The Tibetan Book Of The Dead

Also known as Bardo Thodol, literally translated as liminality liberation, this details Buddhist beliefs about death, the intermediate state, rebirth and enlightenment. Although it is commonly referred as the 'Book', singular, it is more like a collection of smaller texts written by scholars in the past. The version I have borrowed from Central Library in Sheffield contains an introductory commentary by HH The Dalai Lama.

I found it quite interesting in the first couple of chapters, it wasn't talking so much about death, more about spiritual practices that should be done in this lifetime. Things like meditation techniques, and generally things more associated with Zen. After that though, you get into the bulk of it. When reading about the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities, I was surprised to learn how often 'blood filled skulls' are mentioned. I assumed these would be the last things that are associated with a religion following ahimsa (non-violence), but, there you go.

Still haven't finished it yet, it is quite big. So far I have enjoyed reading it and learning more about Buddhist beliefs. I recommend finding a copy, even if, like me, you just borrow it from a library. For me, it was worth the time spent trawling through the lists of deities and their different appearances, characteristics, etc..

Thanks for reading, comment below or email me with any suggestions.

Life

Yes, I know the title's a bit vague, bear with me. As I often do, I've recently been thinking about life, purpose, etc.. It seems odd to me that, although it appears we have freedom of choice in most matters, which religion we follow, our profession, our friends, we really have much less choice than we think, unless we are very brave.

Take religion. Yes we can choose, depending on what we ultimately believe in, but deny it as you might, indoctrination happens, and it seems to work. If you are brought up in a [insert religion A] community, you will probably believe [religion A]. Even if you are told of, or even research, other religions, you are more likely to stick with [religion A] over [religion B]. This does not, of course, mean that you are stuck with [religion A], we still can choose [religion B], we are just less likely to.

Example two. We would like to think we can choose what to do in life, and we can. But we can sometimes forget the factors that influence the choices we make, intelligence, strength, skill. We might subconsciously lean towards doing a job that we are good at, rather than one we would enjoy or feel happy doing.

While we ultimately do have choice in the majority of the matters in our life, are we discouraged by 'the system' to do the unexpected, to defy convention? From primary school, not meaning to boast, I've been quite intelligent. I've had a bit of a knack for maths and the sciences (probably countered by my appalling English). As such, I'm pretty much expected to follow a certain course. Do well in GCSEs, take A levels, go to university, get a well paying job that I enjoy. All well and good. But though I do enjoy maths and, to a lesser extent, science, I would say, if asked in the street, that my main passion is firstly Buddhism/Theology, secondly jazz, thirdly more intellectual pursuits such as maths. It would be unexpected and, I suspect, frowned upon to, even if it means leaving Britain, going to a Buddhist monastery and become a monk. To tour, playing jazz would seem stupid, a waste of talent even. But because of my upbringing in this environment, that won't happen. The reality is I will probably conform, stick to the norm, not take the risk.

I think it was René Descartes who said there are only two emotions: love and fear (please correct me if it was someone else). Am I going to be stuck to convention because of a fear of rejection, the unknown? Time will tell...

Thanks for reading, please feel free to comment and send suggestions to jazzphilosophybiscuits@googlemail.com.