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The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation: The Method of Realizing Nirvana Through Knowing the Mind
The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, which was unknown to the Western world until its first publication in 1954, speaks to the quintessence of the Supreme Path, or Mahayana, and fully reveals the yogic method of attaining Enlightenment. Such attainment can happen, as shown here, by means of knowing the One Mind, the cosmic All-Consciousness, without recourse to the postures, breathings, and other techniques associated with the lower yogas. The original text for this volume belongs to the Bardo Thödol series of treatises concerning various ways of achieving transcendence, a series that figures into the Tantric school of the Mahayana. Authorship of this particular volume is attributed to the legendary Padma-Sambhava, who journeyed from India to Tibet in the 8th century, as the story goes, at the invitation of a Tibetan king. Padma-Sambhava's text per se is preceded by an account of the great guru's own life and secret doctrines. It is followed by the testamentary teachings of the Guru Phadampa Sangay, which are meant to augment the thought of the other gurus discussed herein.
Still more useful supplementary material will be found in the book's introductory remarks, by its editor Evans-Wentz and by the eminent psychoanalyst C. G. Jung. The former presents a 100-page General Introduction that explains several key names and notions (such as Nirvana, for starters) with the lucidity, ease, and sagacity that are this scholar's hallmark; the latter offers a Psychological Commentary that weighs the differences between Eastern and Western modes of thought before equating the "collective unconscious" with the Enlightened Mind of the Buddhist.
Still more useful supplementary material will be found in the book's introductory remarks, by its editor Evans-Wentz and by the eminent psychoanalyst C. G. Jung. The former presents a 100-page General Introduction that explains several key names and notions (such as Nirvana, for starters) with the lucidity, ease, and sagacity that are this scholar's hallmark; the latter offers a Psychological Commentary that weighs the differences between Eastern and Western modes of thought before equating the "collective unconscious" with the Enlightened Mind of the Buddhist.
352 pages, Paperback
Published December 31, 1968
49 people are currently reading
441 people want to read
About the author
W.Y. Evans-Wentz
40 books84 followersWalter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (M.A., Stanford University) was an anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism.
As a teenager, he read Madame Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine and became interested in the teachings of Theosophy. At Stanford he studied with William James and William Butler Yeats. He then studied Celtic mythology and folklore at Jesus College, Oxford (1907); there he adopted the form Evans-Wentz for his name. He traveled extensively, spending time in Mexico, Europe, and the Far East. He spent the years of the First World War in Egypt. He later traveled to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and India, reaching Darjeeling in 1919; there he encountered Tibetan religious texts firsthand.
As a teenager, he read Madame Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine and became interested in the teachings of Theosophy. At Stanford he studied with William James and William Butler Yeats. He then studied Celtic mythology and folklore at Jesus College, Oxford (1907); there he adopted the form Evans-Wentz for his name. He traveled extensively, spending time in Mexico, Europe, and the Far East. He spent the years of the First World War in Egypt. He later traveled to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and India, reaching Darjeeling in 1919; there he encountered Tibetan religious texts firsthand.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 6, 2015
The YMCA in Park Ridge obtained a new youth counselor after my graduation from Maine South H.S. Jim H. had become a bit of a celebrity amongst our friends, "the Hippies of Hodges Park", by the time of one of my visits home from Grinnell College and we became acquainted. During the summer of 1971 he was reassigned to a YMCA camp in the border lakes region of Northern Minnesota, Camp Wakonda on Lake Vermillion, and had given a general invitation to any and all of us to visit him up there.
Thus it happened that one very early morning in late August Mother drove Kevin Donnelly, Art Kazar and me up to an Edens Expressway exchange on her way to work at Lutheran General Hospital. Having no money not already earmarked for other purposes, college in my case, we were going to hitch up through Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
We made it, amazingly enough, by dawn of the next day. Times were different then. Hitch-hiking was not unusual. The counterculture looked out for its own and they were usually identifiable: me by a pony tail, Kevin by braids and fringed jacket, Art by a full beard. Of course, on the way, we were almost arrested (twice) outside the Wisconsin Dells; risked being killed in a wreck by an angry speedfreak outside of Duluth; had to run away into an unknown pine forest from an armed contingent of drunken "Iron Range Boys" and got caught in a downpour just as we were laying out sleeping bags in a field somewhere around Ely, Minnesota.
