What do you think?
Rate this book
Reflejos en el Río Plata: : las treinta y siete prácticas de un bodhisattva de Tokmé Zongpo
Las treinta y siete prácticas de un bodhisattva de Tokmé Zongpo es uno de los textos más reverenciados del budismo tibetano. En solo 37 versos Tokmé Zongpo resume el camino del Bodhisattva de una manera directa y clara. En esta traducción Ken McLeod se ha esforzado en utilizar palabras sencillas que reflejan la sencillez y la franqueza del texto original tibetano. Sus comentarios están llenos de sorprendentes imágenes, preguntas provocadoras y descripciones inspiradoras acerca de lo que significa el estar despierto y presente en la vida. En cada uno de los comentarios sobre los versos, encontramos una instrucción práctica, breve y directa, la cual responde de manera precisa a la pregunta "¿De qué manera practico esto?" La maestría con la que ha hecho tanto la traducción como sus observaciones iluminan con sabiduría los desafíos que se manifiestan en la vida contemporánea, y alumbra un sendero, el cual el lector moderno puede seguir hacia la libertad, la paz y el entendimiento. Refljos en el Río Plata consiste en tres secciones. La primera es una introducción al texto y a Tokmé Zongpo. La segunda sección es la traducción de McLeod de Las treinta y siete prácticas de un bodhisattva. La tercera es la sección principal del libro, un comentario tradicional, verso por verso. McLeod ofrece una introducción a la práctica budista tibetana que está al alcance de todos, y al mismo tiempo un recurso valioso para el meditador con experiencia, sea cual sea su tradición o entrenamiento. McLeod es maestro de meditación, traductor, autor y asesor de negocios. Ha enseñado numerosos retiros y clases de meditación, y ha publicado una traducción muy reconocida del entrenamiento mental Mahayana, bajo el título, The Great Path of Awakening. Ha escrito también un tratado encilopédico de la práctica de la meditación, Despierta a tu vida.
- GenresBuddhismZenSpirituality
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
6 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 6, 2014
I'm going back to the beginning of Ken McLeod's Reflections on Silver River: Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva and reading it again. Slowly. I "read through" it first because I wanted to write this review. But "reading through" this book doesn't do it. It needs work.
I say that not to deter anyone from reading this profound, disturbing, constantly challenging book, but rather to encourage them. I hope, too, that no one will be turned away by a glance at the subtitle, which may suggest something too esoteric for the lay reader. It's about Buddhism, yes, but it's also a book for anyone who is seriously interested in learning to slow down and pay attention to what is happening in their life--and to make the most of the short time they are given here on earth. There is an abundance of books out there that might be described as Buddhism lite, and they have their place. They started me on the path and have accompanied me supportively along the way. I'm grateful for their help.
This book is different--not heavy reading, but profound. Indeed, McLeod writes with a light touch, with clarity, in language that a layman like myself can read and appreciate. You'll not be held up by knotted prose and needless obfuscation. Instead, if you're really reading him, you'll be held up on every page by the doors he opens and the practical mind-work that he proposes.
Reflections on Silver River is in part McLeod's translation of those "thirty-seven practices," written down in pithy verse form by the early 14th century Tibetan monk, Tokme Zongpo; in part his own much more expansive reflections. (I love the double meaning of that word: the reflected image on the surface of a mirror or a body of still water, and the meandering activity of the mind.) The book is an exhaustive guide to Buddhist practice, but let that not deter non-Buddhist readers. At a mere 170 pages, it is an exhaustive guide to the art of living life to the fullest, to attaining the freedom we all seek if we are to spend the years we are given in a meaningful way, untrammeled by the distractions of our busy, often misguided minds. All too often, we are the unwitting slaves of what McLeod calls the "reactive patterns," mostly learned in childhood, that condition our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions in the world.
The insights of this remote, reclusive 14th century monk are startlingly modern and relevant as McLeod translates and glosses them. The path along which he guides us is the path of clarity and attention--a clear-eyed gaze into the illusory nature of everything that governs our lives, including the powerfully deceptive, thinking "self," the seductions of wealth, success and power, and the often distressing vicissitudes of life. The alternative is an unwavering attentiveness to the experience of the moment ("rest in the looking, look in the resting" is McLeod's constant refrain) that shines light on the delusion and dispels it, creating the inner space to replace it with qualities of generosity, humility and compassion, a heart and mind open to everything that life can thrust upon us.
The pain, fear, sorrow and grief that all of us experience at moments in our lives can be overwhelming, as can the petty anger, the envy, the ambition and the greed that we experience almost every day. We know in our hearts that nothing good can come of it if we allow them to control us. Yet try as we might to hide, suppress or deny them, they keep showing up, as unwelcome as uninvited guests, to occupy our mind-space. More than an aggravation, they are task-masters, requiring our obedience to their will. With them, they bring self-obsession, small-mindedness, and wreak havoc on our relationships with those around us, even--perhaps particularly--those we love. What a way to spend our precious lives!
So, knowing all this, as McLeod asks at the end of his commentary, "What do you do now?" It's this challenge that his book confronts us with, and to which it provides a practical and plausible response. The work it requires of the reader is not easy, but the rewards it promises are demonstrable, and great.
