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 meh... Jul 12, 2009
Don't get me wrong: the Mind and Life institute is doing good and necessary work, and some of their publications I thought were excellent (e.g., The Dalai Lama at MIT) and provide some real food for thought. This book is simply not in this class, however. As the reviewer above noted (Sagan Lazar), what we have here is people who speak completely different languages (literally and figuratively) lecturing each other with little or no real 'dialogue.' There are some occasional interesting diversions, but these are very much the exception rather than the rule.
The conversation on dreams, my own primary interest and field of research, is particularly disappointing. Almost the entire 'Western' section is devoted to the Freudian view! I was shocked that these speakers weren't embarrassed and ashamed to bring to the table a psychology as pauper, outmoded and frankly ridiculous as Freud's, especially when they were sharing that table with people well-acquainted with the vast, subtle Buddhist psychology. As if this were all the 'West' had to offer! The lucid dreaming section is better, but then the Tibetan Buddhist view on dreams doesn't really have anything to do with them... the Dalai Lama mostly rambles on about consciousness and self, then about 2 pages are devoted to 'dream yoga'; but even this section is mostly just platitudes and vague mentions of how diet affects dreaming. None of the very interesting and practical dream yoga advice you can find in other Tibetan works such as "Ancient Wisdom" by Gyatrul Rinpoche and translated by Alan Wallace (highly recommended).
Death: again the section is mildly interesting, but 'dialogue' is conspicuously absent. With the meeting of all these 'great minds' you would expect a lot of fresh ideas and original opinions, but mostly you get a long list of terms and definitions, nothing you couldn't pick up in a textbook of medicine of Buddhist philosophy.
Altogether forgettable; certainly this book doesn't stand out in the subject of sleep, dreams, or death/dying; and in an effort to combine all three it just fades into further superficiality.
A final irritation is the 'narration' by Francisco Varela of the conference. The sickeningly deferential tone towards the Tibetans has become a hallmark of East-West dialogues (I think), and Varela continues (or perhaps even is largely responsible for originating) this trend. Also many a useless paragraph is thrown in; 40 pages of neuroscience and/or Buddhist philosophy will be followed by "and then we all had tea." Who cares? From Varela's narrative, one is given the bizarre impression that mostly everyone laughed a lot and had profound feelings; and of course sometimes the weather was sunny, sometimes it wasn't, and sometimes there were birds chirping outdoors.... why the hell would I put this in a book review, you might ask? Precisely. Why the hell would you put it in this book?
 Another excellent "buddhism meets western science" book Jun 12, 2008
HHDL has had a lifelong interest in the intersection of buddhist thought and western science, and he has attracted many westerners to buddhism because of it. This is another excellent book on the subject. Highly recommended.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Not as advertised Apr 10, 2007
Informative book. Lots if information about Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying but little that has to do with the Dalai Lama. These are the notes and observations from a conference on the subject of Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying in which the Dalai Lama was present. He is a man of few words. This is really an East meets West discussion of the subject. I really learned more about Western thought than Buddhist thought. Still I did learn.
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Profound Jun 14, 2006
As far as I know, this is the only book of its kind, documenting a true symposium of "East meets West" in classical dialectic. For anyone interested in a spiritual version of "The Tao of Physics", this is a must-read.
I suspect that many will find this book life changing. I was constantly amazed at the intellectual clarity of the Dalai Lama's points and questions and the utter respect the scientists showed for Eastern understanding.
Some years ago, I had the good fortune of doing a graduate-level independent study with one of the leaders in the field of Near Death Experiences. I suspected that though the phenomenon is not a purely physiological one, as the secular humanists would have us believe, the experiences are culturally dependent. I was simply stunned to read the Dalai Lama, with his wealth of knowledge in spritual and mind-related experiences, suspects the same.
I hope this topic will be covered again in the future, and in greater depth, revealing the results of recent studies using the most modern scientific techniques.
What a wonderul read!
10 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Well I Think 5 Stars is Necessary Mar 13, 2004
I'm not sure why this book received all the bad reviews that it did (though I confess I have never given a Dalai Lama book less than a 5 start review-I love the guy!). The book is one of a plethora of transcripts of the Mind and Life Conferences held in India, this being the fourth conference in 1992. Sure the discussions are varied, and by no means is everyone simply in agreement with one another here. But the dialogue is engaging and thought provoking, and above all else, illuminating. At the conference we had philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists, and many more; so of course we are going to get a huge spectrum of views. The cultural ecologist, Jane Halifax (whom you all may know of), had a particularly fascinating section in here on near death experiences. All the Dalai Lama did was show some uncertainty as to the validity of these claims in light of the Buddhist view of a natural death and rebirth. So what if the Dalai Lama didn't agree with her, you don't have to have agreement to have a good book! Differentiating views provide all of us more food to chew on, and then decide which works for us. It's not a matter of who had it right, but rather, "Does it sound right to you?" Enjoy the book!
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