The psychological attitude of early Buddhist philosophy and its systematic representation according to the Abhidhamma tradition

by Anagarika Govinda

German, English (translation)

Genres: Religion, Buddhism

Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Lama Anagarika Govinda, born Ernst Lothar Hoffmann, was the founder of the order of the Arya Maitreya Mandala and an expositor of Tibetan Buddhism, Abhidharma, and Buddhist meditation as well as other aspects of Buddhism. He was also a painter and poet.
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Lama Anagarika Govinda ist einer der bekanntesten buddhistischen Gelehrten und Schriftsteller aus dem Westen. Der gebürtige Deutsche studierte Philosophie, Religionswissenschaft und Archäologie in Freiburg, Neapel und Cagliari. Nach intensiven Jahren buddhistischen Studiums und reger Vortragstätigkeit in Indien lernte er 1931 durch Tomo Geshe Rinpoche den tibetischen Buddhismus kennen. Auf ausgedehnten Forschungsreisen in Tibet wurde dieser seine geistige Heimat (Source: https://www.amazon.de/weißen-Wolken-L...)

Reviews

[Genndy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I'm interested and educated in buddhistic themes, I really didn't like this book. It seems to be a book written for the people who already must know everything about very complex theme of Abhidhammasutta, for it is really hard to follow because of insisting on naming everything by pali language terminology and making huge lists of pali terms of which you don't remember meaning because the meaning was probably mentioned just once, 200 pages ago. Even indology students will find this book too hard to follow, and actually useless in learning more on the subject. And not to mention, there really was nothing about psychology in there, just a bunch of charts and diagrams that don't mean anything to anyone except the author. There are much better books on this subject than this one.

[Rob the Obscure · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, highly academic presentation. Deep insight into the Buddhist ideas of Anatta (no soul), suffering, and rebirth.

Currently reading again (3rd time? 4th?)