Customer Reviews

The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism

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This is a six cassette, nine hour designed-for-publication recording of a retreat conducted by renowned American Buddhist Tibet-o-phile, Robert Thurman, whose many credentials are too numerous to mention. The recurrent theme of the recording is a relatively simple visualization excercise, whereby the meditator draws inspiration and compassion from revered beings--the Buddha and his lineage descendents of enlightened teachers, for example, (although according to Thurman, a non-Buddhist might draw equivalent inspiration from the likes of Christ, Moses, etc.)--and then extends such heartfelt loving kindness to others. Thurman guides the listener through this meditation several times through the tape, making it familair and workable. However, in my estimation, the brilliance of the tape rests in everything else Thurman wraps around this meditation, which turns out to be a condensed discussion about the history of Buddhism, its contrast to much of Western scientific, materialistic, philosophical and psychological thought, and how the major tenants of Buddhism, in a very practical sense, can become believable and workable for your everyday common-man Western-raised student.

Thurman, by anyone's estimation, is a compelling speaker, who somehow blends passion, eloquence, intellectual challenge and humor in trying in discussing the most complex of subjects, and he largely succeeds on this tape. His mission, seemingly, is simply to make Buddhism more understandable by interpreting it into a more American/Western idiom, without changing the 2500 year message. Nevetheless, in accordance with the subject, much of the material discussed is mature and intellectually and emotionally challenging. These talks are almost the antithesis of typical "new-age", feel-good type Jacuzzi-Buddhism relaxation tapes, (although I believe Thurman intends these talks to be accessible to the beginning--but serious--Buddhist).

Some of this material, but not the visualization, is contained within his recent book "Inner Revolution, Life , Liberty and the Pursuit of Real Happiness", although the tapes gladly spare the listener of all the political commentary of that book. I can imagine many future listeners, much as myself, revisiting these tapes repeatedly because of their authentic message delivered through a delightful human voice.

Robert MacLachlan

This book is a modified retreat transcript, so it has the strengths of an experiential emphasis. But it also is intelligent and quite readable. Thurman covers the entire scope of the Buddhist path from a Tibetan perspective, and he does this in the order that one would learn and practice these teachings developmentally. The reader is invited regularly to participate in the meditations along the way and to adapt them to his or her own religious background. But the book is also a lively guided tour with a number of brief visits to important teachings.So it progressively maps and highlights a path that actually takes years to experience. This is a classic approach, called Lam-Rim in Tibetan, that Bob Thurman makes accessible, even for beginners.

Based on the Fourth Panchen Lama's text Mentor Devotion, Thurman uses Tibet's beautiful wish-fulfilling jewel-tree imagery to help the reader to generate bliss and enlightenment. The core of this book are the visualization exercises where you draw inspiration and compassion from a revered being and then extend their heartfelt loving kindness to others. Thurman says it's up to you who you perceive to be such a revered being. It could be the Buddha or the Dalai Lama, or Christ, Moses, your mother, etc. Thurman also discusses the history of Buddhism, its contrast to much of Western thought, and how the major tenants of Buddhism can work for people from the West.

"Through the great bliss state, I myself become the mentor deity. From my luminous body, Light rays shine all around, Massively blessing beings and things, Making the universe pure and fabulous, Perfection in its every quality."

I found this book to be deep and profound, but a little hard to understand in places. I especially liked the section where Thurman encourages us to meditate on the loving-kindness of our mothers.

Robert Thurman is a master, this is a hands on visual experience with great explanations of various things that are hard to understand. It puts you right into the field of merit. I was quite moved by the experience. I did not realize the close proximity of the Buddhas.

I have been reading this indepth book an find it quite revealing
of buddhism, on a deeper level than i've encountered before.

I will probably go back to it, but I stalled in the first pages (introduction/history). Mr. Thurman's use of English is a little off, making it awkward to follow some concepts and sentences, and some concepts themselves are a little "off".
He states that Buddha invented the monastic system ("ordained as a monk or nun so that the people would be supported by the collective to escape from the collective". I've read Buddha avoided the issue of allowing women for a long time and, historically, many cultures placed their priests and priestesses in separate compounds to learn and practice, supported by the community. He states that Buddha chose India for this "because India was the wealthiest place then", when of course, Gautama was in fact born in India. He states "this system caught on like wildfire in India", something I'd never read before. I'd always had the impression that Buddhist practice was small compared to historical practice and local Deities. "It was as if Buddha created holes in the cheese of societ-he Swiss-cheesed the society". And the holes were the Sangha, the community, the renunciate institution, where people could go for a lifelong free lunch", (page 19). "At first Buddha...didn't dictate to his fellow warrior kings..."you better stop doing this, and you better not do that". My understanding is that he never did and he had renounced being a "warrior king".
In his History the Indian people became so non violent, wise and pleasure loving, there was no harsh discipline in the schools or conflict in families or between families, they were no longer ruthless (and this is why they were invaded), as opposed to the west, "permeated with that violence, and our minds are permeated with the violence. Even our physical posture is permeated with that violence". In fact, "We are the most militaristic society history has ever seen." I imagine while he was involved on his personal quest (and became enamored of other cultures) he bypassed reading many history books.
I was even more concerned by his description of how, once one reaches the "bliss state", "nothing is wrong in that universe. It is perfect" Except that "others don't see it that way...You may automatically wish to free them, which could lead to frustration if, in your initial glimpse of this awakening, you lacked compassion".
I've been there a few times and, in seeing that nothing was wrong, nothing was wrong including others not seeing it and compassion seemed a complete part of the experience. I hope someday I'll be able to stay there for longer periods.
On page 4 he says, "I have grown older and become less sure about everything---and even confused and discouraged when my inherited negative personality traits reemerge in the heat of relationship."
I'm wondering if this is a teaching I want to follow through this book.