Dzogchen Teachings (Chogyal Namkhai Norbu)
So-So Dzogchen
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Dzogchen Teachings” by Namkhai Norbu.]
My buddy in Texas, where I have boxes of spiritual books stored, recently sent me a box of my books. One of the books included was “Dzogchen Teachings” by Namkhai Norbu. Since I’m working on a Dzogchen text, I decided to give it a second read, because I didn’t remember anything about it from my first read, except that it didn’t impress me. My second read was more of the same.
First off, not much of the book is actually about Dzogchen practice, so the title is misleading. The book consists of talks by Norbu on a range of related spiritual topics, such as Sutra, Tantra, Mahamudra, Yogacara, and Dzogchen history and philosophy, but very little on the nuts and bolts of Dzogchen practice.
Are the talks any good? So-so, at best. They make it clear that Norbu’s grasp of Dzogchen is only so deep.
After having read at least six Dzogchen texts by Norbu, I’ve come to a sobering conclusion: Norbu without John Myrdhin Reynolds is like Sonny without Cher – not a great ticket. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this book is by the same “master” who wrote “The Cycle of Day and Night” (see my five-star review). Hence, I can only conclude that sans Reynolds as his editor, Norbu is less than stellar. To borrow a phrase from Walter Cronkite, “And that’s the way it is.”
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Dzogchen Teachings” by Namkhai Norbu.]
My buddy in Texas, where I have boxes of spiritual books stored, recently sent me a box of my books. One of the books included was “Dzogchen Teachings” by Namkhai Norbu. Since I’m working on a Dzogchen text, I decided to give it a second read, because I didn’t remember anything about it from my first read, except that it didn’t impress me. My second read was more of the same.
First off, not much of the book is actually about Dzogchen practice, so the title is misleading. The book consists of talks by Norbu on a range of related spiritual topics, such as Sutra, Tantra, Mahamudra, Yogacara, and Dzogchen history and philosophy, but very little on the nuts and bolts of Dzogchen practice.
Are the talks any good? So-so, at best. They make it clear that Norbu’s grasp of Dzogchen is only so deep.
After having read at least six Dzogchen texts by Norbu, I’ve come to a sobering conclusion: Norbu without John Myrdhin Reynolds is like Sonny without Cher – not a great ticket. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this book is by the same “master” who wrote “The Cycle of Day and Night” (see my five-star review). Hence, I can only conclude that sans Reynolds as his editor, Norbu is less than stellar. To borrow a phrase from Walter Cronkite, “And that’s the way it is.”
