The Tibetan Book of the Dead - Couverture souple

Evans-Wentz, W. Y.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 8178222515 ISBN 13 : 9788178222516

Editeur : New Age Books, 2004

Synopsis

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Thodol, is a book of instructions for the dead and dying. It is meant to be a guide for the dead man during the period of his Bardo existence. The text falls into three parts. The first part, called Chikhai Bardo, describes the psychic happenings at the moment of death. The second part, or Chonyid Bardo, deals with the dream-state which supervenes immediately after death, and with what are called karmic illusions . The third part, or Sidpa Bardo, concerns the onset of the birth-instinct and of prenatal events. This Book, which is of extraordinary interest, both as regards Text and Introduction, deals with the period (longer or shorter according to the circumstances) which, commencing immediately after death, ends with rebirth . In the Buddhists view, Life consists of a series of successive states of consciousness. The first state is the Birth-Consciousness; the last is the consciousness existing at the moment of death, or the Death-Consciousness. The interval between the two states of Consciousness, during which the transformation from the old to a new being is effected, is called the Bardo or intermediate state (Antarabhava), divided into three stages, called the Chikhai, Chonyid, and Sidpa Bardo respectively. The book is welcome not merely in virtue of its particular subject-matter, but because the ritual works of any religion enable us more fully to comprehend the philosophy and psychology of the system to which they belong.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is one of the texts that, according to legend, Padma-Sambhava was compelled to hide during his visit to Tibet in the late 8th century. The guru hid his books in stones, lakes, and pillars because the Tibetans of that day and age were somehow unprepared for their teachings. Now, in the form of the ever-popular Tibetan Book of the Dead, these teachings are constantly being discovered and rediscovered by Western readers of many different backgrounds--a phenomenon which began in 1927 with Oxford's first edition of Dr. Evans-Wentz's landmark volume. While it is traditionally used as a mortuary text, to be read or recited in the presence of a dead or dying person, this book--which relates the whole experience of death and rebirth in three intermediate states of being--was originally understood as a guide not only for the dead but also for the living. As a contribution to the science of death and dying--not to mention the belief in life after death, or the belief in rebirth--The Tibetan Book of the Dead is unique among the sacred texts of the world, for its socio-cultural influence in this regard is without comparison. This fourth edition features a new foreword, afterword, and suggested further reading list by Donald S. Lopez, author of Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Lopez traces the whole history of the late Evans-Wentz's three earlier editions of this book, fully considering the work of contributors to previous editions (C. G. Jung among them), the sections that were added by Evans-Wentz along the way, the questions surrounding the book's translation, and finally the volume's profound importance in engendering both popular and academic interest in the religion and culture of Tibet. Another key theme that Lopez addresses is the changing nature of this book's audience--from the prewar theosophists to the beat poets to the hippies to contemporary exponents of the hospice movement--and what these audiences have found (or sought) in its very old pages.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: New Age Books
• Date d'édition: 2004
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 8178222515
• ISBN 13: 9788178222516
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 272
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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