Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness [Paperback]

John Myrdhin Reynolds (Author), Namkhai Norbu (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2000

Self-Liberation presents the essence of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, regarded in Tibet as the highest and most esoteric teaching of the Buddha.

Editorial Reviews

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"This important work should be of interest to most Buddhist readers." --Library Journal

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"I very much enjoyed this incredible book that provides an in-depth view into dzogchen."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Snow Lion Publications (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559391448
• ISBN-13: 978-1559391443
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,509,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Self-Liberation: Through Seeing with Naked Awareness, January 23, 2001

By 

Svyatoslav Uvarov (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness (Paperback)

The only thing to add would be that this is a new addition of previously published "Self-Liberation: Through Seeing with Naked Awareness". The work itself is a terma(treasure teaching) of Guru Padmasambhava discovered by master Karma Lingpa. Personally, I found this book of a great value for the reason of a very lucid INSTRUCTION rather than just theory, which is sufficiently expounded, too. It gives a clear explanation as to why and how the principle of a spiritual teaching can be misunderstood and points out directly on the right method of application of this knowledge. I would recommend this book to everybody!

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ian Myles Slater on: Identifying the Text, October 9, 2003

By 

Ian M. Slater "aylchanan" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness (Paperback)

Prospective readers of this work may wish to know that it has a descriptive subtitle -- "An Introduction to the Nature of One's Own Mind from *The Profound Teaching of Self-Liberation in the Primordial State of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities* A terma text of Guru Padmasambhava expounding the view of Dzogchen, rediscovered by Rigdzin Karma Lingpa." In other words, it offers itself as a "postponed revelation," a terma (treasure) re-discovered and offered to the world centuries after its composition. As such it is part of a large class of Tibetan Buddhist works.

The text had previously been translated into English at the instigation of W.Y. Evans-Wentz, who published that version in "The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation" which appeared in 1954 as the last of four volumes in the pioneering "Oxford Tibetan Series," which had begun in 1927 with another terma text, the "Tibetan Book of the Dead."

The "Self-Liberation" treatise there followed an abridged translation of one of the traditional biographies of Padmasambhava, the legendary "Apostle to the Tibetans," and one of their patron Bodhisattvas, who is regarded as the real author of this and other works. These texts were surrounded by commentaries by Evans-Wentz and C.G. Jung. The latter is probably important for students of Jung. Evans-Wentz's contributions generally reflect a lack of information about esoteric Buddhism, and a tendency to substitute material from Hindu and Theosophical sources.

Having compared the present translation (pages 9-28) with that offered by Evans-Wentz, I can say that it appears to be superior in clarity. Given the present, far more advanced state of Tibetan studies, it is certainly more likely to be accurate than the ad-hoc attempt provided by Evans-Wentz's translators. Additional features include the Tibetan text in transliteration, a glossary of Tibetan Buddhist terms, and an extended commentary. This is undoubtedly an advance on Evans-Wentz, although its devotional tone may seem cloying to some readers (including this one)

There are also extended discussions of the Evans-Wentz and Jung interpretations. The dismissal of Jung is particularly interesting; although I don't much care for Jung myself, I felt that he was not being given sufficient credit for trying to take Asian traditions as seriously as he took those closer to home. (Of course, given Jung's reductionist approach to religion, this may amount to 0 = 0.)

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An answer for the restless mind, February 2, 2002

By 

Jeff Orrok (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness (Paperback)

I discovered that upon reading this text, a part of my mind which was always seeking to understand this life had finally been satisfied! I do not consider myself a practicioner of buddhism, much less an expert, and yet what it had to say was clear and persuasive.(...)