The American Book of the Dead

See Larger Image	Manufacturer: Harpercollins Written By: E. J. Gold Average Customer Rating:


Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 133.9 EAN: 9780062513106 ISBN: 0062513109 Label: Harpercollins Manufacturer: Harpercollins Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 208 Publication Date: 1995-09 Publisher: Harpercollins Studio: Harpercollins
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Editorial Reviews: This contemporary and uniquely American interpretation of the timeless Tibetan spiritual classic, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, is an invaluable resource for anyone undergoing a spiritual crisis, preparing for death, or wishing to honor loved ones. Gold inspires readers to transform their attitudes toward death so that--ultimately--they learn to live. Illustrations.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Books, gurus and cons Comment: Well, now, this is interesting. I came out here to find a used copy of The American Book of the Dead for a friend. I was completely unaware of E.J. Gold's reputation as a Guru. Unusual for me. If I like a book I usually research the author if I don't know them already. I agree with the reviewers who urge caution, even extreme caution, around a Guru or around any very charismatic person. I know of what I speak; I have been "got" by a guru myself. However painful and expensive as it was for me, it must be remembered that like any con, one can only be "got" if one is susceptible. The teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, even of this current Dalai Lama, urge caution around Teachers, urge observation of a Teacher for many, many years before committing to one. Gold's bio leads me to believe he's both got the horsepower and the position to influence people for good or ill so great caution around him and his followers would seem warranted. (Caution always passes one of my most important tests: Can't hurt, might help!) I agree that the Bardo Thodrol (a/k/a Tibetan Book Of The Dead) has been mistranslated and misunderstood, even as to its true title! If one is interested in the true teachings of the Bardo Thodrol, this book, the American Book of the Dead, is probably not the place to start. For that, I would recommend Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying or Robert A.F. Thurman's two translations, The Tibetan Book of the Dead & The Tibetan Book of the Dead (The Great Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between) (with a forward by the Dalai Lama) and one audio teaching Liberation upon Hearing in the Between. Sogyal Rinpoche's book is also available in Audio format, which is important if one believes in the "oral transmission" Tibetan Wisdom for Living and Dying. All that said, I have found this book helpful in past situations where a text to read in Standard, if a bit New Agey, English was desired. However, I feel it important to point out that I had studied the texts I mention above before finding this book. I did not come to it "cold", nor did I have any connection with the author one way or another. I have recommended it to friends and would again, with all the caveats mentioned above. One more comment about authors and authenticity: It's worth remembering that even T. Lobsang Rampa's Third Eye--no matter what one thinks of the author or the book--was instrumental in bringing a large part of an entire generation to Tibetan Buddhism Third Eye. Customer Rating: Summary: I have all Gold's versions of this Text Comment: There was a period of time where I studied the material that E J Gold shared through various means. I find his AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DEAD to be practical and worthwhile. There used to be a training manual and study guide related to this work, which I still have. The training helps one to work with the dying and has given practical material that I have used with actual dying people. The work is meant to be read aloud in an invocational manner, actually following the instructions. One can feel the mood of the space shift and what is being invoked becomes reachable within experience. It is a serious work designed to help people make a "conscious crossing" between death and rebirth. It also helps people in any transitional period where the force of habits does not support where one is. I like both the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the American Book of the Dead. I feel they are complementary. MIRROR OF MINDFULNESS is my favorite book on the Bardo, because it describes how a person resting in Rigpa would experience the transition. Only a few books go into what an advanced practitioner would experience. The ABD is somewhat in the middle between what an ordinary person with no particular training would experience and what a skilled meditator would. This makes this book useful to more people. The ABD is not designed to support our usual habits of learning. It is designed to put you off your habitual thinking groove to open up to the Macrodimensions that surround you always. Although it uses thoughts, it is meant to lead to direct experience very quickly. It is not a light and easy journey. It is designed to put off those that are not ready for such a journey. A person can freak out as the 3D world starts to melt away and open up to something larger. Sometimes the ordinary world looks as fragile as rice paper. One loses the illusory feeling of comfort that the ordinary world used to give and has no choice but to learn how to rest in something deeper and more eternal. Customer Rating: Summary: Use of the Handbook Comment: I was first introduced to this book about 35 years ago when my mother was dying. I found it difficult to relate this book to my mother's experience. Through the years as I used this book for myself and subsequently for others I discovered that the reading aloud of these texts was significantly different than reading silently and that the more freedom (nonjudgmental thinking) I allowed myself in working with this book as a guide or a handbook the more I received in terms of understanding and healing. Customer Rating: Summary: A Useful Guidebook for Work with those in Crisis Comment: I do a lot of work with the critically ill and dying and even though I appreciate the concerns of the reviewers here, many of them seem to hold a theoretical view of this text. I, however, use it as a guidebook to help in critical, high stress, transitional situations. It aligns, of course, with the Tibetan Buddhist Bardo teachings but it presents them in a context that is culturally accessible and, dare I say it, sometimes humorous. It offers the teachings to the westerner without a religious context and opens the way of equanimity. It gives an excellent presentation of how to prepare the room during passage, make contact with the "patient" or voyager, give an effective reading, and recognize the stages of physical death. It provides a way for families and those who are bereaved to participate in a more conscious passage for their loved one because it is designed to help them remember and align to their own spiritual practice(s). In the resonance of the various chambers with different psychological states, it is also a workbook for those in psychological crisis. All very practical stuff. I think that you will find that this is a book which can only be understood in the context as used to help others, and in this way to gain some measure of understanding yourself. Customer Rating: Summary: The Great Liberation by Sound Comment: I've noticed that the reviews for this book which readers seem to find most helpful were those coming from individuals expressing sincere gratitude for the solace and comfort they received from using the book to help someone close to them. I'd like to add my name to this list. I read for my father and mother when they passed and found great comfort in being able to do so, and over the past 15 years I've read for many others who have either died or were in distress of one kind or another here on this plane of existance. A 49-day reading in the sanctuary of your reading chamber is a powerful antidote to everything that is going on around you and the one you are reading for. At least that is my sincere feeling on it. I would like to include here, as did another reviewer, one of the most powerful passages in the book which in my opinion can be used at any time, anywhere, by anyone, for any reason or no reason at all. In the book the passage is entitled, " Fourth Chamber, Confronting the Clear Light ". It goes like this : Now I am experiencing the Clear Light of objective reality. Nothing is happening, nothing ever has happened or ever will happen. My present sense of self, the voyager, is in reality the void itself, having no qualities or characteristics. I remember myself as the voyager, whose deepest nature is the Clear Light itself; I am one; there is no other. I am the voidness of the void, the eternal unborn, the uncreated, neither real nor unreal. All that I have been conscious of is my own play of consciousness, a dance of light, the swirling patterns of light in infinite extension, endless endlessness, the Absolute beyond change, existence, reality. I, the voyager, am inseparable from the Clear Light; I cannot be born, die, exist, or change. I know now that this is my true nature. " More Reviews