"The Tibetan Book of the Dead": A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books) Review

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"The Tibetan Book of the Dead": A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books) ReviewThis book is likely to be snapped up by many people who will be unhappy after they have read it. It is a fine and fabulous tale of a whole quarry of cranks throughout history (especially the 19th century burned over district in upstate New York) and the delusional stories they made up into esoteric religions -- Madame Blavatsky, Lama Govinda, Joseph Smith, etc.. Lopez writes this book very slyly, with tongue firmly in cheek, presenting (at least for the most part) the stories at face value, though most of them are hard to read without bursting out laughing at the ludicrous folly of humankind. The Mormon story remains perhaps the most absurd (seer stones stuck in white stovepipe hats enabling its owner to read ancient Egyptian in the dark, you have to love it), but after a tour through the Celtic Mists and channelling ancient Tibetan lamas, one misses a few -- Scientology, Christian Science, etc., that should have gotten the Lopez treatment. The implied result (which is interesting for someone who is a Distinguished Professor of Buddhism) is that all the religions in the book (beginning with Buddhism) appear to have been essentially shaped or originated by delusionals and fabulators. The sceptical eye turns towards other religions that propose raisings from the dead, angelic descents, books that have been around since before eternity, etc. The only difference (Lopez intimates) between the great religions and the more recent cranky religions is simply age and veneration. Lopez avoids making any direct personal observations along these lines, but that is the outcome. He refuses to suggest any criteria by which one might separate true spiritual teachings from delusion (which is probably a safe strategy).
Anyway, the book is very funny.
Mild criticisms: the series is about origins of great books, and the author spends virtually all of the time talking about Evans-Wentz' translation. It would have been better to have given more detail about the original book and its structure, so that readers could judge the quality of what they might buy. There is some of that, but it is very condensed; also there is a very short review of recent translations which, while very helpful, should have been longer and more detailed (especially about how competent the translations are). My own experience of the books goes along with his, except that he might have pointed out that Sogyal's edition is so popular not just because of the range of his referencing, but also because of the sheer charm and compassion of the writing; Thurman's is difficult to plough through; Freemantle and Trungpa is racy, and well, full of Trungpaisms (his book on bardo realms is amazing); I also think the recent Penguin is the best. Given that the Book of the Dead is sort of like one of those "Guidebooks to Paris", I would say that Sogyal is like the Lonely Planet Guide to the Dead; Thurman is like the Michelin Guide to the Dead; and the Penguin is like the Blue Guide to the Dead.
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