simple enough not to overwhelm a newcomer, yet goes into enough detail to keep things interesting and real. Gach goes beyond teaching the basic belief system into giving examples of how to apply what we've learned in real life, and where else to look for more information. He offers dozens of anecdotes, many koans, a plethora of historical tales and data points, a glossary, and a multitude of other items. One small criticism I have of this book is that he very often doesn't cite his sources when giving statistics. Throughout the book, Gach returns to important concepts, but not in a manner which I found to be condescending at all - it was merely helpful to be reminded of X, Y, and Z at certain points throughout the book, because they were important to the current subject. The author gives the reader a very solid foundation to build his or her beliefs upon, should the reader desire, including a rich and detailed historical background of Buddhism throughout the world. I will be unreservedly suggesting this book to anyone who expresses an interest in this spiritual path.
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