A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes From A Practitioner's Journey

by Bruce Newman

As Tibetan Buddhism extends its reach in the West, many practitioners are making strong commitments to this path. The Vajrayana tradition still being new to our culture, however, there remain significant gaps in Western students' education and understanding. These can lead to practical difficulties for new or intermediate students. This book begins with the very awakening of students' interest in spirituality and their initial encounter with Tibetan Buddhism, and then leads them through the steps necessary for successful practice in the West. A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism speaks powerfully and directly to the Western student who is working to integrate this incredibly vast tradition into the realities of daily life. Drawing on his many years of practice and teaching, the author skillfully addresses obstacles, doubts and confusions that every reader will recognize.

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is meant for practicing Buddhists, including those beginning a practice. It wonderfully explains Tibbetan Buddhist practice for western followers, including pitfalls to watch out for in your practice.

[Sue Dounim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very peculiar book, and I can agree with the people who give it 5 stars and the people who give it one or zero. I don't at all agree with the characterization of the author as a hapless hippie, though, I think that's unfair to the decades of his life he's spent trying to practice this form of devotion. Another reason for my rating is that at one point in the book, due to my circumstances in the journey of life, I read things that were extremely powerful for me--your mileage may and will vary.
There are few spiritual paths in the world more wildly austere, intense, and culturally specific than Tibetan Buddhism. Mr Newman makes a valiant attempt, while presenting its basics, to insist that it can be relevant to Western spiritual seekers. The only comparison I can make (and it's right off the top of my head so excuse me) is this: if spiritual realization can be compared with climbing Mt Everest (or rather Chomolungma), the Tibetan Buddhism would be like climbing Chomolungma on your hands and knees, reciting verses by memory every 10 feet.
As other reviewers have noted; Tibetan Buddhism and developed in isolation for centuries and is incredibly intricate and iconoclastic. There are thousands of sacred texts, only a few of which have been translated into other languages. Tibetan is an extremely hard language to learn, compared to Sanskrit, and Newman admits that after years of study he had made only small progress.

[john lambert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish this one......

I'm somewhat interested in buddhism, but I'm not sure this is the right book to start with, despite the title. I made it about half way through and most of that was more like administrative stuff, how to find a mentor, what to do at the local center (Are they around?), etc Sometimes a list of several things that were in turn broken down into further lists...

It seems that one of the goals of buddhism is to clear the mind of harmful or painful thoughts, not to dwell on things gone amiss. Certainly a good goal!


I tried. But I'm not sure what I am looking for, so it's not all this book's fault.

Highlights...
It's a strange aspect of American culture that people want to feel special. Parents try to make their children feel special...
The four noble truths (!): Suffering. Its Causes. Its Cessation. Truth of the Path . (Not sure what to make of # 4!)




I think I was the first person to read this book from our local library. Published in 2022.

[Carolyn Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect book for the right audience. I almost didn't get this book because I have already read a lot about Tibetan Buddhism, so I thought it would be too introductory, but I'm glad I bought it anyway, because it answered a lot of questions I had that other books skip over, such as obstacles on the path and common ego traps faced by Westerners.
Many beginner books exclude details about deity practice because the actual practices are restricted to those with permission to practice, but this book gives a good overview of Vajrayana, the importance of finding a guru, and what is deity practice.
I would recommend it for someone who is not a complete beginner in Buddhism, but isn't yet initiated into Vajrayana and is curious about what it entails. Other reviewers criticized the inclusion of the author's personal experiences, but I found some of them to be useful cautionary tales.

[Ezra · Rating 2 out of 5]

In some places, it's a serviceable introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. The book is directed at Buddhist neophytes, but the uninitiated could learn from the first few chapters. Newman's style is like that of the hippie uncle at family gatherings who does not care much for formalities and has a penchant for stories. Indeed, the flow of information is frequently interrupted to insert cautionary tales of "mistakes I made that you should avoid." It bears repeating that this is not a formal guide; there are some useful factual sections but much of it is advice-based or autobiographical in nature. The prose is not dense by any means, but it could require a bit of background knowledge of Buddhism. Newman seems to have a good grounding in Buddhist culture, though suspicions were raised in my mind upon his admission that he does not know the Tibetan language. But I digress. I received this book for free, and I probably wouldn't pay for it. If it falls into your lap while you're on the train twiddling your thumbs, you might enjoy flipping through the first hundred or so pages. Otherwise, I would skip this one.

[Mark Zoltan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Find a Lama " thats all of it basically. It is nice that the author presents some of the practices and some rituals but in 80% of the book he says : "Find a Lama/teacher".
Pretty boring I can says. But in rest is ok

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not for me. I found the experiences of a careless, 'free-spirited' (read directionless, lacking any responsibility and yet has funds for overseas travel) drug using, ex-hippy, male completely unrelatable. And worse - this book requires far more background than what I consider to be a beginner which according to the title is the intended audience for this book.

I fear this book could really put people off their investigation into Buddhism and that is a crying shame. The subjects are presented almost in absolute reverse to how I would have expected for a beginners guide and there was far too much 'lingo' used that a beginner would unlikely understand. As a teacher in his tradition I expected much better, much clearer, much more helpful.

So after this, I am still keeping Buddhism for Busy People as my number one Buddhism intro book.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this a great read for people interested in Tibetan Buddhism. Some terms and explanations are difficult, but I found a lot of it consistent with my experience and rooted in fact. Again good read about a complex subject.

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my first choice for an introduction to Buddhism, Tibetan or otherwise.