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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buddhism
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buddhism provides extensive information on both understanding the teachings and schools of Buddhism and incorporating the tenets of Buddhism into everyday life.
It also includes additional information on Buddhism's effect on popular arts and sciences, the continuing relevance of the Dalai Lama, and an annotated bibliography.
Covers all four schools of Buddhism: Zen,Tibetan, Pure Land, and Insight Meditation.
For thousands of years, Buddhism has been a source of inner peace and security for millions.
It also includes additional information on Buddhism's effect on popular arts and sciences, the continuing relevance of the Dalai Lama, and an annotated bibliography.
Covers all four schools of Buddhism: Zen,Tibetan, Pure Land, and Insight Meditation.
For thousands of years, Buddhism has been a source of inner peace and security for millions.
416 pages, Paperback
Published June 2, 2009
90 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Gary Gach
14 books91 followersGeneralist.
¿ Books ?
Clerk, 2nd-hand bookshop, 8 years. Book designer / typesetter, 3 years. Book editor, 1 year. Associated with a few books* with someone's name on them identical to mine; managed not to repeat myself, as yet.
Middle school years in Hollywood commemorated by classmate James Ellroy ("Let's Twist Again"). BA + 1 year (UCLA - SFSU). Moved to San Francisco 45 years ago, where have been living since, where facilitating weekly mindfulness practice ( ... stop ... breathe ... smile ... ... ... go slow ... ... ).
______________________________
*
E.G. ————— as author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism; editor, What Book Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop; co-translator, Ten Thousand Lives, Flowers of a Moment, and Songs for Tomorrow: A Collection of Poems, 1961–2001, all by Ko Un.
_______________________________________
: swimming in the Bay, blue skies, calligraphy, cooking, generosity, bestfriends, awakening wisdom, the heart of love
__________________________
May all beings be well.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 2, 2010
This might be a good time, for those who have not already done so, to consider Buddhism. I am no proselytizer of religion, but there is a great deal to be learned from the teachings. If, as I do, you look around in dismay at the hierarchies that seem to dominate our planet and our nation, you may stand to benefit from the non-attachment and the equanimity these teachings invite us to consider. You, as I, may have watched in sadness and bewilderment the stalemate of what purports to be our government, the disasters—both natural and man-made—that beset us, the stubborn denial of the human species in the face of its own ignorance, indifference, and outright cruelty, too often in the name of religious fervor. Like me, you may find these to be times when despair and withdrawal seem to be the only rational answers.
Time, then, perhaps, to pick up your copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buddhism by Gary Gach (Alpha Books, 2009) (This is a revised version of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism.") For some time now I have labored under the misapprehension that I had already published my thoughts about this useful and engaging handbook; but a search through my computer files finds no mention, and this revised edition has already been out for months. It’s time to correct my omission.
There are, it’s true, much shorter and much less demanding guides to Buddhism on the market. But most of these serve only to reduce their subject to its simplest outlines. This book does not. It looks at Buddhism from every angle: its origins in the life story and the teachings of the Buddha, and how they come down to us; the history of the spread of the religion to different parts of the East, and finally to our own hemisphere; the variety of its manifestations, including Tibetan Buddhism, Zen, Theravadan, and Pure Land; its similarities with other religions, and its differences; the core teachings themselves—the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Precepts, and so on—and not least their application to everyday life; and the basic practice of meditation, with ample examples of the huge variety of how-tos.
All of which may sound intimidating, but Gach makes the journey a pleasant and often light-hearted one. His narrative is filled with parables and poems (Gach himself is an enthusiastic translator of haikus), illustrations and engaging side trips into pithy expressions of wisdom by the great master teachers. And the truth is that this is not a simple subject, though many in the West have attempted to make it so, reducing complex thought to simplistic clichés. Gach is careful with detail, respectful of both the religious and philosophical complexities of Buddhist thought and practice. His book deserves to be read with the same careful attention; it is not one to read cover-to-cover, but one that asks for time and patience. It will reward those who bring that attention to it, not really “Complete Idiots,” but rather those with a curious bent and an open mind, ready to learn from what is a serious source of the kind of human wisdom and compassion sorely needed in a world that becomes increasingly vulnerable by the day.
The precious and I think perhaps unique quality of Buddhism is that it specifically rejects the fanaticism that other religions seem unfortunately to foster; what it offers instead is the rational alternative of a Middle Path, respectful of all life and insistent at its core on the principle: Do no harm. Gach’s book will serve you as a comprehensive, thoughtful and intelligible guide.
