What Makes You Not a Buddhist

Title: What Makes You Not a Buddhist.Author: Dzongsar Jamyang KhyentsePublisher: Shambala Boston/London (2007).ISBN: 1-59030-406-3.130 pages.The ideas of Buddhism were originally expressed long ago, and far away. The travels of time and culture have meant that the interested modern Westerner has had to sift through a variety of myths that have developed over the years and through translations of uneven accuracy. This book attempts to explain what the critical ideas are, and are not. Mostly, the book is refreshingly clear. Given the ambitious goal of the book and the high quality of some of it, in a few places it disappoints, in a way that requires dialog to meet its own standard of clarity - or perhaps even a revised edition. This reader found himself thinking "What is the real point here?" and "but wait . . . you said . . . " a few times too often to offer a five star endorsement. The central idea of the book is that being a Buddhist means that one's views on life are consistent with four key insights. These four are: impermanence of compounded entities, the equivalence of emotion and pain, lack of inherent existence for all phenomena (emptiness), and that enlightenment cannot be understood using ordinary ideas about time, space, and power. Mostly, the author succeeds, especially regarding impermanence and emptiness. The description of emotion seems simplistic and confusing. The analysis of enlightenment is bold and useful, though inherently limited by the need to use words to describe something that is beyond words. The author takes great care to address conventional, and often more superficial, indicators of Buddhism. These include blind faith in miracles, sand mandalas, vegetarianism, and incense. It is the view that is expressed in these practices and traditions that is important, and mostly, the author stays with his thesis that it is the view that distinguishes a religion. These are important insights, as much of the culture finds religious traditions to be similar, or their distinctions to be without difference, because of common values such as compassion and morality. As these are subtle points, the book will bear re-reading, both for its subtlety of message and for its challenging of conventional attitudes. The weakest section of the book is the chapter on emotion and pain. Much is said about how emotions can trap us in frustration, even when the experience is initially pleasurable. More could have been done to clarify the difference between having any feeling at all, any discernment of liking or disliking, and having the experience of pleasure, and the attachments that create suffering in the Buddhist context. The statement "all emotions are pain" seems simplistic and misleading compared to its parallel companions "all compounded things are impermanent", "all emotions are pain", "all things have no inherent existence", and "Nirvana is beyond concepts". This chapter seems to have most of the pieces of a coherent message, which are interesting and worthwhile to read, but its main message would have benefitted from more attention. The strongest sections are the chapters on impermanence and emptiness. The reader in a hurry for insights about what is unique to Buddhism could simply read these, although the introduction would also help. (The aspect of suffering in connection with clinging to emotions can probably be found in a variety of self-help books.) These two chapters are brilliantly written, bringing home ideas that are both subtle and unconventional. The most distracting thing about the book is the author's frequent references to modernity and western culture as being no better (and perhaps worse) than traditional cultures in their preoccupations that cause, rather than relieve, suffering. These sections are needlessly confrontational and discursive without attempting balance. The author seems to vent. There seems to be some sort of sentimentality at work here, or resentment of the powers of modern states. Finally, his requirement not to "kill one insect" leaves the reader wondering "what about bacteria?" Should Buddhists toss their mouthwash and other antibiotics? And what about the use of insecticides to make the production of vegetables practical? Despite these gripes, I strongly recommend the book for its insights on impermanence and emptiness, and for its overall effort to demythologize Buddhism. We have here a valuable and brief, though at times confusing, guide to living.

I was skeptical of this one at first due to the title, which I do feel is an unfortunate title that might turn some people away from its content. The book is really an explanation of the Four Seals, and it is an excellent explanation of this important aspect of the Buddha's teachings. Khyentse Rinpoche does a fantastic job, truly. I loved his writing, and would recommend this book to anyone looking to deepen their understanding of what the Buddha taught about the nature of experience. It's pure philosophy. There's so much interesting material here, so much to think about and dig into. Approach this with an open mind and an attitude of curiosity and what you will find is astounding insights into reality itself. A+, would recommend, please check it out.

