The Lamp That Enlightens Narrow Minds
The Life and Times of a Realized Tibetan Master, Khyentse Chokyi Wangchug
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The Lamp That Enlightens Narrow Minds: The Life and Times of a Realized Tibetan Master, Khyentse Chökyi Wangchug presents an engaging account of the life of Khyentse Chökyi Wangchug, a realized Tibetan tulku (reincarnated lama or teacher). The book's historical references provide a detailed portrait of Tibet on the verge of invasion and occupation by Chinese forces in the decades leading up to 1959 when Chinese repression led the Dalai Lama to take refuge in India.
Narrated by Chökyi Wangchug's nephew, author and international Tibetan teacher Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, this inspired biography describes the extraordinary events of Chökyi Wangchug's life during this momentous period in Tibetan history. Born in 1909 in a valley south of Derge, an ancient center of Tibetan culture, Chökyi Wangchug was recognized at an early age as a reincarnation of a tulku and thus received Buddhist teachings from the greatest masters of the epoch. A privileged observer of his uncle's life, Namkhai Norbu reveals the complexity of Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy and the conflicts caused not only by Chinese forces, but also by people close to Chökyi Wangchug who had become members of factions motivated by bigotry and personal greed. Despite the difficulties he encountered, he maintained a state of equanimity and dedicated himself to a life of peace and compassion for all sentient beings. Ultimately tortured and imprisoned by the Chinese, he and two other realized Tibetan teachers passed away at the same moment while meditating.
Customer Reviews
Fighting the Cosmic City Hall
It's not common wisdom that takes a book like this, with such a high-minded motif and subject to task. But here goes. As a story, there are few backdrops as potent or colorful as the violent changes wrought in the middle os the last century in Tibet, especially Kham, East Tibet. And in the cast of leading characters at play and work n this drama could hardly be better lives by which to measure this maelstrom. Yet the author seems to have done just that.
This nam thar, or Tibetan lama hagiography, has a kind of inside-the-box form, meaning that the style of the content has to manifest the wisdom of the subject formalistic flourishes. And in this case reverently since the subject is the lama or guru of the author. From that point it is successful. And those devoted to either --author or subject-- will find much to rejoice about.
For myself having little connection with either, the default interest is in more worldly qualities of story telling elements such as the author's personal development, and/or ongoing themes such as the conflicts with the encroaching New Chinese government, the conflicts with the Central Tibetan authorities. These elements are not well told, or absent completely. If your cup of tea are memoirs such as "Meetings With Remarkable Men" or "Born in Tibet," this book is weak tea.