The Tibetan Book of Everyday Wisdom: A Thousand Years of Sage Advice (Library of Tibetan Classics) - Hardcover

Thupten Jinpa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0861714660 ISBN 13: 9780861714667

Publisher: Wisdom Publications, 2018

Synopsis

Enjoy popular Tibetan collections of advice, fables, and aphorisms for following the way of the wise and avoiding the paths of fools.

The Tibetan Book of Everdyay Wisdom: A Thousand Years of Sage Advice presents a genre of Tibetan works known as "wise sayings" (lekshe). While most Tibetan literature focuses on the Buddhist path, "wise sayings" literature has traditionally been a centerpiece of secular education in Tibet and in the cultivation of social mores and an honorable way of life. Drawing inspiration from classical Indian literature on human virtue and governance (nitisastra), including the folktales in the Pancatantra, the authors of these Tibetan works strove to educate young minds in the ways of the civilized world, especially by distinguishing the conduct of the wise from that of the foolish.

This anthology includes some of the best-loved classics of Tibetan literature, such as Sakya Pandita's Jewel Treasury of Wise Sayings, Panchen Sonam Drakpa's Ganden Wise Sayings, and Gungthang's Treatise on Trees and Treatise on Water. The final work is the intriguing Kache Phalu's Advice. Ostensibly written by a wise Tibetan Muslim, this versified text enjoys great popularity within Tibetan-speaking communities, such that most people are able to recite at least a few verses from memory.

About this title

About the Author:

Beth Newman is a retired professor of Tibetan language and culture and translator of The Tale of the Incomparable Prince.

Thupten Jinpa is founder of the Institute of Tibetan Classics. Trained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, he went on to get a doctorate in philosophy from Cambridge University. He is the primary English-language translator for the Dalai Lama and the author and translator of numerous books, including A Fearless Heart.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0861714660
• ISBN 13: 9780861714667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 520