I say that not to deter anyone from reading this profound, disturbing, constantly challenging book, but rather to encourage them. I hope, too, that no one will be turned away by a glance at the subtitle, which may suggest something too esoteric for the lay reader. It's about Buddhism, yes, but it's also a book for anyone who is seriously interested in learning to slow down and pay attention to what is happening in their life--and to make the most of the short time they are given here on earth. There is an abundance of books out there that might be described as Buddhism lite, and they have their place. They started me on the path and have accompanied me supportively along the way. I'm grateful for their help.
This book is different--not heavy reading, but profound. Indeed, McLeod writes with a light touch, with clarity, in language that a layman like myself can read and appreciate. You'll not be held up by knotted prose and needless obfuscation. Instead, if you're really reading him, you'll be held up on every page by the doors he opens and the practical mind-work that he proposes.
Reflections on Silver River is in part McLeod's translation of those "thirty-seven practices," written down in pithy verse form by the early 14th century Tibetan monk, Tokme Zongpo; in part his own much more expansive reflections. (I love the double meaning of that word: the reflected image on the surface of a mirror or a body of still water, and the meandering activity of the mind.) The book is an exhaustive guide to Buddhist practice, but let that not deter non-Buddhist readers. At a mere 170 pages, it is an exhaustive guide to the art of living life to the fullest, to attaining the freedom we all seek if we are to spend the years we are given in a meaningful way, untrammeled by the distractions of our busy, often misguided minds. All too often, we are the unwitting slaves of what McLeod calls the "reactive patterns," mostly learned in childhood, that condition our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions in the world.
The insights of this remote, reclusive 14th century monk are startlingly modern and relevant as McLeod translates and glosses them. The path along which he guides us is the path of clarity and attention--a clear-eyed gaze into the illusory nature of everything that governs our lives, including the powerfully deceptive, thinking "self," the seductions of wealth, success and power, and the often distressing vicissitudes of life. The alternative is an unwavering attentiveness to the experience of the moment ("rest in the looking, look in the resting" is McLeod's constant refrain) that shines light on the delusion and dispels it, creating the inner space to replace it with qualities of generosity, humility and compassion, a heart and mind open to everything that life can thrust upon us.
The pain, fear, sorrow and grief that all of us experience at moments in our lives can be overwhelming, as can the petty anger, the envy, the ambition and the greed that we experience almost every day. We know in our hearts that nothing good can come of it if we allow them to control us. Yet try as we might to hide, suppress or deny them, they keep showing up, as unwelcome as uninvited guests, to occupy our mind-space. More than an aggravation, they are task-masters, requiring our obedience to their will. With them, they bring self-obsession, small-mindedness, and wreak havoc on our relationships with those around us, even--perhaps particularly--those we love. What a way to spend our precious lives!
So, knowing all this, as McLeod asks at the end of his commentary, "What do you do now?" It's this challenge that his book confronts us with, and to which it provides a practical and plausible response. The work it requires of the reader is not easy, but the rewards it promises are demonstrable, and great.
July 31, 2023
Can we actually change a human life this deeply? That appears to be the goal of Buddism. And there are, indeed those who have become bodhisattva. It sounds enviably peaceful. It sounds on the one hand incredibly challenging, and on another hand deceptively simple. Is it a worthy human goal? I believe it may well be. Let's all try it.
On a separate note, watch the PBS Nova episodes "Your Brain: Who's in Control?" Adds a certain depth to the reading.
On a separate note, watch the PBS Nova episodes "Your Brain: Who's in Control?" Adds a certain depth to the reading.
September 1, 2021
This is one of my all-time favorite books on Buddhism, although it has been a good long while since I last read it. The book is a translation and commentary on the thirty-seven verses of a bodhisattva by a fairly obscure medieval Tibetan mystic, Tokmé Zhongpo, whose practice centered around tonglen, or taking and sending practice as we also know it in English. Ken's writing always has this direct, present quality to it that I love reading, and although some of his commentary doesn't make a lot of sense to me, much of it does ring true. It really doesn't make sense to me how he stopped teaching; it seems like a terrible waste of a unique teacher and a unique voice in western Buddhism.
"How do you find your way? In silence."
"How do you find your way? In silence."
April 29, 2025
👏👏👏🪷
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2016
The first time I tried to read this book, I started it, as usual, as bedtime reading. I had to put it down. For me this was the perfect book to take on a personal meditation retreat. The text of the "37 Practices of a Bodhisattva" while short is extraordinarily pithy and profound. McLeod has translated the text himself and grappled with it over many years, and his style of teaching, and writing in this case, is particularly suited reading with each verse and its associated exposition as a daily or weekly contemplation. Each verse is a practice to enable one to live the life of a bodhisattva, a being dedicated to reducing the suffering in the life of others, no mean feat. I love the directness of style, the modern language, and way that McLeod shows you how to approach a situation with each instruction.
Read
July 9, 2016A keeper--will re-read, probably many times.
October 30, 2019
I am hoping this becomes more clear as I read it...
Read
November 27, 2021I will be using this book often. McLeod’s commentaries on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva are insightful and easy to relate to. Looking forward studying more of his books
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews