Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth Karamapa, Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 400 pages
• Published by: Snow Lion Publications May 25, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1559391952
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1559391955
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 1.2 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
This book offers the biography and the teachings of the 17th Karmapa, who escaped from Chinese-occupied Tibet three years ago and is now living in exile in northern India. The biography offers numerous miracle stories, tales of wisdom beyond the boy's years and other extraordinary accomplishments. It also presents a dramatic account of the Karmapa's flight from Tibet at the tender age of 14. Other sections contain some of his public addresses and poetry. If the teachings seem precocious for a boy who is still just 17 years old, remember that according to Tibetan tradition, he embodies the knowledge of all of the buddhas of the past, present and future. Although it can be labored and a bit esoteric at times, this book is the first collection of the Karmapa's teachings to be published in North America, and offers an important window into his early thought.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, tutor to H.H. the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, a senior teacher of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan buddhism and author of Essential Practice and Everyday Consciousness and Buddha-Awakening
The bright sun of the Gyalwa Karmapa shines throughout this book. It illuminates his young life from his discovery in

Reader Reviews
Written by a Tibetan Buddhist of thirty years, a member of the Kagyu sect (the same as the Karmapa's), and a translator for the Karmapa himself, Michele Martin's book reads like an authorized biography - lots of sheen and not a blemish or a stray hair in sight. In presenting the story of the 17th Karmapa's still young life, Martin proves adequate in presenting the facts. At least those that don't interfere with hagiography. If you read only this book you'd never know there is a rival claimant to the title of the Karmapa, that he lives in India and has been promoted by one of the 16th Karmapa's disciples. Martin appears to have taken copious notes, or had access to someone's. If you ever wondered who attended what ceremonies, what prayers were said (and in what order), she provides plenty of detail. There is also a long recitation of miracles and miraculous omens, sometimes so many that you begin to wonder how the Tibetan rinpoches, lamas and monks are able to distinguish portents from everyday life. Among the numerous auspicious signs: a sparrow hawk landing near a human dwelling, a cuckoo bird landing on a tent and singing, a dream of a crane offering yogurt, a cup of milk in a meadow, rain of various sorts, rainbows, thunder, a crying child, bad weather turning to good, a yogi carrying a skull cap of nectar, arriving in the morning, a monk appearing suddenly, and unusual and unidentifiable sounds. For someone who has worked as the Karmapa's translator, there is a surprising and disappointing lack of personal accounts, quotes, observations, or interpretations. There is nothing of Ms Martin to be found in this text, up to and including any way to interpret her descriptions of numerous miracles. Almost half of this volume is a compendium of teachings and poetry of the 17th Karmapa, none of them particularly inspiring. The teachings provide a summary of some of Tibetan Buddhism's basic themes and concepts. They read like revisions of the Karmapa's lessons - heavy on theory but lacking the personal examples that would make them meaningful to an audience. The poetry, too, seems to be full of cribbed lines and themes, as one might expect from a young man who hasn't yet had much experience outside the monastery or read much beyond Buddhist philosophy. For anyone that might need convincing, the back cover features quotes recommending the text from none other than Tai Situ Rinpoche, one of the 17th Karmapa's two closest teachers, as well as from Richard Gere. For a more complete and non-partisan account of the Karmapa, though, the reader might like to try Mick Brown's The Dance of 17 Lives. # Comment | | (Report this)