The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation (W.Y. Evans-Wentz)
A Flawed but Recommended Text
[My 4-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation: Or the Method of Realizing Nirvana by Knowing the Mind†by W.Y. Evans-Wentz.]
I have just finished rereading “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation†for the third time. The first time I read it, about forty years ago, it was over my head; the second time I read it, about eight years ago, I loved it. And this time, I particularly realized its limitations, especially in light of John Reynold’s book, “Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness,†which, like “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation,†is a translation of/ commentary on the same teaching, “The Yoga of Knowing of the Mind (The Seeing of Reality),†by the legendary Dzogchen master Padmasambhava.
I still dig this book because I love Evans-Wentz’s writing. He not only is an affecting, mystically inspiring writer, but also a spiritually astute one, able to expertly blend Vedanta, Buddhism, and Plotinus. He makes some errors in his Theosphical-like attempt to synthesize the Great Traditions, but overall, especially thanks to his exposure to the great Hindu Guru Ramana Maharshi, he does a fine job explaining and promoting The Perennial Philosophy in his General Introduction, which spans a hundred pages. Likewise, he provides some marvelous insights (along with some mistakes) in his extensive commentary on Padmasambhava’s “The Yoga of Knowing the Mind (The Seeing of Reality).â€
About thirty-five pages of the text are devoted to a Psychological Commentary on the teaching by renowned C.G, Jung. I personally don’t care for Jung’s commentary, which I see as an attempt to reduce the spiritual to the psychological. About eighty-five pages of the text are devoted to the mythological story of The Life and Teachings of Tibet’s Great Guru Padma-Sambhava. I have no affinity for magical-mystical tales like this one, and I have never felt motivated to read more than short bits of it. But if you enjoy creative hagiographical fiction, then you’ll probably find it entertaining, and maybe even enlightening. My version of the text does not include Donald Lopez’s Foreword, so I’m not qualified to comment on it.
The essence of the text- -Padmasambhava’s Teachings on The Yoga of Knowing the Mind (The Seeing of Reality) and Evans-Wentz’s commentary is a forty-page mixed bag. Padmasambhava’s Teachings themselves are poorly translated, which makes them less than fully clear and descriptive. This is especially evident when one compares this translation to John Reynold’s in his book on these Teachings. But again, Evans-Wentz’s commentary adds interesting spice, and the Teachings themselves are still mystically profound and enlightening.
In summary, despite its flaws, I recommend this text. But I also think anyone serious about Tibetan Buddhism/Dzogchen will benefit the most by comparing/contrasting this text with Reynolds’ “Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness,†which is not without its own flaws; hence the need to compare/contrast both texts.
[My 4-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation: Or the Method of Realizing Nirvana by Knowing the Mind†by W.Y. Evans-Wentz.]
I have just finished rereading “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation†for the third time. The first time I read it, about forty years ago, it was over my head; the second time I read it, about eight years ago, I loved it. And this time, I particularly realized its limitations, especially in light of John Reynold’s book, “Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness,†which, like “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation,†is a translation of/ commentary on the same teaching, “The Yoga of Knowing of the Mind (The Seeing of Reality),†by the legendary Dzogchen master Padmasambhava.
I still dig this book because I love Evans-Wentz’s writing. He not only is an affecting, mystically inspiring writer, but also a spiritually astute one, able to expertly blend Vedanta, Buddhism, and Plotinus. He makes some errors in his Theosphical-like attempt to synthesize the Great Traditions, but overall, especially thanks to his exposure to the great Hindu Guru Ramana Maharshi, he does a fine job explaining and promoting The Perennial Philosophy in his General Introduction, which spans a hundred pages. Likewise, he provides some marvelous insights (along with some mistakes) in his extensive commentary on Padmasambhava’s “The Yoga of Knowing the Mind (The Seeing of Reality).â€
About thirty-five pages of the text are devoted to a Psychological Commentary on the teaching by renowned C.G, Jung. I personally don’t care for Jung’s commentary, which I see as an attempt to reduce the spiritual to the psychological. About eighty-five pages of the text are devoted to the mythological story of The Life and Teachings of Tibet’s Great Guru Padma-Sambhava. I have no affinity for magical-mystical tales like this one, and I have never felt motivated to read more than short bits of it. But if you enjoy creative hagiographical fiction, then you’ll probably find it entertaining, and maybe even enlightening. My version of the text does not include Donald Lopez’s Foreword, so I’m not qualified to comment on it.
The essence of the text- -Padmasambhava’s Teachings on The Yoga of Knowing the Mind (The Seeing of Reality) and Evans-Wentz’s commentary is a forty-page mixed bag. Padmasambhava’s Teachings themselves are poorly translated, which makes them less than fully clear and descriptive. This is especially evident when one compares this translation to John Reynold’s in his book on these Teachings. But again, Evans-Wentz’s commentary adds interesting spice, and the Teachings themselves are still mystically profound and enlightening.
In summary, despite its flaws, I recommend this text. But I also think anyone serious about Tibetan Buddhism/Dzogchen will benefit the most by comparing/contrasting this text with Reynolds’ “Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness,†which is not without its own flaws; hence the need to compare/contrast both texts.
