Buddhist Reflections

by Lama Anagarika Govinda and Maurice Walshe (Tr.)

Lama Govinda provides an exciting overview of contemporary Buddhist philosophy for the modern student. He shares his insights into Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions concerning the nature of reality, the development of consciousness, death and rebirth, faith and tolerance, and the significance of meditative and ritual practices. In depicting the Tantric Buddhist approach that utilizes ancient mantras and mandalas to produce meditative absorption in a unified experience of sound, color and form, Lama Govinda pays homage to a spiritual edifice of great beauty and complexity. He invokes a multidimensional vision of Buddhist understanding that includes the rational perspectives of modern science and psychology, but goes far beyond them. In building a conceptual bridge between Eastern mysticism and Western philosophy, he discusses the work of Assagioli, Teilhard de Chardin and von Durkheim, among others. There are also chapters of concern to Western society, such as the expansion of consciousness through drugs and the nature of attachment and suffering in love relationships. The material presented here was gathered from lectures and articles written by Lama Govinda shortly before his death in 1985, providing readers a close look at his warmth and lovingness. LAMA ANAGARIKA GOVINDA studies and practiced several Buddhist traditions, but was viewed as a significant representative and interpreter of Tibetan Buddhism. His experiences as a pioneer in Buddhism provides a modern link between East and West. He was both an artist and an author. He wrote the well-known Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, The Inner Structure of the I Ching, A Living Buddhism for the West and The Way of the White Clouds.