Namse Bangdzo Bookstore: Like a Waking Dream: The Autobiography of Geshe Lhundub Sopa

Home > Books >

Like a Waking Dream: The Autobiography of Geshe Lhundub Sopa

Our Price: $24.95
Sale Price: $19.96
Members Price: $19.96
You save $4.99!

Author: Lhundub Sopa, Geshe (Author), Donnelly, Paul (With)
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780861713134
Publication Date: Oct. 2012

Availability: Pre-Order
Product Code: 18024

Qty:

Description

About the author

Contents

From the time he was a child, Geshe Sopa knew he would be a Buddhist lama. He was not picked like other lamas to inherit the estate of a deceased master as a reincarnate tulku. Born the only child of older farmers, he was allowed to become a monk only through personal persistence. He diligently worked his way up through the ranks of his provincial monastery and eventually become one of the most accomplished scholars of the central monastery in the capital, Lhasa, where he even served as the debate partner of the present Dalai Lama. He witnessed firsthand the turbulent political changes in his homeland during the 1950s, and upon the takeover of Tibet by Chinese Communist forces in 1959, he fled over the Himalayas and went into exile in India. The Dalai Lama chose him in the early 1960s to be part of a delegation sent to the United States under a Rockefeller grant, living first in New Jersey and in 1967 going to Madison, Wisconsin, where he has since lived. There, he began as a lecturer and eventually became a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, training some of todays most well-regarded scholars of Tibetan Buddhism in the U.S. He also founded Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, Wisconsin, which has played host on numerous occasions to large events with the Dalai Lama, including the first Kalachakra initiation given in the West in 1981. Now retired and nearly ninety years old, Geshe Sopa continues to teach and to publish. This account of his years in Tibet preserves valuable insight and details about a now-vanished world.

Contents: LIKE A WAKING DREAM: The Autobiography of Geshe Lhundub Sopa, with Paul Donnelly

Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama ix

Editor's Preface xi

Introduction: A Brief History of Tibet 1

1. Life in Tsang 13

2. Early Memories 20

3. The History of Ganden Chonkhor
27

4. The Beginning of My Life as a Monk
32

5. My Relative the Ritual Specialist 36

6. Living the Religious Life at Ganden Chonkhor 40

7. A Young Monk's First Two Teachers 44

8. Daily Assemblies and Classes 46

9. Running Away from the Monastery 49

10. Completing One's Basic Education 52

11. My Uncle and His Position in the Monastery 55

12. Sustenance in the Monastery 58

13. The Structure and Schedule of Education at Ganden Chonkhor 62

14. The System of Philosophical Education 65

15. The Status of Scholar Monks 69

16. The Education of Scholar Monks 71

17. My Teacher Gen Monlam 74

18. Taking the Kalacakra Empowerment the First Time 76

19. Deciding to Go to Sera 79

20. Getting My Parents' Permission 84

21. The Journey to Sera 86

22. History of Sera Monastery 90

23. Entry into Tsangpa Regional House and Sera Je 93

24. Tri Rinpoche 96

25. Geshe Losang Chonden 99

26. Geshe Ngawang Riksal 102

27. Geshe Ngawang Gendun 104

28. Gen Lhundrup Thapkhe and the Pure Monastic Life 106

29. The Monastic Way of Life 109

30. The Disciplinarian's Lecture 116

31. The Curriculum of Education at Sera Je 122

32. Studying and Teaching at Sera Je 124

33. The Structure of Debates at Sera 128

34. The Jang Winter Session 135

35. The Honor of Being Named Rikchung 138

36. The Higher Honor of Being Named Rikchen 143

37. The Diferent Grades of the Geshe Degree 148

38. The Conferring of the Geshe Degree 151

39. Gyume and Gyuto Tantric Colleges 158

40. The Reting Affair and Other Troubles 161

41. Being Named Tutor 171

42. Finding Time for Practice 174

43. Phabongkha Rinpoche and His Legacy 178

44. Teachings from Other Great Lamas 183

45. Vajrayogini Retreat at Phabongkha Labrang 187

46. What I Gained and Lost in Becoming a Tutor 191

47. The Dalai Lama Takes Power and the First Exile 193

48. Gen Lhundrup Thapkhe Is Appointed Abbot of Sera Je 197

49. A Gradual Transformation 199

50. The Tenth Panchen Lama 203

51. Debating the Dalai Lama 205

52. The Tibetan Uprising of 1959 209

53. Deciding to Leave Sera 215

54. The Beginning of the Exile 218

55. A Brief Respite and the Long Journey out of Tibet 222

56. Arriving in India 229

57. Beginning Life as a Refuge 233

58. From Assam to Dalhousie 239

59. Learning to Live in Exile 244

60. Trying to Keep Tibetan Culture Alive 248

61. An Attempted Trip to Bhutan 251

62. A Letter from His Holiness 255

63. The Situation for Those Who Did Not Escape Tibet 259

64. Going to America 261

65. Our New Life in New Jersey 266

66. Beginning to Teach in America 270

67. Starting a Dharma Center 275

68. His Holiness the Dalai Lama's First Visit to Madison 279

69. The First Kalacakra Empowerment in America 281

70. My Return to Tibet 287

71. Meeting the Panchen Lama and the Passing of Gen Thapkhe Rinpoche 290

72. The Recent Past 295

73. The Future 303

Table of Tibetan Spellings 307

Notes 319

Glossary 325

Select Bibliography 333

Index 339

Share your knowledge of this product with other customers... Be the first to write a review

Browse for more products in the same category as this item:

Books
Books > Books by Publisher
Books > Books by Title A-Z
Books > Books by Subject > Books on Biographies
Books > Books by Publisher > Wisdom Publications
Books > Books by Subject