Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Glimpses of Mahayana - Book review


As promised, here's my review of 'Glimpses of Mahayana." 

Generally I take about a month to read most books about Dharma. This allows me time to digest what I'm reading and apply teachings to my life as I go, but my enthusiasm for the subject generally means I want to read a bit almost every day. Occasionally I'll read a Dharma book that's more academic or has really non-conceptual teachings that require a lot more time to digest - like anything on the Heart Sutra, for example - and I'll chew on these for several months. 

This book, however, I powered through. I just couldn't get enough. I think I finished it in five days and will happily pick it up and read it again and again and again. Because this book has really good, really pointed stuff in it that's so easy to apply right here, right now. 

I found myself writing very enthusiastically in the margins, filling it up with "Yes! Totally" or "Just like that teaching by..." or "This happened to me when..." 

It's like the ultimate practitioner toolkit - the very basics and how to use them to work with your life all the time. It really highlights the difference between intellectually understanding the teachings and having a lived, felt experience of them - knowing them in your bones through application. 


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