Camp Wakonda was a canoe camp inhabited by the aforementioned Jim; Kurt, his assistant from Park Ridge; a boy who had been found living in the Chicago Transit Authority bus sheds--called, unimaginatively enough, "C.T.A."--and one lone woman, Candy, also an employee of the YMCA. Otherwise, it was just us and busloads of kids who'd come up every few days, go to bed, eat a hearty breakfast of flapjacks prepared by us on enormous wood-burning stoves and then go off with guides in canoes. Mostly, we were alone.
Candy, a thirtyish feminist who taught the subject during the year in Chicago, intimidated and attracted me. At that time, being only nineteen, she seemed very, very mature, completely out of my league as I'd just recently lost my virginity. Besides, she was bigger than me, probably stronger too.
I'd brought The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation up because of a general interest in Eastern religions and a growing interest in C.G. Jung, author of one of its introductions. I'd figured that I'd be forced to read it up there in the north woods for lack of anything else to read. Indeed, it was formidable, the critical apparatuses being quite scholarly, the primary Tibetan texts being extremely obscure. I read it in fits and starts, trying to think about liberation from the wheel of dharma, trying not to think of the gorgeous Wendy.
On the last full day we were up there I was sitting on a stump in the tundra trying not to notice Candy when it was announced that all of us were going into Ely to help pack a van. Someone was going to donate money for the town to get an ambulance, the amount of the donation depending upon how many could jam into the vehicle. That uncomfortable event and the ride back from it got Wendy and me talking together for the first time.
The conversation continued upon our return as the sun set and we headed along a trail into the piney woods. Candy told me about herself, her feminist school and about how horrible the summer had been trapped up in the middle of nowhere with two unconscienceable sexists. I was different, she said. I didn't argue.
Returning to camp, she invited me into her cabin, lit candles, urged me to bed. Timidly, having only known one girl before her, I obeyed.
Since it wouldn't do to have Jim or Kurt know about our night together, Wendy dismissed me just as the eastern sky was brightening. Returning to the cabin shared with Kevin and Art, I was greeted with a rain of pillows and good-humored curses. They knew. It was one of the most liberating emotional experiences of my life.
I finished Evans-Wentz' book on the long bus ride home with a pack of returning wilderness canoers.
Thus it happened that one very early morning in late August Mother drove Kevin Donnelly, Art Kazar and me up to an Edens Expressway exchange on her way to work at Lutheran General Hospital. Having no money not already earmarked for other purposes, college in my case, we were going to hitch up through Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
We made it, amazingly enough, by dawn of the next day. Times were different then. Hitch-hiking was not unusual. The counterculture looked out for its own and they were usually identifiable: me by a pony tail, Kevin by braids and fringed jacket, Art by a full beard. Of course, on the way, we were almost arrested (twice) outside the Wisconsin Dells; risked being killed in a wreck by an angry speedfreak outside of Duluth; had to run away into an unknown pine forest from an armed contingent of drunken "Iron Range Boys" and got caught in a downpour just as we were laying out sleeping bags in a field somewhere around Ely, Minnesota.
Camp Wakonda was a canoe camp inhabited by the aforementioned Jim; Kurt, his assistant from Park Ridge; a boy who had been found living in the Chicago Transit Authority bus sheds--called, unimaginatively enough, "C.T.A."--and one lone woman, Candy, also an employee of the YMCA. Otherwise, it was just us and busloads of kids who'd come up every few days, go to bed, eat a hearty breakfast of flapjacks prepared by us on enormous wood-burning stoves and then go off with guides in canoes. Mostly, we were alone.
Candy, a thirtyish feminist who taught the subject during the year in Chicago, intimidated and attracted me. At that time, being only nineteen, she seemed very, very mature, completely out of my league as I'd just recently lost my virginity. Besides, she was bigger than me, probably stronger too.