Time, then, perhaps, to pick up your copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buddhism by Gary Gach (Alpha Books, 2009) (This is a revised version of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism.") For some time now I have labored under the misapprehension that I had already published my thoughts about this useful and engaging handbook; but a search through my computer files finds no mention, and this revised edition has already been out for months. It’s time to correct my omission.
There are, it’s true, much shorter and much less demanding guides to Buddhism on the market. But most of these serve only to reduce their subject to its simplest outlines. This book does not. It looks at Buddhism from every angle: its origins in the life story and the teachings of the Buddha, and how they come down to us; the history of the spread of the religion to different parts of the East, and finally to our own hemisphere; the variety of its manifestations, including Tibetan Buddhism, Zen, Theravadan, and Pure Land; its similarities with other religions, and its differences; the core teachings themselves—the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Precepts, and so on—and not least their application to everyday life; and the basic practice of meditation, with ample examples of the huge variety of how-tos.
All of which may sound intimidating, but Gach makes the journey a pleasant and often light-hearted one. His narrative is filled with parables and poems (Gach himself is an enthusiastic translator of haikus), illustrations and engaging side trips into pithy expressions of wisdom by the great master teachers. And the truth is that this is not a simple subject, though many in the West have attempted to make it so, reducing complex thought to simplistic clichés. Gach is careful with detail, respectful of both the religious and philosophical complexities of Buddhist thought and practice. His book deserves to be read with the same careful attention; it is not one to read cover-to-cover, but one that asks for time and patience. It will reward those who bring that attention to it, not really “Complete Idiots,” but rather those with a curious bent and an open mind, ready to learn from what is a serious source of the kind of human wisdom and compassion sorely needed in a world that becomes increasingly vulnerable by the day.
The precious and I think perhaps unique quality of Buddhism is that it specifically rejects the fanaticism that other religions seem unfortunately to foster; what it offers instead is the rational alternative of a Middle Path, respectful of all life and insistent at its core on the principle: Do no harm. Gach’s book will serve you as a comprehensive, thoughtful and intelligible guide.
May 12, 2014
Siddhartha was a prince of india, born in a hindu culture. He had seen people sick and losing loved ones, and decided to leave behind all of his riches and his wife and kids to become a monk. When he went in the woods to fast for days, he realized that all of nature is connected and everything was ever changing. From that point everyone knew him as Buddha which means enlightened one.
After Buddha's death, Buddhist thought traveled all over the globe. In India & Tibet it had the traditional thought which has hindu influences. In China, it mixed with taoism & confucianism. In Japan, shinto and in Korea it mixed with shamanism, just to name a few influences.
Buddhists do not believe in heaven, they believe in reincarnation, the belief that when you die you are born into another life, dependent on their karma in their past life, decides who or what life they will be born into. Karma is the belief that we cause what happens to us, even if we don't act on a feeling, it will have consequences. This is very different to the way I believe. Christians believe in a heaven and you reap what you sow, which is just saying you are responsible for your own actions and your actions have consequences, not your feelings. Reincarnation makes me think, wouldn't you search for your family in your past life if you were born into another life and why would a past life matter if you can't remember it?
Not every buddhist is a vegetarian. They teach to enjoy every bite when you are eating in respect of where the food came from. You may notice places with a bowl of fruit this is an offering to the hungry ghost, a belief that the more you get the more you will want, the bowl of fruit is not eaten. It is there to remind you to only eat what you need and not to be gluttonous.
There are 3 schools of thought, pure land, zen & tibetan. The pure land believe that heaven is in the mind. Zen focuses on concentration and no multi tasking. Tibetan is in the belief in patience, that if you are mad or sad, you are the cause of your own feelings, not the thing that bothered you. All buddhist respect life, they believe that if you hurt someone you are hurting yourself, because we are all connected. This belief is so strong, that in Japan if you have an abortion the buddhists name the fetus and have a funeral for it.
There are many things I liked learning in this book, for instance that meditation is healthy for you, it registers as sleep according to a study, in an MRI machine. I don't meditate on nothingness, like buddhists but do like to meditate on Jesus, when I do a rosary. Reading that the samurai like flower arrangement and meditation, I thought was very surprising. There are many athletes who use zen concentration with their sports like Tiger Woods. The butterfly effect is that life is a bunch of dominos is also believed along with the belief that happiness can only come from doing things for others, which is also a christian belief. A documentary I watched said that it is one of the things that does make people happy. The documentary was called happy, if you were wondering. Buddhists are very big on prayer just like most other religions. I do wonder about this since, I'm still not sure of their belief in god, being they don't believe in a physical heaven.
After Buddha's death, Buddhist thought traveled all over the globe. In India & Tibet it had the traditional thought which has hindu influences. In China, it mixed with taoism & confucianism. In Japan, shinto and in Korea it mixed with shamanism, just to name a few influences.
