Customer Reviews
Again?! Same old, same old - By: Chaz, 07 Aug 2008 
If you've read one Gyatso book, you've read them all. After finishing this, I picked up Transform Your Life, & lo & behold, over 50% of this book is repeated verbatim within its contents. How many times can he say the same thing? Well,in the case of this author, more than twice. Much of the material here is also repeatedin his other books (i.e.: The New Meditation Handbook, How To Solve Our Human Problems, etc.).
Readers interestedin Buddhism would be far better served by turning to genuine sources of Dharma like the Dalai Lama & any book published by the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).
Maybe I missed the point, but I felt Gyatso was missing the point - By: Greshon, 07 May 2008 I've seen some very positive reviews of this book, so maybe it gets better (or at least explains its bizarre & genuinely disturbing opening). I'm used to reading this kind of thing & I'm affriad I didn't get very far with this one before putting it down. Gyatso seems to be entirely missing the point, going off on a lengthy tangent about how he is convinced that he knows the exact personin which his mother has been reborn. He comes across as a man obsessed - not very Buddhist, I'd say.
Not consistent with the basic idea of Buddhism - By: S. Singh, 09 Feb 2008 
My understanding of Buddhism is that it is about rejecting theorising & conceptualising & more about seeing what is before you & livingin the moment (although this may be a more accurate description of Zen Buddhism). This book unfortunately is largely about the kinds of theories, ceremonial practices & idol worship that Buddhism is supposed to reject. You do not need to utter mantras & chants & read prayers to see what is before you & attain enlightenment. The book also claims that there are such things as reincarnation & clairvoyance, but these cannot be directly observed & may well cause suffering because such concepts are not necessarily consistent with what we see. There are some good ideasin the book however & a lot of thingsin it which make perfect sense, but I do not think it encapsulates the core of what Buddhism is about.
A very interesting read but perhaps a little cryptic. - By: M. Linnard, 07 May 2007 
I found this a very interesting read & difficult to put down. Definately worth reading if you are interestedin the basic ideas of Buddhism.
Some of the ideas might have been easier to grasp quickly if explained more directly but I think this may have been intentional to encourage thought on the topics.
Clear and To The Point. Excellent Introduction. - By: J. Wilding, 07 Dec 2006 OK: first things first. This book will challange some of your beliefs, so if you don't want that, then don't buy it. Otherwise, buy it, suspend judgement for a few hours, & enjoy! Remember that when the author uses words like 'should' he is only expressing his personal opinion, it's up to us to decide whether we agree with it or not.
Since this sort of book is explaining the views of another religion, one that is very different to what we might be used to, it's always going to be tempting to label it 'cultish' or 'extreme', unless it's read with a very open mind. Having read the book, I can't find anything cultish about it - no one, having read & understood this book, is going to try & abandon their family or have their brain washed or anything like that. Quite the opposite,in fact: by explaining things clearly, the author makes it quite easy for the reader to make up his or her own mind about what's put forward. Sure, it might take a few readings to fully make sense of, & some of the ideas might seem a little strange at first, but I think that's to be expected from a religion that's comparatively new to the West.
I know from having read some of the author's other books that he makes a point of explaining that this strand of Buddhism should be practisedin conjunction with your everyday life, not apart from it. This to me seems particularly heart-warming, since you're not being asked to give up your family or friends to get the benefits out of the practice of meditation. I've found some of the thingsin this book difficult to understand at first, but at least I can come away knowing that I don't have to climb a mountain or become a monk to put the ideas that I did like, into practice.
The clarity of presentation is impressive: maybe some difficult ideas or unfamiliar terminology, but on balance this is a particularly accessible introduction to Buddhism. I think there's even a glossary that explains some of the unfamiliar words. The book repays repeated reading with an open mind: be prepared to have some of your beliefs & assumptions challanged but don't feel as though you *have* to believe anything. Make your own mind up. I think this book was written as a simple explanation rather than a rulebook of what Buddhists should & shouldn't believe.
Allin all, this seems like a practical & illuminating book that makes for a rewarding read. Recommended.