If you call yourself a "practicing" buddhist b-cuz you sit perfectly still, cross-legged on a pillow, burning sage while sounding singing bowls play in the background?You are not a Buddhist.

In a nutshell, this book is 125 pages of putting together people, things and our world in the right perspective, making sense of our chaotic world and how to conquer the biggest problem of our life - ourselves, and the way we run our lives. It is 125 pages of unpatented, non-copyrighted profound but yet simple fundamental wisdom as taught by the historical Buddha. The message is delivered through a hard hitting conversation with the author, wittyly written in the language of our time.I have got a dozen comments to share on what this book is NOT :1. NO teaching of new meditation technique2. NO new mantra to learn3. NOT a nice soft and motherly conversation with the author4. NOT propagation & hard selling of religious hocus pocus5. NOT boring stuff written to replace your sleeping pills6. NOT not another profound and hard to understand Zen story7. NOT another story about the Life of the Buddha or a parody8. NO you do not need to be a Buddhist to read this book or benefit from reading it (IMHO non-Buddhists get the best value)9. NO you do not need to read another Buddhist book to understand or benefit from this work10.NO you do not need to agree or disagree with the author.11.NO you would not fall asleep reading the 125 pages of gripping truth.12.NO it is not written to "convert" you or anyone into becoming a Buddhist.And half a dozen more comments to share on what this book IS about :i. It is about simple but RAW HARD truth about life according to the FOUR DHARMA SEALS or FOUR DHARMA IMPRINTSii. It is about HARD truth of life that may hurt us & the truth always hurts. Ouch.iii. It is about our deluded mind and the problems we create for ourselvesiv.It is about how we, Buddhists & Non-Buddhists alike cling on and attach to to our delusion.v. It is about how to live with a pure mind & right motivation in this increasely chaotic, and seemingly insane world populated with countless confused and deluded beings like ourselves. The truth is not out there it is either it is within, it's always been present in our luminous nature.vi.It's about becoming a real Buddhist by going back to understanding and practising the very basic of Buddha's teachings-the four dharma seals.If you every come across this short and bring us down-to-earth book don't ever give it a miss,take it from the shelf, browse and read it! Whatever views of the author which would not make sense to you after reading the book either in parts or in its entirety, would eventually make sense to you when the conditions arise and would surely impact your life positively.

This book didn't quite match up to what I was hoping for. Don't get me wrong. It's probably a good book for some people who are new to Buddhism and want some new ideas to throw around. But for me it wasn't analytical enough or comprehensive enough. And it was too vague. I feel like I'm being mean. Maybe I just don't click with the author's style. So I've given it 4 out of 5 to try to counteract my meanness. My wife loved the book.

Loved this book. It brought a few concepts together for me. I had been struggling with a Kadampa tradition book which spend a lot of time on re-incarnation and brought fear in to play. I'd not really come across this during my time in studying Western Buddhism. A lot of religion is fear based and this is why I turned to Buddhism. This book brought me back to Buddhism with a refreshing view point - thankfully as I was beginning to have doubts.

Ordered this out of interest as an enlightened Buddhist. However this simplistic 'sunday school' style of writing about Buddhism is not for me. I couldn't get beyond a few pages and then skipped through it as irrelevant. Words tie us to this world but if you are interested in meaningful words then try the sutras instead, e.g. 'The Platform Sutra' (translation by Red Pine), for starters.

So true to worldly life... hoping the spiritual side will come out in the second half... excellent English... considering the author is Tibetan... I dont know if he uses a ghost writer. Im only half way through it, savouring it, and needing to find the peace and be in the mood to complete it... !!

I wouldn't go as far as to say I hate it, but it's not for me. I don't like the way Dzongsar Jamayang Khyentse writes and I found almost every other Buddhism-related book more suited for me. We all know that there are many different ways and styles of teaching Buddhism but the final point remains the same, there is nothing wrong with the information teaching it's just not my style of writing.