A renowned scholar of Tibetan Buddhism issues a popular appeal to the West to refashion its inner life according to Buddhist enlightenment teachings. For Thurman, Tibetan Buddhism is life philosophy, object of study, and worthy cause; he practices it, teaches it (at Columbia University), and promotes it through Tibet House, an advocacy group for the Chinese-occupied nation. His latest book introduces the history and teachings of Tibetan Buddhism to those unfamiliar with it and urges Westerners to appropriate five of its central ideas: individual spiritual development, nonviolence, spiritual education, social altruism, and democracy. Thurman envisions an evolutionary entry into these ideas—the inner revolution of the title—that will complement the West's outward, technological revolution. What distinguishes this book from others on Buddhism is the pains it takes to connect personal enlightenment to social ethics, especially in the chapters on the ancient Indian king Ashoka and the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. Thurman underscores the role of institutions in the moral life of societies, and provocatively casts monasticism and militarism as mirror-image competitors for the soul of nations. But he is sometimes careless. He aggrandizes when he suggests that spiritual developments in 14th-century Tibet precipitated the European Renaissance; generalizes unfairly when he identifies the West's inner life with its declining Christian monastic traditions; and tells only half the story when he celebrates the equality of women in Buddhism's religious past (the tradition records the Buddha's initial resistance to orders of nuns; their advocate was the Buddha's undersung disciple Ananda). Still, for readers new to Tibetan Buddhism, Thurman makes an impassioned and engaging guide. The more deeply curious will want to consult his introductory anthology of Tibetan texts, Essential Tibetan Buddhism (1995). (Author tour)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-57322-090-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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