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Rebel Budda. On The Road To Freedom (2010)

by Dzogchen Ponlop(Favorite Author)

3.98 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Shambala Publications

review 1: An introduction to the metaphysical thoughts of BuddhismThe author, a founder-teacher of Nalandabodhi, an international network of Buddhist practice centers, also teaches the Buddhist wisdom and meditation around the world. In this book he shares his journey of mind and spreads the message of Buddha about life, physical reality, and freedom to attain eternal bliss and liberation from the sufferings. The summary of his work is as follows: The problem with humans is that we don't see who we truly are at the deepest level. We don't recognize the power of our enlightened nature. We trust the reality we see before our eyes and accept its validity until something comes along like an illness, accident, or disappointment, disillusion and frustration. Then we start questioning our ... morebeliefs and start searching for a more meaningful and lasting truth. On this road, what we free ourselves from is illusion, and what frees us from illusion is the discovery of truth. To make that discovery, we need to enlist the powerful intelligence of our own awake-mind and turn it toward our goal of exposing, opposing and overcoming deception. That needs to be the essence of life, and the mission of this book is to gain wisdom and knowledge to free ourselves from these illusions which masquerade as reality in our cultural and religious institutions. First we must start looking at the dramas in our life, not with our ordinary eyes, but with the eyes of dharma. The drama of illusion which appears like truth and dharma is truth itself, the absolute reality. Our personal dra¬mas may begin with the "facts" about who we are and what we are doing, and then fueled by our emotions and concepts, which quickly evolves into pure imagination and become as difficult to decipher as the storylines of our dreams. Then our sense of reality becomes further and further removed from basic reality itself. We lose track of who we really are. We have no means of telling fact from fiction or developing the self¬-knowledge or wisdom that can free us from our illusions. The author suggests that it may take a long time to see the differences between drama and dharma in one's own life, because the drama of life wove together with the dharma of life. But this is achieved through meditation and wisdom. This search is what this book is all about. We all want to find some meaningful truth about who we are, and we find it when we're guided by our own wisdom-our own "rebel Buddha" within. With meditational practice, we can sharpen our eyes and ears of wisdom, so that we recognize the truth when we see it or hear it. But this kind of looking and listening is an art we must learn. So often, when we think we're being open and receptive, but our mind is full of conclusions, judgments, or our own version of facts. We are more intent on getting an approval for what we think than learning something new. But when we're genu¬inely open-minded, what happens? There's a sense of space and invita¬tion, a sense of inquisitiveness and of real connection with something beyond our usual selves. In that situation, we can hear whatever truth is speaking to us in the moment, whether the source is another person, a book, or our perceptions of the world itself. It's like listening to music. When you're totally into it, your mind goes to a different level. You're listening without judgment or intellectual interpretation because you're listening from the heart. That's how you need to listen when you want to hear the truth. When you can feel the truth on that level, then you discover reality in its naked form, beyond culture, language, time, or location. That is the truth discovered by Siddhartha when he became the Buddha, or "Awakened One." Awakening to who we really are beyond our personal dramas and shifting cultural identities is a process of transforming illu¬sion back into its basic state of reality. That transformation is the revolu¬tion of mind we are here to explore. In this book the author presents a culturally stripped-down vision of the Buddhist spiritual journey, the true wisdom, the knowledge that brings freedom and not bondage. The reader has to prime him or herself to connect with these ancient teachings on wisdom with contemporary sensibilities. On the spiritual path, this rebel is the voice of your own awakened mind. "Rebel Buddha" is the renegade that gets you to switch your allegiance from sleep to the awakened state. This means you have the power to wake up your dreaming self, the imposter that is pretending to be the real you. You have the means to break loose from whatever binds you to suffering and locks you in confusion. You are the champion of your own freedom, just like Siddhartha who unlocked the secrets of the inner world of mind. The title of the book is misleading (even though the author explains why he uses this term), and the front page design of Buddha's picture composed of many commercial logos and brands is also inappropriate.
review 2: The title on this book is somewhere between being trendy and slightly misleading. Linking Buddhism with rebelling has at least as much to do with trying to link the particular appeal that anything smacking of rebellion has for some people as it does with being a reasonable approach to Buddhism, and once we get beyond the title and into the book itself, the author uses the "rebel buddha" motif very little.But he does do a very good job of presenting Buddhist thought and practice in a way that's very approachable and appealing, not to mention readable. And this is definitely an approach for Westerners - his roots are in Tibetan Buddhism and that's the path this book describes, but it's also a Buddhism that is being developed in Western society and intended for Westerners.I don't generally find that Tibetan Buddhism makes quite as much sense to me as Zen - there's always a certain point at which I just can't quite go along with the author, and that was true with this book. But not nearly to the extent that is usually true for me. And that in no way took away from my appreciation of what is a very interesting, well written book. If the Tibetan approach does it for you, or you're totally new to this topic and looking for a good place to start, then this could be right up your alley. less

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