Buddhists do not believe in heaven, they believe in reincarnation, the belief that when you die you are born into another life, dependent on their karma in their past life, decides who or what life they will be born into. Karma is the belief that we cause what happens to us, even if we don't act on a feeling, it will have consequences. This is very different to the way I believe. Christians believe in a heaven and you reap what you sow, which is just saying you are responsible for your own actions and your actions have consequences, not your feelings. Reincarnation makes me think, wouldn't you search for your family in your past life if you were born into another life and why would a past life matter if you can't remember it?
Not every buddhist is a vegetarian. They teach to enjoy every bite when you are eating in respect of where the food came from. You may notice places with a bowl of fruit this is an offering to the hungry ghost, a belief that the more you get the more you will want, the bowl of fruit is not eaten. It is there to remind you to only eat what you need and not to be gluttonous.
There are 3 schools of thought, pure land, zen & tibetan. The pure land believe that heaven is in the mind. Zen focuses on concentration and no multi tasking. Tibetan is in the belief in patience, that if you are mad or sad, you are the cause of your own feelings, not the thing that bothered you. All buddhist respect life, they believe that if you hurt someone you are hurting yourself, because we are all connected. This belief is so strong, that in Japan if you have an abortion the buddhists name the fetus and have a funeral for it.
There are many things I liked learning in this book, for instance that meditation is healthy for you, it registers as sleep according to a study, in an MRI machine. I don't meditate on nothingness, like buddhists but do like to meditate on Jesus, when I do a rosary. Reading that the samurai like flower arrangement and meditation, I thought was very surprising. There are many athletes who use zen concentration with their sports like Tiger Woods. The butterfly effect is that life is a bunch of dominos is also believed along with the belief that happiness can only come from doing things for others, which is also a christian belief. A documentary I watched said that it is one of the things that does make people happy. The documentary was called happy, if you were wondering. Buddhists are very big on prayer just like most other religions. I do wonder about this since, I'm still not sure of their belief in god, being they don't believe in a physical heaven.
October 17, 2021
It doesn't look like anyone has reviewed this book in a couple of years. Perhaps this is an older edition and a new one exists. I got my copy at a lending library at my local yoga center and noticed the copyright was 2009, so it would make sense there might be a newer edition. There is a lot of good information in this book. It would be good to keep around as a reference but, unfortunately, I have to return it to the yoga center. It was well written, which I wasn't really expecting in a book purporting to be for "Idiots." My only criticism is that the author is long winded and uses way too many words to get his point across. This makes the book a slower read than is necessary. Overall though I would recommend it to anyone interested in the topic of Buddhism.
October 8, 2018
Based on online reviews, I had been led to believe that this was one of the best introductions to Buddhism out there. Eager to learn more about this religion commonly thought of as exotic to Westerners, I purchased my own copy. While good in many ways, I was also disappointed in some ways.
The author, Gary Gach, is a convert to Buddhism from his Jewish upbringing. His enthusiasm for Buddhism is palpable (a bit overwhelming), and writes beautifully. It reads like his target audience for this book are readers who are considering Buddhism, not simply wanting to learn what Buddhism is about. Because of this, some chapters present themselves as "how-to" guides, and I was admittedly less interested in these subjects. I can't say I came away with a firm grasp of how to describe Zen, Pure Land, or Tibetan Buddhism and what the differences are, which I was greatly hoping to do. The book presented Buddhism as principally a system of meditative practice, with some tweaking based on regional approaches. It was, unsurprisingly, a Western-centric approach to Buddhism.
The best chapters in this book for me were the informational chapters or that taught me something new about Buddhism's place in the world. He has great chapters explaining Buddhism's history, with the Life of Buddha as a central narrative, and its spread to other countries in Eastern Asia and the West. Part 4, describing Buddhist applications to life such as work, school, retreats, art, eating, sports, and science, is what I found the most interesting and the most valuable contribution of the book for me.
If you are seriously thinking about becoming Buddhist, I would recommend checking this book out. But I'll look at other introductions of Buddhism for my own purposes.
The author, Gary Gach, is a convert to Buddhism from his Jewish upbringing. His enthusiasm for Buddhism is palpable (a bit overwhelming), and writes beautifully. It reads like his target audience for this book are readers who are considering Buddhism, not simply wanting to learn what Buddhism is about. Because of this, some chapters present themselves as "how-to" guides, and I was admittedly less interested in these subjects. I can't say I came away with a firm grasp of how to describe Zen, Pure Land, or Tibetan Buddhism and what the differences are, which I was greatly hoping to do. The book presented Buddhism as principally a system of meditative practice, with some tweaking based on regional approaches. It was, unsurprisingly, a Western-centric approach to Buddhism.
