unionmack's review
4.0
This was undeniably the most openly mystical book (or series of lectures, I suppose) I've come across yet when it comes to Buddhism. But, as time goes by, I've grown more open to that kind of thing. Thurman highlights the Tibetan Buddhists' desire to create a sort of hyperdrive ride to enlightenment with the jewel tree system, and while I've yet to attain anything close to that, it's hard to believe the world would be worse off if more people started regularly meditating on the themes discussed here. The more I read about Buddhism, the more I've come to appreciate the religion for really being humanity's first stab at understanding psychology—and, for that matter, it remains truly impressive how well many, if not all, of its pragmatic precepts hold up. Who knows? Maybe there really are boddhisatvas and we're all due for reincarnation. All I know is that, whether there are or not, learning about this religion has been fascinating and applying its precepts has been tremendously helpful.
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