Other Eastern Religions Books - Page 5

Hagakure

Yamamoto Tsunetomo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A very big disappointment 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book however the problem lies with in ther traanslation. the problem is that only 300 of the 1300 phrases were translated. Although this translation gives the basic message that Master Tsunetomo was trying to get a cross you can not truly absorb thius book with out reading everything that Master Tsunetomo intended you to read. Also the entire 5th chapter is left out of this translation. I would recomend to everyone to find a better translation than this one.

A Great Book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I loved it. It's an enjoyable read, full of great stories and full of insights. When I first read this book back in 1998, it had a tremendous impact on my life. It allowed me to view things from a different perspective. I will continue to recommend it to everyone. I also highly recommend the modern day version Understanding: Train of Thought.

As much on compassion as on strength 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book was scribed by a younger samurai who sat basically at the deathbed of the samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo. For seven years, the scribe sat and had conversations with Tsunetomo. Tsunetomo had become a monk after the death of his 'Master' in 1700. By 1716 the conversations ended, the result was a large manuscript. Hagakure is a compilation or thread of the most meaningful and 'best' of the manuscript.

The book is a mix of advice, stories, Buddhist teachings and koans, and direction on how to be the best samurai possible. As is more realistic and pure samurai teachings, this focuses less on swordplay than do most of the contemporary 20th and 21st century movies. The book is very much about loyalty--so much so that it is bound to conflict with modern and especially American views of independence, bootstrapping, etc.

Because it is written in small chunks without a specific plot or flow, I found the book to be great as a 'daily reader'. The author seems very calm, sane and without anger, and while I suspect no one would call him Enlightened, it reads without malice. From a Buddhist perspective, I had good luck replacing the word 'master' with 'compassion' and it worked almost seamlessly as a Buddhist reading meditation.

Editorial Review:

Outlines the ethical code of the samurai in a time when the martial skills of the warrior became redundant and his role was subsumed into governmental service.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Perfectionists' Translation of Not Really Accessible Death-Transition Rites 4 out of 5 stars.
20 of 33 people found this review helpful.

To begin with: Whatever you do, do not touch the upper and lower ends of the spine of the 2007 Deluxe Edition, or it will look like a shabby edition ugly quickly. The cogwheelish cutting of the page edges are nice and unusual to look at, but it is a nightmare to quickly leaf through the book that way in order to find a specific page. Which you are supposed to do, as the book is very footnote ridden (32 pages of small print). That in itself wouldn't be the problem. But from there, you may get directed further into the glossary of key terms (85 pages). One glossary entry may include, say, 16 more terms to be looked up in the same glossary... and so on so forth. From there, you might get directed to Appendix One or Two (together 22 pages). You get the drift: Major obstacle reading. My advice: Read the glossary before you read anything else, attempt to remember it all and check the footnotes only while reading the book. And remember: While you are paging forward and backward - don't touch the edges of the spine or the fancy color will come off!

So much for what is more easily rated. Originally published in 2005, the many centuries old "The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States" - as the literal translation of the Tibetan title really reads - had been translated into English in part and faulty at that in 1927. The Dalai Lama and other dignitaries thought it would be about time to introduce a complete and better translation. That work is comprised of 14 chapters (379 pages), including even three chapters which aren't really part of the book but fit in neatly for further overstanding. The XIVth Dalai Lama provided part of the introduction (14 pages). Altogether, there are 51 introductory pages. Together with the bibliography, index and 16 full color picture pages (which are actually two related subjects only, but each enlarged in sections on the respective following pages), this book is 607 pages heavy.

