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One of the greatest works created by any culture and overwhelmingly the most significant of all Tibetan Buddhist texts in the West, The Tibetan Book of the Dead has had a number of distinguished but partial translations. Now the entire text has not only been made available in English but also in a translation of remarkable clarity and beauty. Translated with the close support of leading contemporary masters, this complete edition faithfully presents the insights and intentions of the original work. It includes one of the most detailed and compelling descriptions of the after-death state in world literature, practices that can transform our experience of daily life, guidance on helping those who are dying, and an inspirational perspective on coping with bereavement.

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Tibetan Book of the dead	Customer Rating:
An old book brought to life. interesting research in the india's believe system of reincarnation. The souls travels after death back to reincarnation.

Not for newcomers, but truly a "treasure-text"

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This handsome edition comes with many credits. The title page tells us that it was composed by Padmasambhava, revealed by Terton Karma Lingpa, translated by Gyurme Dorje, edited by Graham Coleman with Thupten Jingpa, and has an introductory commentary by HH The Dalai Lama. This chain of transmission parallels the Tibetan Buddhist method of instruction: oral teachings, ideally, from master to student unbroken for millennia. "The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate State" was revealed in the eighth century, but Padmasambhava foresaw its esoteric nature might be misconstrued and its power diminished, so he arranged to hide it as a "treasure text." It was found by Karma Lingpa in the fourteenth century, and W. Y. Evans-Wentz in the 1920s popularized it after what he understood as its Egyptian counterpart (one remembers the Tut craze then); the misleadingly evocative title has stuck. What the compendium shows, well over six hundred pages in its first comprehensive presentation, is much more than the twelfth book-- what Evans-Wentz, recently followed by Francesca Fremantle & Chogyam Trungpa, Robert Thurman, and Stephen Hodge with Martin Boord have separately translated as the TBoD. That chapter seen in context here falls into place as part of a broader set of pre- as well as post-mortem litanies, guidance, and rituals. Its editor-translators here capture its essence well when they refer to Jung's conception of the work as used in a "backwards" trajectory in reference to psychoanalysis. That is, we can interpret its teachings moving not only with us after death, but reversed towards our primordial life-force, "right back to a pure original cognitive event." (xxxii) Coleman sees chapter 1 as setting out a perspective to realize this shift in awareness, 2-6 building a framework for mental and spiritual realization, and chapter 7 as setting up a framework for modulating and refining our motivations and actions accordingly. Perhaps non-Buddhists can benefit from such visualizations? It's not easy, especially when confronted with a mass of terms in Tibetan that will challenge the uninitiated, but an 85-page, small-type, glossary with comprehensive definitions is provided, along with pithy contextual prefaces to each chapter. Endnotes are also given with more scholarly transliterations of phrases and cross-references to a bibliography. This apparatus should therefore satisfy academics as well as practitioners. Yet, it may well overwhelm the more casual inquirer; I'd start with the smaller versions of Chapter 12 published separately and read more about Buddhism first. Chapter 8 offers recognition of the signs of impending death, inner and outer; rituals to avoid premature death follow in Chapter 9. A very advanced practice of "consciousness transference" comprises Chapter 10. The "TBoD" conventionally translated in the West takes up Chapter 11. Aspirational prayers make up Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 gives a "Masked Drama." The last section's a litany of a mantras amulet to be worn for "the liberation by wearing" by the dying person-- it reminds me of the scapular or miraculous medal in Catholicism. Two appendices list and catalogue the plethora of peaceful and wrathful deities enumerated in Chapter 11. In his rather elevated if concise commentary, the Dalai Lama quickly discusses the text within "Higher Yoga Tantra." He makes a vivid comparison between karma, the Buddhist laws of cause & effect, and the weather on pg. xv. Today's weather is linked to yesterday's and tomorrow's even as we view each manifestation as distinct. Our body's health ties past, present, and future together similarly. Likewise, in our consciousness according to Buddhism our past, present, and future tie together even as we perceive them as discrete phenomena. Unlike Thurman's translation-edition (reviewed by me as is Hodge & Boord's; see also my review of Fremantle's commentary on the TBoD, "Luminous Emptiness"), there's little attempt to make these contents fully accessible within an ecumenical or (post-?)modern setting. Coleman's references to Jung are about as far as it goes. Dorje sets the text in its literary history, and the Dalai Lama keeps to Buddhist concepts. The team, assisted by eminent Tibetan scholars also credited, strives rather to set the teachings within the lineage tradition of Nyingma, the oldest extant school of Buddhist knowledge from Tibet. So, newcomers may want to start with a simpler presentation such as Hodge & Boord's, moving into Thurman's snappier version, before tackling this comprehensive edition. The language is a bit more British and refined than Thurman's direct vernacular. For example, what the American scholar renders as the frequent Chapter 11 vocative "Hey you so-and-so," Coleman & Dorje mediate into "O Child of Buddha Nature, listen without distraction." There's lots of vivid examples here to show the depth of entry into the territory edging towards our mortal transformation, for a Westerner, to find in this in-depth look into one of the oldest and most formidable of death-ritual texts. Chapter 8 enumerates many visual indications of the signs of remote, impending, and actual death that may remind medical observers in our hospitals and hospices today how carefully, even obsessively, old-school Tibetans watched the body and the mind for predictions of its end. Perhaps, the filter of a thousand years removed, those who care for the dying today might find valuable testimony within admittedly daunting symptoms such as those metaphorically called "rupturing of the Wish-granting Tree from the Summit of Mount Sumeru" (171) or "ceasing of the monks' smoke in the cities of the earth element." (170) Certainly more memorable than Latin or Greek terms used by doctors today with detachment and bureaucratic efficiency. Speaking of efficiency, one editorial addition that I would have added would be not only the chapter phrase headings atop each page under the title of the "book," but a number for the chapter, and also numerical references by paragraphs, to standardize references and to facilitate easy consultation. If this work is to be used by those needing an English translation, such "chapter-and-section" types of organization would have aided those looking up passages more rapidly. It slows the reader down when only the general chapter heading is given, although the last part of the book is a page-by-page topical index within each chapter, so this lack is somewhat balanced. The paper, also, I wish would have been more durable. I have the hardcover, but it seems flimsy and pulpy inside vs. the elegant binding and dustjacket. This may be a trade-off for what's an affordable edition, and the fact such a volume will stay in print as a mass-market trade paperback attests to the continuing relevance with what might well have languished as an obscure devotional tome if not for a surprising literary history. Also, this text has corrected earlier inconsistencies "inherited" in translation of faulty versions. A final thanks for the illustrations of the Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities by the late Shawu Tsering, a scroll artist from Amdo in Tibet. These, commissioned for Dr. Dorje's collection, show a clarity and precision often missing from photographs of "thangkas" in book form. They beautifully help the reader see what the text tells.

Too weird	Customer Rating:
This book was too weird and kinda boring. It did have some cool pictures in it though.

Deep Thinking	Customer Rating:
This book is certainly full of knowledge. It may take SOME time to get through. Interesting, though.

A Perfectionists' Translation of Not Really Accessible Death-Transition Rites

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To begin with: Whatever you do, do not touch the upper and lower ends of the spine of the 2007 Deluxe Edition, or it will look like a shabby edition ugly quickly. The cogwheelish cutting of the page edges are nice and unusual to look at, but it is a nightmare to quickly leaf through the book that way in order to find a specific page. Which you are supposed to do, as the book is very footnote ridden (32 pages of small print). That in itself wouldn't be the problem. But from there, you may get directed further into the glossary of key terms (85 pages). One glossary entry may include, say, 16 more terms to be looked up in the same glossary... and so on so forth. From there, you might get directed to Appendix One or Two (together 22 pages). You get the drift: Major obstacle reading. My advice: Read the glossary before you read anything else, attempt to remember it all and check the footnotes only while reading the book. And remember: While you are paging forward and backward - don't touch the edges of the spine or the fancy color will come off! So much for what is more easily rated. Originally published in 2005, the many centuries old "The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States" - as the literal translation of the Tibetan title really reads - had been translated into English in part and faulty at that in 1927. The Dalai Lama and other dignitaries thought it would be about time to introduce a complete and better translation. That work is comprised of 14 chapters (379 pages), including even three chapters which aren't really part of the book but fit in neatly for further overstanding. The XIVth Dalai Lama provided part of the introduction (14 pages). Altogether, there are 51 introductory pages. Together with the bibliography, index and 16 full color picture pages (which are actually two related subjects only, but each enlarged in sections on the respective following pages), this book is 607 pages heavy. The theme of the book is the myths and rites approaching, during and after the transition from one body to the next as in the context of reincarnation. The book is best for those who would like to really delve into Buddhism, as the translation is done for perfectionists, students of religion and of course Buddhists in the English speaking world. The more generally interested may be put off by the concentration on utterly unexplained rites. As in: How do they know all those things from the intermediate states? By remembering? By a prophesy? By divine telling? The rites (of reading texts) are extremely repetitive. Which has the function of conditioning in a positive sense: The neophyte is supposed to automatically recall certain passages as only then the right behavior has a chance in the dream-like states of "death". Even more difficult to read are the many Tibetan words still included. There is no chance of even guessing how to pronounce them correctly. Many are unavoidable names, but many are also regular words. Even if difficult to translate, neologisms overstandable in English would have been my choice, such as this one Iyaric term in this sentence. And let's put it this way: Tibetan words do not easily roll off the tongue such as "Mandala". There are others such as "Sarvadurgatiparisodhanatantra", not even including the many potential accents unproducable on my current keyboard. In other words, this book may be appreciated most by those who already have some prior knowledge. The rites are a lot about veneration of and prostrating to a caleidoscope of deities. Who are one, but splintered at the same time. I was hoping to find a bit more mysticism in this book. Well, at least the chapter on the confession of sins in the beliefs of dualisms are rewarding. If you are a mystic (no matter of what branch of religion), that is. There were more traces of mysticism in the introduction than the book itself, though. Many words of advice from Buddhism I can take, no matter wether everything corresponds to my door which leads to the same room or wether the same door shines in my light. I find the book Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by the XIVth Dalai Lama on the same subject much more accessible, if I am correct on the English title of a book I read in another language. If I would follow "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", I would think of myself to be occupied with "death" way too much. As a mystic I don't believe in death anyway, therefore I am less obsessed with checking myself for potential advance signs of death all the Imes as suggested here. The book works under the premise that life is a very bad thing anyway which should be avoided by all means. That is not my approach. Maybe there's suffering in the everlasting cycle of life, but that's fine with me, for there are some nice moments in between all the suffering. Besides: What if God/the universe/Jah/etc., which we are all part of in the mystic overstanding LIKES to experience life in the forms of various bodies, accepting the suffering along the way? Wouldn't it be egoistical to refuse life? What if "everybody" would refuse "rebirth"? I had a lot of questions like that popping up while reading this book. Other Imes, the book put a smile on my face. For example, when I imagined another religious leader, such as the Pope, giving the advice, in a certain context, to inhale one's semen through the nose, while the former is still warm. I am not that sure, wether I will ever follow THAT advice either. But it's refreshing that we can talk about any possible body function and unorthodox use. I forgot: In Tibet, that IS orthodox...