Theos-Talk Archives (February 1996 Message tl00058)

Of the many books I've read in the past year or two, the following are
some of the best.

~The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception~ by Deshung Rinpoche. This is a
full (500 pages) commentary on the "Three Visions" root text of the Sakya
order of Tibetan Buddhism. Deshung Rinpoche taught in Seattle for many years.

~Life of Shabkar.~  Shabkar was a wandering Nyingma lama (1781-1851) who
revered all Dharma practitioners, such as Je Tsongkhapa, a Gelukpa. This
is his autobiography that stops at age 57 or so.

~Gems of Dharma~ by Je Gampopa. Gampopa was the founder of the Kagyu
school of Tibetan Buddhism. This is very welcome new translation of his
"lam-rim". Guenther's "Jewel Ornament" translation, especially his notes,
was never helpful to me.

~Path of Heroes~ by Zhechen Gyaltsab. A two volume mind training text
from the Nyingma order. Very beautiful; with Tarthang Tulku's comments at
the beginning of each chapter.

~Path to Enlightenment~ by Geshe Thubten Loden.  The best lam rim (stages
of the path) text based on Je Tsongkhapa's ~Great Lam rim~ I have seen.
Over 1000 pages.

~The Pythagorean Sourcebook.~  This was done in the late `80s and has
several traditional biogs of Pythagoreas, plus many texts from his school.

~Sai Baba Gita~ by Al Drucker. This is Bhagavan's commentary on key themes
in the Bhagavad Gita. The first edition with a different title is better,
but it is out of print. Drucker took some liberties with the text, but
something is better (in this case) than nothing.

~God Talks to Arjuna~ by Yogananda. This a two volume, lovely, new, much
expanded edition of his never-in-book-form commentary on the Gita. Very
good and "esoteric"  too.


--
Nicholas <> am455@lafn.org <> Los Angeles
    Men must learn to love the truth before they thoroughly believe it.
        HP Blavatsky