The theme of the book is the myths and rites approaching, during and after the transition from one body to the next as in the context of reincarnation. The book is best for those who would like to really delve into Buddhism, as the translation is done for perfectionists, students of religion and of course Buddhists in the English speaking world. The more generally interested may be put off by the concentration on utterly unexplained rites. As in: How do they know all those things from the intermediate states? By remembering? By a prophesy? By divine telling? The rites (of reading texts) are extremely repetitive. Which has the function of conditioning in a positive sense: The neophyte is supposed to automatically recall certain passages as only then the right behavior has a chance in the dream-like states of "death". Even more difficult to read are the many Tibetan words still included. There is no chance of even guessing how to pronounce them correctly. Many are unavoidable names, but many are also regular words. Even if difficult to translate, neologisms overstandable in English would have been my choice, such as this one Iyaric term in this sentence. And let's put it this way: Tibetan words do not easily roll off the tongue such as "Mandala". There are others such as "Sarvadurgatiparisodhanatantra", not even including the many potential accents unproducable on my current keyboard. In other words, this book may be appreciated most by those who already have some prior knowledge.

The rites are a lot about veneration of and prostrating to a caleidoscope of deities. Who are one, but splintered at the same time. I was hoping to find a bit more mysticism in this book. Well, at least the chapter on the confession of sins in the beliefs of dualisms are rewarding. If you are a mystic (no matter of what branch of religion), that is. There were more traces of mysticism in the introduction than the book itself, though.

Many words of advice from Buddhism I can take, no matter wether everything corresponds to my door which leads to the same room or wether the same door shines in my light. I find the book Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by the XIVth Dalai Lama on the same subject much more accessible, if I am correct on the English title of a book I read in another language. If I would follow "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", I would think of myself to be occupied with "death" way too much. As a mystic I don't believe in death anyway, therefore I am less obsessed with checking myself for potential advance signs of death all the Imes as suggested here. The book works under the premise that life is a very bad thing anyway which should be avoided by all means. That is not my approach. Maybe there's suffering in the everlasting cycle of life, but that's fine with me, for there are some nice moments in between all the suffering. Besides: What if God/the universe/Jah/etc., which we are all part of in the mystic overstanding LIKES to experience life in the forms of various bodies, accepting the suffering along the way? Wouldn't it be egoistical to refuse life? What if "everybody" would refuse "rebirth"? I had a lot of questions like that popping up while reading this book. Other Imes, the book put a smile on my face. For example, when I imagined another religious leader, such as the Pope, giving the advice, in a certain context, to inhale one's semen through the nose, while the former is still warm. I am not that sure, wether I will ever follow THAT advice either. But it's refreshing that we can talk about any possible body function and unorthodox use. I forgot: In Tibet, that IS orthodox...

Editorial Review:

The first complete translation of the classic Buddhist text

One of the greatest works created by any culture and overwhelmingly the most significant of all Tibetan Buddhist texts in the West, The Tibetan Book of the Dead has had a number of distinguished but partial translations. Now the entire text has not only been made available in English but also in a translation of remarkable clarity and beauty. Translated with the close support of leading contemporary masters, this complete edition faithfully presents the insights and intentions of the original work. It includes one of the most detailed and compelling descriptions of the after-death state in world literature, practices that can transform our experience of daily life, guidance on helping those who are dying, and an inspirational perspective on coping with bereavement.

365 Tao: Daily Meditations

Ming-dao Deng

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A modern-day Tao Te Ching 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Deng Ming-Dao is, in my opinion, a modern day Lao Tzu. He writes with clarity and a simplistic beauty and thus captures the essense of Taoism, managing to apply it to modern life. Much like Lao Tzu, he seems to also write this book out of necessity for the times, unlike people such as Wayne W Dyer who seem to be attempting to cash in on the "new age" market.

good way to start the day! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I read the meditation daily and find that it is a positive influence as I go about my daily life

A Worthy Daily Meditation Guide 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have the first edition, first printing of this book and have read through it randomly several times. This year starting on January 1st, I decided to read it straight through on a daily basis, as Deng Ming-Dao no doubt intended it to be read. I have delighted in some of the insightful, inspiring verse and meditations on common every day situations; some of these have seemed deeply profound while simply stated. Meditation #82, July 1st, entitled "Flow" begins with, "If the boulders are moved,//Even a river will change its flow." And continues, "So it is with the flow of our lives.... The freedom to choose and to change belongs to us." However, there are other meditations or ideas that have left me cold. Today's meditation, in fact, completely turned me off when he stated that you cannot find the Tao if you live in an urban environment. That cities "stink," literally, and they are too noisy for anyone to become "fully realized." That cannot be true. The Tao, or enlightenment, may be experienced in any time or place as it has nothing to do with time and place. But Mr. Ming-Dao is entitled to his opinion as this is his understanding of the Tao philosophy. Overall, the work is worthy of daily or random reading. That this work has had more than 30 print runs over the last 15 years speaks to its enduring wisdom.

