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The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Book and Audio-CD Set) (Book & CD) | 
 enlarge | Creators: Richard Gere, Chogyam Trungpa, Francesca Fremantle
Publisher: Shambhala
Category: Book
New (3) Used (3) from $20.00
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 624179
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 1590304772
Dewey Decimal Number: 294
EAN: 9781590304778
ASIN: 1590304772
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
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Product Description
To listen to an audio excerpt online in MP3 format, click here.
In this classic scripture of Tibetan Buddhism—traditionally read aloud to the dying to help them attain liberation—death and rebirth are seen as a process that provides an opportunity to recognize the true nature of mind.
This book-and-audio set offers a new way to encounter the profound meaning of this sacred text. The package contains a complete edition of The Tibetan Book of the Dead with an introduction by Francesca Fremantle and insightful commentary by Choegyam Trungpa, written in clear concise language, that explains the text and offers a psychological perspective on its teachings.
Also included here is a set of three audio CDs with an introduction by Fremantle and a translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, both read by the actor Richard Gere.
3 CDs, with a 192-page book
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| Customer Reviews:
Study the text, then hear its nuances October 7, 2008
An explanation for the buyer: this blue-covered, older version combines a published "pocket" condensation of the TBoD with a shorter tape read by Richard Gere. A longer, unabridged 3-CD version has been released in September 2008 with a yellow cover. This follows the longer translation with commentary published by Shambhala back in 1975, but the book is not included in the yellow-covered CD set (also reviewed by me).
Listening to this recording can be very beneficial. Provided that one understands the basics of the content first. Unlike many other audiobooks, I'd advise the user to read the book first, perhaps repeatedly, and then let the assured, steady voice of Richard Gere, admirably suited to this formidable set of prescriptions, encouragement, and cautions from the world beyond, sink in to enhance one's comprehension of this quite disorienting-- literally-- set of precepts for making one's way through the projections of beauty and terror as the spirit encounters the passageways through the days after death.
However, I would not start simply by cuing up the tape of this calm, modulated, and well-paced recitation of "The Book of Liberation in the Great Bardo by Hearing," although that's how this medieval Tibetan "treasure-text" is meant to be heard-- spoken by a guru at the deathbed, aloud for the soul that's recently left its body. Why? We in the West nearly all will lack the familiarity that its original audience would have had with the advanced practices in this life meant to prepare the spirit-body for its entry into the complex sounds and visions of the afterlife.
This text remains esoteric, challenging, and erudite for Westerners. It's necessary to study it first, as you may easily be baffled or your attention may wander unless you have made an effort first to comprehend the gist of the translation included. Therefore, I'd read it first, with the introductory material that translators Francesca Fremantle and Chogyam Trungpa provide. I remind you that the edition here provided is a condensed version rather than the fuller 1975 publication by Shambhala. The "pocket" printing does cut down, necessarily but perhaps less than helpfully, essential material that newcomers need for grasping what can be a very slippery compendium of exhortations, warnings, and appeals.
You may even want to go further with finding out more about what's rather misleadingly called the "Tibetan Book of the Dead," named by W.Y. Evans-Wentz, its first popularizer, to associate it in the 1920s with the Egyptian pop culture craze. Curious readers may want to take on other renderings for comparison and deeper appreciation. I've reviewed on Amazon the following texts: a simpler telling, Stephen Hodge & Martin Boord's "Illustrated TBoD;" Robert Thurman's expanded edition and translation of the "TBoD" and supplemental texts-- much greater detail than the version provided and recorded here; the entire "TBoD" recently issued from Penguin by Gyurme Dorje, Graham Coleman and others; and Fremantle's incorporation of a revision of some of the earlier translation in this book-CD set, as her commentary on the TBoD after an additional twenty-five years of study, "Luminous Emptiness."
After studying these texts, I found this CD recording. Hearing the TBoD for the first time, then, I appreciated nuances that had escaped me before. I found my concentration drifting, and the ability to rewind a few seconds or sentences to focus again proved a great stimulus. I wondered how Gere or any actor would take on such lists as the 58 wrathful deities, but his skill shows in small details. He almost hesitates a millisecond before pronouncing the Tibetan polysyllabic names, and this prepares you to pay attention. This shift prepares you for the instruction; similarly he softens his tone when giving the invocations, appealing for their liberating message to be made manifest. He subtly accents even "buddha" and gives the final stress to "dharmata" in a way that gently reminds you of the difference of this elevated but somehow direct and unforgettable teaching, and of its poetic presence.
Nice, attractive gift set April 7, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I purchased for myself and received this set in March '08. It would certainly make a nice gift. As one interested in Eastern practices this set has been a good introduction for me to the TBD. Richard Gere is easy on the ears, too ;) Recommended to purchase.
CD aids retention & comprehension March 14, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I'm new to Buddhism, about to attend my first Dzogchen Retreat, and was advised to read this text. I selected this version not because of how much I admire the talent of Richard Gere the actor, but because of hearing about Richard Gere the philanthropist who donates proceeds to build Buddhist shrines--thus epitomizing the Bodhisattva vow, Even if I become rich and famous, I will wisely shun conceit; worldly fortune is without essence.
I found that the audio CD is compellingly yet relaxingly performed. His voice is subdued, yet retains the elocution evidenced in his worldly artistry. His expertise with cadence and tone and using them to render continually interesting the rather repetitive text allows the repetitive parts to do their work: to sink in and to generate images and thoughts, rather than float by unretained. In such a way he effectively utilizes the Buddhist science of prosody.
Material that could have felt droning or intimidating in written form thus was rendered accessible and even fascinating in audio form.
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