Kindly Bent to Ease Us: Wonderment (Part 3) (v. 3) [Paperback]

Longchenpa (Author), Herbert V. Guenther (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1976

The third volume of Longchenpa's Trilogy shows the practitioner how to transcend ordinary limited perspectives using eight classic and evocative images that reveal the open nature of reality. Can be read independently of Parts One and Two.

Product Details

• Paperback: 171 pages
• Publisher: Dharma Publishing; part 3 edition (January 1, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913546453
• ISBN-13: 978-0913546451
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,097,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continual Brilliance, July 12, 2009

By 

Oliver Here - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kindly Bent to Ease Us: Wonderment (Part 3) (v. 3) (Paperback)

Guenther manages to bring to life and to this reader's understanding the full complexity and open simplicity of Longhchenpa Trime Oser (1308-1363)thought.

If one is willing to do some work, to follow the intricacies of interpretation, the "Kindly Bent to Ease Us" trilogy is, imho, one of the best books on Dzogchen thought available, and one of the most profound books of philosophy ever published.

14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars come again?, June 7, 2000

By 

taylor caron - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kindly Bent to Ease Us: Wonderment (Part 3) (v. 3) (Paperback)

Many say Geunther is a genius. I might agree. He has some extraordinary, unique perspectives, apparently born from many years of study, in both Tibetan as well as European philosophies. But a translator? It seems he fancies himself more a sort of "decoder," if you will, and his (sometimes lengthy) reasonings behind his peculiar, intense word choices often appear sound. Yet as the years go on, and students of this genre grow in there understanding of key terms, key-term translation is becoming more-and-more standardized, leaving his "translations" less-and-less accessible.

If you work at it, you can squeeze out many of the original Tibetan terms from his indexes, footnotes, etc., and thereby triangulate with the more commonly-used terms. -Somewhat tiresome if what you really want is a more direct translation, for use in a student-teacher situation for example. Furthermore, this book and the other two in the trilogy are much more commentary than translation. This is a shame, since Longchenpa himself wrote an auto-commentary to them.

That said, Guenther IS a great thinker, and if you would like to read Guenther, as opposed (in this case) to Longchenpa, then I'll say, this and all of the books I've read by him (some dozen) are truly fascinating. Very original and thought-provoking.

Maybe look for a translation elsewhere. -no offense, Herb.