Editorial Review:

Umbrella, light, landscape, sky–

There is no language of the holy.

The sacred lies in the ordinary.

This treasury of life–enhancing daily readings turns a wise Taoist light on every facet of life. Each daily entry with a one–word title and its Chinese character in elegant calligraphy.

A brief, poetic aphorism provides the theme, followed by a clear, insightful mediation on the day's Taoist principle.

The Yoga of Jesus: Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels

Paramahansa Yogananda

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Lotus Guide Magazine Review 3 out of 5 stars.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.

As an avid reader of Gnostic teachings, I found The Yoga of Jesus to be a breath of fresh air in understanding some of the deeper meanings found in the gospels that have been all but forgotten in modern interpretations. This is book is for all those looking for information to take them beyond believing to knowing, which is the literal meaning of the word "gnosis."

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide magazine (lotusguide.com)

Editorial Review:

In this remarkable book, Paramahansa Yogananda reveals the hidden yoga of the Gospels and confirms that Jesus, like the ancient sages and masters of the East, not only knew yoga but taught this universal science of God-realization to his closest disciples. Compiled from the author's highly praised two-volume work, The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, this insightful and compact book transcends the centuries of dogma and misunderstanding that have obscured the original teachings of Jesus, showing that he taught a unifying path by which seekers of all faiths can enter the kingdom of God. Topics include:
•The lost years of Jesus in India
•The ancient science of meditation: how to become a Christ
•The true meaning of baptism.

Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East (6 Volume Set)

Baird T. Spalding

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Wake up! 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Okay folks, it's time to wake up. First, it's been written on good authority that Spalding wrote the first three volumes of this "fantasy" before he ever left the United States, later admitting having visited these "masters" while in his astro-body. And then there is the overall racist tone to his writing. I am amazed no one has yet to mention this in a review (at least none that I've read). Spirituality based on racism is not true spirituality. If I could give it less than a single star, I would. Wake up America!

Masters of the Far East 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This set of books reveals Truth.. The world would be so much better off if they were Masters as described. The fine teachings are hard to find. These books describe the true abilities of all Men and Women. Enjoy the journey through them

great guidance 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

These volumes offer great guidance and teachings for these difficult
times. We all have divinity within us and do not need permission of a church or organized religion to create our best life. These books are highly recommended to anyone starting their quest or already on the path to higher consciousness.

Zen in the Art of Archery

Eugen Herrigel

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This is not a book on kyudo. 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is not a book on kyudo. As Earl Hartman says in another review, Herrigel did have little contact with kyudo in Japan (3-4 years). This book could be about many interesting things (zen, misticism, ...), but I don't know of them. But it's not a book on Kyudo. It seems more a book on Herrigel himself.
I don't says this is the worst book someone can read if is interested on kyudo. Last years saw apearing one or two terrible book's with kyudo in title.
Should be read with precaution and specially doesn't substitute pratice and guidance from a teacher or a master. Many persons come to kyudo allready knowing this book but after a few sessions they give up. and many of them continue to claim that they know about kyudo only by reading this book.

Editorial Review:

The path to achieving Zen (a balance between the body and the mind) is brilliantly explained by Professor Eugen Herrigel in this timeless account. This book is the result of the author's six year quest to learn archery in the hands of Japanese Zen masters. It is an honest account of one man's journey to complete abandonment of 'the self' and the Western principles that we use to define ourselves. Professor Herrigel imparts knowledge from his experiences and guides the reader through physical and spiritual lessons in a clear and insightful way. Mastering archery is not the key to achieving Zen, and this is not a practical guide to archery. It is more a guide to Zen principles and learning and perfect for practitioners and non-practitioners alike.

