The e-book download shown above is the older, Jowett translation and not the more recent Grube Translation, so be careful when ordering, especially when ordering used. Both translations are now available spoken on tape (which may bring tears to your eyes!), so when ordering, be aware of which translation you are getting.

Note that the e-book download shown above is not the most current translation by Grube, but the older Jowett translation. Make sure to look for the newer translations when ordering, especially used editions.

Naropa thought he knew everything about Buddhism, having studied at the best Buddhist school on Earth. But he allowed himself to begin following his intuition, which led him to the realization that scholarly learning is not the heart of buddhism. In following Tilopa in Tibet, he had many trials and much suffering, many losses, which helped him lose his self-importance, the main obstacle to buddha nature. This has meaning for us today. We always wish there was less suffering. More popular Buddhist books now seem to teach that suffering can be avoided. Naropa did not avoid, but embraced the meaning inherent in the suffering, practiced vulnerability rather than protection, and as a result, came to understand his true nature. Not only an excellent teaching, but a fascinating story, a real page-turner.

I was turned off by the idea of "slogans," and did not read this book the first few times I came across it. However, when I began studying Tong Len, (Unconditional Giving and Taking during the In and Out breath), I found several pages of very good commentary on Tong Len in this book. The slogan says something like, "Unconditional Giving rides the Out Breath, Unconditional Taking rides the In Breath." but when you read what all this means, it is truly the essence of buddhism. (I think this slogan originates from the Way Of The Bodhisattva or Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Santideva or Shantideva, which is an excellent book in any of the several English translations now available.) Chogyam Trungpa can be flippant and condescending, which he calls "heavy handed," and explains as a form of compassion. This may or may not be accurate. As a reader, take the parts of this book that resonate with your inner compassion, and let the other parts lie.

The translations are more neutral than previous translations, the translators are not trying to slant the presentation toward any particular beliefs or trends, as some previous translations have.

Still, with this translation and editorials we can see more clearly that Plato himself slanted the presentations. We see a dfference between Plato's earlier writing, which was more directly memories of actual discussions he witnessed involving Socrates, and Plato's later writing in which the character "Socrates" is just a puppet for speaking Plato's own beliefs.

Socrates seems to have embraced "essence" as he calls it, so that serving others was a greater concern than his own self importance. When the dialogues seem to show Socrates being sarcastic, then, or proving a point, we should be suspicious if these were truly Socrates' words, or Plato's. The man, Socrates, seems not to have come to create forms of governing, laws, or build a new "Philosophy" as we now know the word. In Socrates' words, a philosopher is simply someone who has embraced essence, and therefore naturally lives in a way that demonstrates virtuous qualities effortlessly. He simply questioned people to find if their beliefs were congruent with their behaviors. He was more of a non-judgmental talk therapist than what we now think of as a "philosopher." Socrates would never try to make someone wrong, or appear foolish. We must read between the lines.

I give thanks for the editors whose unbiased translations and probing inquiries into Plato's own thrust, which make it so much easier to discover the man, Socrates.

While very funny, and Halle is very sexy, and the song Ghetto Supastar still a classic (so the movie is very entertaining), still the movie's theme is powerful. It motivates one to get up and change the world, rather than letting it decay into crime and corruption. I liked the way that criminals are related to politicians, equally to blame for the mess.

I couldn't put it down. The characters are variously involved with pursuit of their ideals: most seeking profit, some seeking spiritual enlightenment, or the joy of life through artistry. The main character is uncommitted, kind of like Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth, an inexperienced mild-mannered boy suddenly on a ship of highly experienced rogues. The boy accidentally (?) kills someone. What I like about Jack Vance's writing, is that he simply follows the characters where they will go, and makes no value judgment about them as good or bad. However, I can't make out any themes or purpose. Maybe the purpose is too subtle for me. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and I will buy the sequel as soon as Jack Vance is finished with it.

If you read her book on how to be a good writer, this novel breaks all her own advice. It is not a story that follows characters wherever they will go, but a way to promote new-age ideals like tai chi over aerobics, herb tea over coffee, country living over city living, grass-roots over government, and in promotion of daoism. I am generally in favor of the same ideals, but I don't think it is appropriate for a novel to do the judging for us... a good novel allows the reader to see the consequences and judge for themselves. I read more than half the book, hoping for something different, but the middle of the book became more and more clogged with promoting her own opinions: exactly what the theme of the book intends to judge. A terrible irony! Now, I must concede, she is a smart woman: maybe she has written so judgmentally (in favor of daoism) to make fun of her self... this would be a clever irony. But if this is the conscious intention of the novel, wouldn't you think some hint of this would have been given by halfway through the dragging plot?

A beautiful gift book. Each page of three haiku faces breathtaking paintings in the Japanese style. Most of the paintings are of nature, giving a sense of the season as one reads haiku of that season. The combination of painting and haiku gives a much deeper value.

The essence approach seems to be the same goal that many other spiritual paths strive for. The difference is the way to get there. The essence approach is to use the personality to understand itself, [how it was developed from the percieved abandonment in the first year of life]. If the personality is not respected, but seen as an enemy, as many spiritual traditions see it, then it will find ways to sabotage our spritual practice, or bend the practice to its own self important purposes. However, when the personality is shown, step by step, what it was created for, and how wonderful the change will be, it will gladly erase itself to allow essence to emerge.