Customer Reviews

RECORD OF AWAKENING

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are of Buddhist leanings, this book is enlightening. It really gave me the felt-self of the awakening that so many have spoken of, including the Buddha. It is so personal and honest that reading it gave me hope.

I highly recommend it to serious students of the Path.

Much Metta, Bruce Gibbs

Record of Awakening is a book that I have often returned to since my first reading, several years ago. Always finding it inspiring. Many books give instruction upon practice, many give accounts of the heroic struggles of ancient masters. In this book I read the account of a living person, that seemed so ordinary, yet whom spoke of extraordinary spiritual matters; from his own direct, lived experience. I know it's spiritually dangerous to get caught up in achievements etc, but also, lets face it, we're only human. It's uplifting to actually read about fellow practitioners making progress, breaking through to deeper more profound experiences of reality. This book gave me hope. It gave me encouragement to continue my own efforts. It fired my spirit up to stick with practice. Here was someone that had put his heart into practice, stuck with it, and reaped the benefits. In this life! And he was working as a gardener in the UK. Incredible. It brought Buddhism down from faraway mountains, out of exotic temples, and into my own everyday world. I also found the authors accounts of his efforts in overcoming the fear which can arise up from our depths as we practice, very insightful and helpful.

I think that this is one of the most useful and original books on Buddhism that I have read in a long time. The author is a matter-of-fact Englishman who has achieved great spiritual insight, and does about as much as anyone can to explain the inexplicable. He starts at the beginning of his own journey, and describes what he realized and how his realization grew as time went on. He does this in simple English, and then tries to show how it fits in with traditional Buddhist theory.

This makes his work substantially different from most Buddhist literature, which, whether written by Asians or Westerners, which starts with the intellectual framework developed in another age and in another culture.

Looking at what I have written above, I feel some doubt that I have described the book quite correctly. But it is the best I can do.

In any case, A record of Awakening is very original and should be helpful to anyone on the path. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I highly recommend this book. It is not only a spellbinding true account of a spiritual awakening. It also gives us reliable methods and incouragement for our own lives. It may be more suited for someone who knows a little about meditation but it has been my favourite book since I bought it two years ago.