Buddhism Plain and Simple

Steve Hagen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good exposure to the topic.....but not plain, simple or easy. 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I found this book (Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen)
a great introduction to the principles and teachings of Buddhism.
Steve Hagen takes the reader into meditation techniques, the wisdom of self and the levels of awareness. I found his examples from life to be helpful in describing the "wisdom of self".

However, you will need to take it slowly. Read it a chapter at a time and reread chapters before advancing to the next stage. Why, because it is hard to explain the "reality" of Zen Buddhism. It is hard to understand the concepts of Buddhism, and even harder to explain those same concepts to another person who has no foundation to build on.

Buddhism (which comes from Buddha -the awakened one) in a nut shell is a fundamental way of looking at life. Live life for the moment; take it in for what it is. Enjoy the connection to the universe and do not let material things, mental worries and belief systems interfere with understanding the reality of living.

As you can see from the last paragraph- words cannot really describe Buddhism plain and simple. No book can describe the reality of the world around us. So this book may be a bit of a hard read for the very beginner.

By Sam Hendricks, Author of "Fantasy Football Guidebook: Your Comprehensive Guide to Fantasy Football" and the soon to be released "Fantasy Football Almanac: 2008"

Editorial Review:

Since its launch in 1996, Broadway's Buddhism and Spirituality Program has built a reputation for publishing accessible, stimulating books that bring the ancient philosophies and wisdom of the East to Western readers. From groundbreaking works by leaders in their fields to prescriptive, hands-on guides to incorporating the principles of Buddhism into our daily lives, Broadway's eclectic list has something for readers at all stages of enlightenment and all walks of life.

Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening

Stephen Batchelor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 101 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Try and see for yourself. 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

First of all I have to admit that I have not received my "Official Buddhist" certificate; it must have been lost in the mail. Despite this I will have to overstep the bounds of my credentials and say that I have confidence that if Shakyamuni Buddha was writing a review of this book he would simply say "try it and see for yourself." Perhaps he would even add, "Be wary of people who tell you to accept ideas that you cannot verify for yourself, through your own experience." This is the only test. Your life has nothing to do with my opinion, and even less to do with laying faith in something out of fear of the reprimands from the self proclaimed "higher-ups". I will even go against these declarations of inferiority-by-unorthodoxy by characterizing Buddhism as a living tradition that has continuously developed along lines of unorthodoxy, beginning with the Buddha himself. I would like to think that much of the criticism of this book is done out of love for the traditions and cultures through which Buddhism comes to us. The beauty of the Buddha's message is that whenever it has crossed cultural borders, or is faced with institutionalization and codification, it always seems to emerge renewed, refreshed, and alive, with new words and new ways to reach many different minds, with a respect and reverence for all things, all views, and all paths. The tradition should be a vehicle for a message of release from attachments, and should not simply become another attachment. This is the truest tradition of Buddhism of which I am aware (look and see for yourself), and that is where this book fits in. The audio version is excellent, perhaps better, and it contains clarifications of many things in the book that orthodox traditionalists or "conservative Buddhists" may take issue with. My advice, get both. A lotus for you, a Buddha to be.

Editorial Review:

Demystifing the tenets of Buddhism, an introduction to the Buddhist religion explains, without jargon or obscure terminology, the essential elements of its teachings, presents ways to work toward awakening, and examines Buddhism's relevance in Western culture.

New Seeds of Contemplation

Thomas Merton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

One of the best-loved books by one of the great spiritual authors of our time, with a new Introduction by best-selling author Sue Monk Kidd.

New Seeds of Contemplation is one of Thomas Merton's most widely read and best-loved books. Christians and non-Christians alike have joined in praising it as a notable successor in the meditative tradition of St. John of the Cross, The Cloud of Unknowing, and the medieval mystics, while others have compared Merton's reflections with those of Thoreau. New Seeds of Contemplation seeks to awaken the dormant inner depths of the spirit so long neglected by Western man, to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our lives. For Merton, "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love."

The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (25th Anniversary Edition)

Fritjof Capra

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Convincing, but for all the wrong reasons . . . 1 out of 5 stars.
19 of 25 people found this review helpful.

It is widely recognized, at least by those outside of science, that scientists are notorious bunglers when it comes to philosophical matters. So it is not surprising, though hardly excusable, that Capra's book displays a level of incompetence that should be immediately obvious to anyone with even a cursory background in logic or philosophy. As a matter of fact, it would be surprising if such an unqualified admirer of Taoism, whose writings Capra notes approvingly are "full of passages reflecting the Taoist's contempt of reasoning" (p. 113), should display much in the way of sound reasoning. While I was not especially sympathetic to Capra's thesis even before I read the book, I at least had high hopes for a compelling argument for his case, but that was wishful thinking. The thesis is that the worldviews of Eastern mysticism provide the best framework for understanding modern physics, and that all the advances in physics in the 20th century unanimously confirm these worldviews. However, the picture that emerges is rather one of the utter incompatibility of Eastern mysticism with physics of any kind, classical or modern.

In order to fully appreciate the force of this book, it is important to keep in mind not only the results of physics, but also the scientific endeavor itself. That endeavor consists of an incredibly strenuous exertion of the human rational faculties to uncover truths about reality that we do not know ahead of time, and to systematize the results of investigation into rigorous theories explaining the phenomena. In contrast to this, according to Capra, "all concepts about reality formed by the human mind are void" (p. 97); "the human intellect can never comprehend the Tao" (p. 113); "whenever you want to achieve anything, you should start with its opposite" (p. 115); "words can never express the ultimate truth" (p. 122); "to believe that our abstract concepts of separate 'things' and 'events' are realities of nature is an illusion" (p. 131); the particles of modern physics "are merely idealizations which are useful from a practical point of view, but have no fundamental significance" (p. 137); "all the concepts we use to describe nature . . . are not features of reality, as we tend to believe, but creations of the mind" (p. 161); "the idea of a constant 'self' undergoing successive experiences is an illusion" (p. 212); "all phenomena in the world are nothing but the illusory manifestation of the mind and have no reality on their own . . . what appears to be external does not exist in reality" (p. 277); "ultimately, there are no parts at all in this interconnected web" (p. 330); "there is no absolute truth in science" (p. 337). This collection of quotes does indeed give an excellent picture of the foundation that Eastern mysticism has to offer for science, but is it even possible to think that this view of the world constitutes fertile soil for the scientific enterprise?

A striking feature of many of Capra's central arguments is the profound gulf between his premises and his conclusions, which would be simply laughable if it were not for the fact that so many people stand to be badly led astray. For instance, Capra leaps from Einstein's famous equation E=mc^2 to the most astounding claim in the whole book, that "modern physicists . . . deny the existence of any material substance" (p. 204). Can this be serious? This is the logical equivalent of saying that "magnetism has been discovered to be an aspect of an electromagnetic field, therefore magnetism doesn't exist" or "scientists have discovered that houses are made of wood, therefore houses don't exist". One of Capra's favorite mantras is that modern physics has discovered that material particles "are not distinct entities" (p. 209). Even if we accept for the sake of the argument his repeated confusion of existence and measurability, it is difficult to see how the fact that particles interact, influence each other, and in some cases are even indistinguishable, means that they are not distinct entities.

If it were not enough to repeatedly outrage every principle of sound reasoning, Capra is equally adept at mangling the most profound discoveries of 20th century physics. He dwells at length on Einstein's General Relativity, arguing that it proves that "geometry is not inherent in nature but is imposed upon it by the mind" (p. 162). In actual fact, General Relativity is the scientific rock upon which all the floundering ships in the fleet of subjectivism are dashed. From Einstein we have learned that the true structure of space and time is actually so incredibly foreign to our everyday intuitions that it is not even possible to understand it without the formidable apparatus of non-Euclidean geometry. Capra goes on in the same chapter to give an example that "shows that we can always determine whether a surface is curved or not, just by making geometrical measurements of its surface, and by comparing the results with those predicted by Euclidean geometry. If there is a discrepancy, the surface is curved; and the larger the discrepancy is - for a given size of figures - the stronger the curvature" (p. 176). But what is it that is curved or not? Something created by our mind? Why are we doing an experiment at all if the geometry of space is nothing but a creation of the mind? But a mind sunk in the quagmires of Eastern mysticism cannot readily recognize such an obvious point. In all of science there is nothing more "objective" than Einstein's General Relativity, a fact of which Einstein himself was well aware.

But this discussion brings up another important point. I would like to know, if it is true that in modern physics "cause and effect lose their meaning" (p. 81) how, even in principle, anyone could ever do a scientific experiment in atomic physics. If the answer is that cause and effect are just illusions of the sensory world, then the question remains, how can we ever do a scientific experiment? Whence comes this illusion, and how can it possibly be trusted to be reliable? If the answer is that cause and effect are indeed principles of macroscopic and sensory reality, but that they are not a part of the unseen "ultimate reality" which underlies all the rest, then I ask, from whence arises this lawfulness in sensory reality? How do we build up from the constituents of a reality where cause and effect are meaningless to an observable world where they are no longer meaningless? This constitutes as insurmountable a leap for logic as it does for science.

As the book drags on, Capra continues to weary us with his absurdities. On p. 288 he claims that fundamental constants are "arbitrary parameters". What does this even mean? Is Planck's constant arbitrary? I would like to see Capra replace it with something else. On p. 334 he says that "scientists do not deal with truth (in the sense of a precise correspondence between the description and the described phenomena); they deal with limited and approximate descriptions of reality." This is certainly contradicted by the staggering precision achieved in modern physics, both in theories and experiments, but such a consideration would most likely not intimidate a mind infatuated with contradictions. Such was certainly not the mind of Johannes Kepler, who spent several years of his life working to account for barely a one tenth of one degree of angle disparity between the orbit of Mars and theory, convinced that the human mind, created in the image of a rational God, could precisely learn the truth about the rational creation of that God. How foreign such a mindset must really be to Eastern mystical thought. Would Kepler have undergone such Herculean intellectual exertions had he shared Capra's conviction that he could attain only limited and approximate knowledge, or would he simply have shrugged his shoulders and decided that Ptolemaic astronomy was "close enough"?

But it is least of all to history that we should look for confirmation of Capra's thesis. In the early chapters he blames Aristotle and Christianity for the ensuing "lack of interest in the material world" (p. 22). But what cultures ever displayed a more profound and studious disregard for the material world than the Eastern mystical traditions? And why would they hold in high regard something that is at best a creation of the human mind and at worst a deceptive illusion? On p. 198-199 Capra considers the idea of an oscillating and organic universe, and goes on to say that "the scale of this ancient myth is indeed staggering: it has taken the human mind more than two thousand years to come up again with a similar concept." But on the contrary, it took the human mind so many thousands of years to overcome organismic and oscillatory theories of the universe. These theories were ubiquitous in all the great ancient cultures, from the Egyptian to the Babylonian to the Indian to the Chinese to the Mayan to the Greek, and it was exactly this conception that so effectively stifled the optimistic and rational view of nature that is indispensable for science.

In conclusion, Capra has done a masterful job of presenting the relevance of Eastern mysticism to modern physics, but even a passing consideration readily reveals that this relevance is only the thorough incompatibility of Eastern mysticism with science of any kind. As Western culture steadily abandons rationality and the human ability to know truth, the philosophies of Eastern mysticism do indeed continue to gain credence and ascendance, but to exactly the same extent we will surely witness the decline of science.

Editorial Review:

After a quarter of a century in print, Capra's groundbreaking work still challenges and inspires. This updated edition of The Tao of Physics includes a new preface and afterword in which the author reviews the developments of the twenty-five years since the book's first publication, discusses criticisms the book has received, and examines future possibilities for a new scientific world.