I'd brought The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation up because of a general interest in Eastern religions and a growing interest in C.G. Jung, author of one of its introductions. I'd figured that I'd be forced to read it up there in the north woods for lack of anything else to read. Indeed, it was formidable, the critical apparatuses being quite scholarly, the primary Tibetan texts being extremely obscure. I read it in fits and starts, trying to think about liberation from the wheel of dharma, trying not to think of the gorgeous Wendy.
On the last full day we were up there I was sitting on a stump in the tundra trying not to notice Candy when it was announced that all of us were going into Ely to help pack a van. Someone was going to donate money for the town to get an ambulance, the amount of the donation depending upon how many could jam into the vehicle. That uncomfortable event and the ride back from it got Wendy and me talking together for the first time.
The conversation continued upon our return as the sun set and we headed along a trail into the piney woods. Candy told me about herself, her feminist school and about how horrible the summer had been trapped up in the middle of nowhere with two unconscienceable sexists. I was different, she said. I didn't argue.
Returning to camp, she invited me into her cabin, lit candles, urged me to bed. Timidly, having only known one girl before her, I obeyed.
Since it wouldn't do to have Jim or Kurt know about our night together, Wendy dismissed me just as the eastern sky was brightening. Returning to the cabin shared with Kevin and Art, I was greeted with a rain of pillows and good-humored curses. They knew. It was one of the most liberating emotional experiences of my life.
I finished Evans-Wentz' book on the long bus ride home with a pack of returning wilderness canoers.
June 23, 2012
Pg 224-225
There being no two such things as object of meditation and meditator, if by those who practice or do not practice meditation the meditator of meditation be sought and not found, thereupon the goal of the meditation is reached and also the end of the meditation itself.
There being no two such things as meditation and object of meditation, there is no need to fall under the sway of deeply obscuring Ignorance; for, as the result of meditation upon the unmodified quiescence of mind, the non-created Wisdom instantaneoulsy shines forth clearly.
Pg 231
Changes in one's train of thoughts [or in on'es association of ideas] produce corresponding changes in one's conception of the external world.
Therefore, the various views concerning things are due merely to different mental concepts.
Pg 233
The happiness of gods in heaven-worlds and of men' is another mental concept.
The three unhappy states of suffering', too, are concepts of the mind.
Ignorance, miseries, and the Five Poisons' are, likewise, mental concepts.
Self-originated Divine Wisdom' is also a concept of the mind.
Pg 234
Nothing save mind is conceivable.
Pg 238
As soon as one's mind is known to be of the Wisdom of the Voidness, concepts like good and evil karma cease to exist.
Even as in the empty sky there seems to be, but is not, a fountain of water, so in the Voidness is neither good or evil.
When one's mind is thus known in its nakedness, this Doctrine of Seeing the Mind Naked, this Self-Liberation, is seen to be exceedigly profound.
Seek, therefore, thine own Wisdom within thee.
It is the Vast Deep.
Pg 246
The Eagle of the Mind is sure to take its flight with wings spread free;
Train yourselves to fly as freely, even now, O Tingri folk.
Pg 248
The SANGSARA and NIRVANA have their source in the ONE MIND.
Pg 250
All creation, within and without, is contained in one's own mind,
Like the water in the ice; seek to know this truly, Tingri folk.
Pg 252
Though one thinketh joys and sorrows come of causes of oppostie,
Yet within oneself are found their roots and cause, Tingri folk.
If excess of faith should lead you to contempt of truth at times,
Meditate karmic results in the Sangsara, Tingri folk.
Pg 234
The full realization of the passing away into Nirvana is also a concept of mind.
Misfortion caused by demons and evil spirits is also a concept of mind.**
Gods and good fortune are also concepts of mind.
Likewise, the various 'perfections' are mental concepts.
Existence and non-existence, as well as 'the Non-Created', are concepts of the mind.
**Like Jesus and His disciples and the early Christians as a whole, the Tibetans believe that invisible beings, commonly called demons and evil spirits
The religious point of view always expresses and formulates the essential psychological attitude and its specific prejudices, even in the case of people who have forgotten, or who have never heard of, their own religion. In spite of everything, the West is thoroughly Christian as far as its psychology is concerned. Tertullian's 'anima naturaliter christiana' holds true throughout the West-not, as he thought, in religious sense, but in the psychological one. Grace comes from elsewhere; at all events from outside. Every other point of view is sheer heresy. Hence it is quite understandable why the human psyche is suffering from UNDERVALUATION. Anyone who dares to establish a connection between the psyche and the idea of God is immediately accused of 'psychologism; or suspected of morbid 'mysticism.' The East, on the other hand, compassionately tolerates those 'lower' spiritual stages where man, in his blind ignorance of KARMA, still bothers about SIN and tortures his IMAGINATION with a belief in absolute gods, who, if he only looked DEEPER, are nothing but the veil of ILLUSION woven by his own unenlightened mind. The psyche is therefore all-important; it is the all-pervading Breath, the Buddha essence; it is the Buddha Mind, the One, the DHARMA-KAYA. All existence emanates from it, and all separate forms dissolve back into it. This is the basic psychological prejudice that permeates Eastern man in every fiber of his being, seeping into all his thoughts, feelings, and deeds, no matter what creed he professes.
There being no two such things as object of meditation and meditator, if by those who practice or do not practice meditation the meditator of meditation be sought and not found, thereupon the goal of the meditation is reached and also the end of the meditation itself.
There being no two such things as meditation and object of meditation, there is no need to fall under the sway of deeply obscuring Ignorance; for, as the result of meditation upon the unmodified quiescence of mind, the non-created Wisdom instantaneoulsy shines forth clearly.
Pg 231
Changes in one's train of thoughts [or in on'es association of ideas] produce corresponding changes in one's conception of the external world.
Therefore, the various views concerning things are due merely to different mental concepts.
Pg 233
The happiness of gods in heaven-worlds and of men' is another mental concept.
The three unhappy states of suffering', too, are concepts of the mind.
Ignorance, miseries, and the Five Poisons' are, likewise, mental concepts.
Self-originated Divine Wisdom' is also a concept of the mind.
Pg 234
Nothing save mind is conceivable.
Pg 238
As soon as one's mind is known to be of the Wisdom of the Voidness, concepts like good and evil karma cease to exist.
Even as in the empty sky there seems to be, but is not, a fountain of water, so in the Voidness is neither good or evil.
When one's mind is thus known in its nakedness, this Doctrine of Seeing the Mind Naked, this Self-Liberation, is seen to be exceedigly profound.
Seek, therefore, thine own Wisdom within thee.
It is the Vast Deep.
Pg 246
The Eagle of the Mind is sure to take its flight with wings spread free;
Train yourselves to fly as freely, even now, O Tingri folk.
Pg 248
The SANGSARA and NIRVANA have their source in the ONE MIND.
Pg 250
All creation, within and without, is contained in one's own mind,
Like the water in the ice; seek to know this truly, Tingri folk.
Pg 252
Though one thinketh joys and sorrows come of causes of oppostie,
Yet within oneself are found their roots and cause, Tingri folk.
If excess of faith should lead you to contempt of truth at times,
Meditate karmic results in the Sangsara, Tingri folk.
Pg 234
The full realization of the passing away into Nirvana is also a concept of mind.
Misfortion caused by demons and evil spirits is also a concept of mind.**
Gods and good fortune are also concepts of mind.
Likewise, the various 'perfections' are mental concepts.
Existence and non-existence, as well as 'the Non-Created', are concepts of the mind.
**Like Jesus and His disciples and the early Christians as a whole, the Tibetans believe that invisible beings, commonly called demons and evil spirits
The religious point of view always expresses and formulates the essential psychological attitude and its specific prejudices, even in the case of people who have forgotten, or who have never heard of, their own religion. In spite of everything, the West is thoroughly Christian as far as its psychology is concerned. Tertullian's 'anima naturaliter christiana' holds true throughout the West-not, as he thought, in religious sense, but in the psychological one. Grace comes from elsewhere; at all events from outside. Every other point of view is sheer heresy. Hence it is quite understandable why the human psyche is suffering from UNDERVALUATION. Anyone who dares to establish a connection between the psyche and the idea of God is immediately accused of 'psychologism; or suspected of morbid 'mysticism.' The East, on the other hand, compassionately tolerates those 'lower' spiritual stages where man, in his blind ignorance of KARMA, still bothers about SIN and tortures his IMAGINATION with a belief in absolute gods, who, if he only looked DEEPER, are nothing but the veil of ILLUSION woven by his own unenlightened mind. The psyche is therefore all-important; it is the all-pervading Breath, the Buddha essence; it is the Buddha Mind, the One, the DHARMA-KAYA. All existence emanates from it, and all separate forms dissolve back into it. This is the basic psychological prejudice that permeates Eastern man in every fiber of his being, seeping into all his thoughts, feelings, and deeds, no matter what creed he professes.