The best chapters in this book for me were the informational chapters or that taught me something new about Buddhism's place in the world. He has great chapters explaining Buddhism's history, with the Life of Buddha as a central narrative, and its spread to other countries in Eastern Asia and the West. Part 4, describing Buddhist applications to life such as work, school, retreats, art, eating, sports, and science, is what I found the most interesting and the most valuable contribution of the book for me.
If you are seriously thinking about becoming Buddhist, I would recommend checking this book out. But I'll look at other introductions of Buddhism for my own purposes.
December 31, 2010
Knowing very little about Buddhism, I set out to find a book that was comprehensive enough for me to understand if the practice was right for me. This book did exactly that. It is definitely recommended for anyone curious about this way of life. The style was very relaxed and presented the information in a way that, well, even an idiot could understand. It was enough for me to learn the history, basics, and start implementing the teachings into my own life. It has inspired to me continue learning more and even seek out a Buddhist teacher.
May 8, 2012
I had never had a Complete Idiot's Guide make my head spin until I read this book. It's too confusing and cluttered with unexplained metaphorical maxims combined with hit-or-miss attempts at humor (it is also likely that it has the most sidebars of any book in the entire Complete Idiot's series).
However, it is not entirely incomprehensible. Most of the more confusing concepts are also, in a way, not confusing at all. Which is why it is so confusing.
If you choose to read this book, please do find another book on Buddhism to read with it or before or after.
However, it is not entirely incomprehensible. Most of the more confusing concepts are also, in a way, not confusing at all. Which is why it is so confusing.
If you choose to read this book, please do find another book on Buddhism to read with it or before or after.
January 3, 2013
This book provides an insight into what Buddhism is about, the many forms of Buddhism as well as leads the reader to many various sources of information to find out more about the topic at hand. It is a wealth of knowledge and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to find out what Buddhism is all about. The analogies used in the book are also witty, quirky as well as inspirational. Good read.
April 9, 2010
A great introduction to understanding the foundations of Buddhism, its variants from the Eastern society and how it is being adopted in Western society.
Read
May 12, 2012I loved this book. I always buy and Idiot's Guide when I'm learning about something new, and this one was just as good as any other. Made all the basics very easy to understand. Wonderful!
July 29, 2014
A great crash course in Buddhism and it's various sects and school . Will motivate you to explore the schools deeper.
September 14, 2020
The main reason why I am tagging this book as a two is that it is very slow to read-can only handle so much of what the author is speaking about
Another reason is that some parts, like explaining the differences between the sects of Buddhism it just leads me to be even more confused which will require further reading to de scatter the unseeable cluster of what's what.
But there were good points, like making peace with your plate.
Another reason is that some parts, like explaining the differences between the sects of Buddhism it just leads me to be even more confused which will require further reading to de scatter the unseeable cluster of what's what.
But there were good points, like making peace with your plate.
September 17, 2019
Marking as read even though I got to page 210. Just a lot of info to take in.
January 22, 2013
Mistake on page 39; trying not to discount the entire book and hoping it is corrected in later editions.
Notable:
"The more extreme my position is, the more it embraces my worst enemy's" - in the section discussing Buddhism and Taoism and the yin-yang symbol.
Eastern vs. Western mindsets: the Eastern mind-set sees humanity embedded in nature, interconnected and intertwined
Theme on devoting time to noticing karma, interbeing, impermanence, self, suchness, and nothing (Page 112-113).
"Impermanence seems a primary cause of sorrow, but without it life wouldn't be possible and so it's really a cause for happiness."
Notable:
"The more extreme my position is, the more it embraces my worst enemy's" - in the section discussing Buddhism and Taoism and the yin-yang symbol.
Eastern vs. Western mindsets: the Eastern mind-set sees humanity embedded in nature, interconnected and intertwined
Theme on devoting time to noticing karma, interbeing, impermanence, self, suchness, and nothing (Page 112-113).
"Impermanence seems a primary cause of sorrow, but without it life wouldn't be possible and so it's really a cause for happiness."
December 22, 2017
For endorsements by Amazon.com, Neela Banerjee, Rev Dorsey Blake, Buddhism.About.com, Chevy Chase, Ven Thich Nhat Hanh, Lama Surya Das, Shambhala Sun, Susan Moon, The Mountains and Rivers Order, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, and others : http://ow.ly/jUCW4
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August 9, 2016- available in SG NLB 294.3 (Sengkang)
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March 4, 2014
Good reminders for fools (like us) also, not only idiots
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews