LEADER 03862nam 2200769 a 450 001 9910457982503321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-78268-564-2 010 $a1-282-97638-9 010 $a9786612976384 010 $a1-4008-3804-5 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400838042 035 $a(CKB)2560000000049171 035 $a(EBL)664582 035 $a(OCoLC)708253807 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000473833 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11307874 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000473833 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10448810 035 $a(PQKB)11416575 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC664582 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse43108 035 $a(DE-B1597)453728 035 $a(OCoLC)1002252578 035 $a(OCoLC)1004868082 035 $a(OCoLC)1011445805 035 $a(OCoLC)1013957975 035 $a(OCoLC)1029812162 035 $a(OCoLC)1032679120 035 $a(OCoLC)979582407 035 $a(OCoLC)999360827 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400838042 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL664582 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10444505 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL297638 035 $a(EXLCZ)992560000000049171 100 $a20100331d2011 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|||||||nn|n 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe Tibetan book of the dead$b[electronic resource] $ea biography /$fDonald S. Lopez, Jr 205 $aCourse Book 210 $aPrinceton $cPrinceton University Press$d2011 215 $a1 online resource (186 p.) 225 1 $aLives of great religious books 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-691-13435-9 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aAmerica -- India -- Tibet -- The world. 330 $aThe Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, having sold more than a million copies since it was first published in English in 1927. Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it, Timothy Leary redesigned it as a guidebook for an acid trip, and the Beatles "ed Leary's version in their song "Tomorrow Never Knows." More recently, the book has been adopted by the hospice movement, enshrined by Penguin Classics, and made into an audiobook read by Richard Gere. Yet, as acclaimed writer and scholar of Buddhism Donald Lopez writes, "The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not really Tibetan, it is not really a book, and it is not really about death." In this compelling introduction and short history, Lopez tells the strange story of how a relatively obscure and malleable collection of Buddhist texts of uncertain origin came to be so revered--and so misunderstood--in the West. The central character in this story is Walter Evans-Wentz (1878-1965), an eccentric scholar and spiritual seeker from Trenton, New Jersey, who, despite not knowing the Tibetan language and never visiting the country, crafted and named The Tibetan Book of the Dead. In fact, Lopez argues, Evans-Wentz's book is much more American than Tibetan, owing a greater debt to Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky than to the lamas of the Land of Snows. Indeed, Lopez suggests that the book's perennial appeal stems not only from its origins in magical and mysterious Tibet, but also from the way Evans-Wentz translated the text into the language of a very American spirituality. 410 0$aLives of great religious books. 606 $aDeath$xReligious aspects$vComparative studies 606 $aFuture life$vComparative studies 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aDeath$xReligious aspects 615 0$aFuture life 676 $a294.3/85 700 $aLopez$b Donald S.$f1952-$0647459 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910457982503321 996 $aThe Tibetan book of the dead$92468404 997 $aUNINA