July 7, 2017
It should first be noted that this has like 4 separate mini-books in it. It should also be noted that this is not the Tibetan Book of the Dead (or the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, depending on your translation). So first there’s an introduction by Jung which is a commentary on Western psychology and eastern spirituality, which was pretty fascinating and made me want to read more Jung. Would recommend that part. The rest of the book includes a general introduction, a biography of this guru’s life, and a summary of his teachings. I made it all the way through the general intro and parts of the biography and teachings, but the latter two parts especially didn’t do it for me (rendering my reading of the introduction kind of pointless). It was too much for me; too obscure, incomprehensible, self-important. I didn’t finish it. Maybe I’ll look back on it sometime, but you’d have to be real into, well, I don’t know what, to resonate and connect with this one.
March 25, 2016
I thought it was going to be Tibetan mysticism. Turns out the author got someone to translate several books he found in the marketplace into English then re-wrote them to reflect his brand of mysticism.
October 18, 2008
كتاب تبتي رهايي بزرگ همراه با گزارش روان شناختي كارل گوستاو يونگ
چكيده زندگي و آموزه هاي پدمه -سمبوه و تبت
يوگاي شناخت ذهن و ديدن واقعيت كه رهانيدن خود نام دارد
چكيده زندگي و آموزه هاي پدمه -سمبوه و تبت
يوگاي شناخت ذهن و ديدن واقعيت كه رهانيدن خود نام دارد
January 2, 2015
One of the greatest. A favorite that I return to often
October 9, 2016
https://www.facebook.com/The-Tibetan-...
Please visit this link above to learn more.
The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation describes Tibet’s great yogi Padma Sambhava’s powerful transformative teaching on beholding the true nature of mind through introspection and reason. Padma Sambhava recognized that human life is transient and fleeting. That our foolish attachments to form and sensation, (known as the six aggregates) prevent us from seeing things in their naked essence. Few come to realize their true nature, as the pure undifferentiated One-Mind, that is uncreated, ever potent and immaculate. The great guru teaches that our separation from all living things, is an illusion, and our many attachments camouflage reality. The pseudo-realities of pluralism and form arise from all distortionary beliefs resident in the psychic matrix of our unconscious. These appear to separate the Oneness into a multiplicity. He progresses to teach the Yoga of the Great Symbol, which enables us to transcend all dualistic experiencing and so escape the realm of false appearances. Thus we arrive at the realm of the Supra-conceptual and non-conditioned existence, known as Nirvana and escape all the hells of the lower realms.,
It was unknown to the Western world until its first publication in 1954, and it speaks of the quintessence of the Supreme Path, or Mahayana, fully revealing the yogic method of attaining Enlightenment. Such attainment can happen, as shown here, by means of knowing the One Mind, the cosmic All-Consciousness, without recourse to the postures, breathings, and other techniques associated with the lower yogas. The original text for this volume belongs to the Bardo Thodol series of treatises concerning various ways of achieving transcendence, a series that figures into the Tantric school of the Mahayana. Authorship of this particular volume is attributed to the legendary Padma-Sambhava, who journeyed from India to Tibet in the 8th century, as the story goes, at the invitation of a Tibetan king. Padma-Sambhava's text per se is preceded by an account of the great guru's own life and secret doctrines. It is followed by the testamentary teachings of the Guru Phadampa Sangay, which are meant to augment the thought of the other gurus discussed herein.
Still more useful supplementary material will be found in the book's introductory remarks, by its editor Evans-Wentz and by the eminent psychoanalyst C. G. Jung. The former presents a 100-page General Introduction that explains several key names and notions (such as Nirvana, for starters) with the lucidity, ease, and sagacity that are this scholar's hallmark; the latter offers a Psychological Commentary that weighs the differences between Eastern and Western modes of thought before equating the "collective unconscious" with the Enlightened Mind of the Buddhist. As with the other three volumes in the late Evans-Wentz's critically acclaimed Tibetan series, all four of which are being published by Oxford in new editions.
Please visit this link above to learn more.
The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation describes Tibet’s great yogi Padma Sambhava’s powerful transformative teaching on beholding the true nature of mind through introspection and reason. Padma Sambhava recognized that human life is transient and fleeting. That our foolish attachments to form and sensation, (known as the six aggregates) prevent us from seeing things in their naked essence. Few come to realize their true nature, as the pure undifferentiated One-Mind, that is uncreated, ever potent and immaculate. The great guru teaches that our separation from all living things, is an illusion, and our many attachments camouflage reality. The pseudo-realities of pluralism and form arise from all distortionary beliefs resident in the psychic matrix of our unconscious. These appear to separate the Oneness into a multiplicity. He progresses to teach the Yoga of the Great Symbol, which enables us to transcend all dualistic experiencing and so escape the realm of false appearances. Thus we arrive at the realm of the Supra-conceptual and non-conditioned existence, known as Nirvana and escape all the hells of the lower realms.,
It was unknown to the Western world until its first publication in 1954, and it speaks of the quintessence of the Supreme Path, or Mahayana, fully revealing the yogic method of attaining Enlightenment. Such attainment can happen, as shown here, by means of knowing the One Mind, the cosmic All-Consciousness, without recourse to the postures, breathings, and other techniques associated with the lower yogas. The original text for this volume belongs to the Bardo Thodol series of treatises concerning various ways of achieving transcendence, a series that figures into the Tantric school of the Mahayana. Authorship of this particular volume is attributed to the legendary Padma-Sambhava, who journeyed from India to Tibet in the 8th century, as the story goes, at the invitation of a Tibetan king. Padma-Sambhava's text per se is preceded by an account of the great guru's own life and secret doctrines. It is followed by the testamentary teachings of the Guru Phadampa Sangay, which are meant to augment the thought of the other gurus discussed herein.
Still more useful supplementary material will be found in the book's introductory remarks, by its editor Evans-Wentz and by the eminent psychoanalyst C. G. Jung. The former presents a 100-page General Introduction that explains several key names and notions (such as Nirvana, for starters) with the lucidity, ease, and sagacity that are this scholar's hallmark; the latter offers a Psychological Commentary that weighs the differences between Eastern and Western modes of thought before equating the "collective unconscious" with the Enlightened Mind of the Buddhist. As with the other three volumes in the late Evans-Wentz's critically acclaimed Tibetan series, all four of which are being published by Oxford in new editions.
August 19, 2024
I read, in Greek translation, the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation by Padmasambhava, without the editing mentioned here, but that is the closest I found on GR.
A pure gem of wisdom, especially regarding the Mind and its functions, and many other things.
It can be of help to the seeker whatever path, or no path, he is on.
A pure gem of wisdom, especially regarding the Mind and its functions, and many other things.
It can be of help to the seeker whatever path, or no path, he is on.
December 5, 2023
This is the first time I skimmed a spiritual book.
I skipped over the stories which I was unable to get the meaning out of and went right to the end where it had the teachings.
Not thrilled with it. It's stuff that is mostly already said in the authors Book of the dead.
I will have to come back to this at a time when I am more receptive to it.
I skipped over the stories which I was unable to get the meaning out of and went right to the end where it had the teachings.
Not thrilled with it. It's stuff that is mostly already said in the authors Book of the dead.
I will have to come back to this at a time when I am more receptive to it.
March 20, 2010
still reading but so, so good.
Read
January 3, 2021Certainly an epic, but I cannot vouch for the total honesty of the adventures ascribed to Padme Sambava.
January 27, 2021
Amazing stories, insightful comments, and priceless teaching.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews