The World's Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions – Authentic Poetic Translations with Insightful Introductions from Eight Traditions

by Philip Novak

A world Bible for our time from Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian, Taoist, Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and primal religion sources! In this perfect companion to Huston Smith's bestselling The World's Wisdom, Philip Novak distills the most powerful and elegant expressions of the wisdom of humankind. Authentic, poetic translations of key texts are coupled with insightful introductions and "grace notes."

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spirituality, Reference, School, History

425 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Use it every semester in my World Religions Course. Can't be replaced.

[Sophie T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read The World's Wisdom for my Religions of the East class, along with many other books. I thought it was a great introduction to the sacred writings of all the great religions, and an important read for anyone who is seeking knowledge. Religion is part of human culture; the majority of humans are religions in some way. To be a better human is to make an effort to understand all those religions. Whether you are religious or not, wanting to know what others think and how they view the world, and life, and death, and God, is good. The more we understand each other the better off we will be.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives an interesting glimpse into the various religions of the world. While it is not a comprehensive look at the religion, it highlights the sacred texts of various religious beliefs. I would caution the reader to not rely on this source alone as it does not explain the tenants of the religion and the text could be a bit misleading if you do not already understand the foundation and beliefs of each religion. Even so, it was still an interesting read and a good resource for a high level look at the major religions.

[Jihane Hakimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read it for my Comparative religion class during my sophomore year- a decade ago- and I still like to read a page or two from time to time. It wouldn't be a bad idea to recommend it for schools curricula/would do good to the world.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you just read the texts selected for this book, it almost makes religion seem to make sense.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overview:
Their cosmologies have been overtaken by modern science and their social blueprints, drawn for times now gone, need revision in the light of changed circumstances and the continuing quest for social justice. But while jettisoning their chaff, we should continue to sift for wheat. “The telling question of a person’s life is whether or not she or he is related to the infinite.” Carl Jung. The animating conviction of this book is that these great wisdom traditions remain our most resourceful guide to the Infinite- to that Beauty so ancient and new (Christianity) and Eternal (Judaism) yet Closer to us than our jugular veins (Islam) vouchsafing the Unshakeable deliverance of the heart (Buddhism) and the end of all love-longing (Hinduism).

Hinduism
Beginning with the Vedas, The bedrock of Hinduism, concerning well being and prosperity in life and focusing on Indra (He, O Men, is Indra);

then a thousand years later, the Upanishads that detailed reincarnation, karma, disciplined yoga and is known as the “Himalayas of the soul.” “The diagnosis of the human condition as trapped in a ceaseless round of death and rebirth (samsara) due to the consequences of actions (karma) performed in the ignorance of the ground of Life (Brahman) with a prescription of liberation (moksha) through realization of our inner spiritual nature, Atman, the Universal Self and also Brahman. “
concealed in the heart of all beings is the Atman, the Spirit, the Self; smaller than the smallest atom, greater than the vast spaces.
“Even as fire without fuel finds peace in its resting place, where thoughts become silence the soul finds peace in its own source. “
“The mind should be kept in the heart as long as it has not reached the end. This is wisdom, and this is liberation. Everything else is only words.”
“FROM JOY ALL BEINGS HAVE COME, BY JOY THEY ALL LIVE, AND UNTO JOY THEY ALL RETURN.”
“There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the Light that shines in our heart.”

then the Bhagavad Gita, taking shape between 400 BCE and 400 CE; an epic story that epitomizes the Vedas and the Upanishads. Karma Yoga is the greatest teaching of the Gita, and it advocates for action without attachment to results, selfless action that will break the cycle of rebirth. There is also the yoga of devotion (Bhakti), knowledge (Jnana) and meditation (raja yoga)

“In what manner does an illumined soul live in the world? Not shaken by adversity, not hankering after happiness, free from fear, free from anger,free from the things of desire. Water flows continually into the ocean, but the ocean is never disturbed, desire flows into the mind of the seer but he is never disturbed.”

“A man should not hate any living creature. Let him be friendly and compassionate to all. He must accept pleasure and pain with equal tranquility. He must be forgiving, ever-contented, self-controlled, united constantly with me in medication. Such a devotee is dear to me (Krishna).”

“The winds of God ‘s grace are always flowing, it is up to us to raise our sails.” Ramakrishna, b 1836, mystic-sage, jivanmukti (liberated soul)

[Andy Caffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author means for this to be a companion to his mentor Huston Smith's book, The World's Religions, so other than some annotations, there is not explanatory text to tell you about the religions. These are just a selection of primary documents and excerpts.

The book has about 40-50 pages of documents for

* Hinduism

* Buddhism

* Confucianism (which the author points out isn't really a religion, but I found these excerpts the most interesting)

* Taoism

* Judaism

* Christianity

* Islam

* Primal Religions (largely Australian aboriginal and Native American)

Except for putting the primal religions last (oddly–perhaps prejudicially, with a bias for civilizational religions?), this order moves from earliest to most recent.

Surprisingly, the book doesn't slog down, so I guess the selection is pretty good. Houston Smith liked it enough to write the forward, so this might be a good place to get familiar with all of the biggies.

I haven't read Houston's book yet, so on second thought, you might want to start with that for some history and discussion of the rituals. He released an illustrated version of that book, ad after his Berkeley reading from that book, he bought me a beer at a pub across the street from Cody's.

I asked him if, while I was homeless or otherwise lowbagging it around the country for Earth First!, my daily morning drinking of coffee and reading books at cafes was a ritual.

He looked me directly in the eyes and said, "For you, definitely!"

I knocked a star off only because I felt the experience somewhat thin, and his history is off in a few places. And I think he gives some of this material a little too much credit. But that's just me. There are a bunch of gems in here that will get you thinking. And the primal religions section is rather uninspiring.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I regret having had this book since 1995 and not reading it until now. A solid intro to the world’s religions is culturally necessary, not just salutary. My Lib Arts degree from 2003-2007 made up for much of this lack (Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism I studied on my own), but the absence of religious knowledge or even awareness for the prior eight years was a regrettable impoverishment. The very book that I happened to have on hand would have made difficult times easier and yielded better understanding of people and culture. Reading it even now helped fill gaps I didn’t know I had, and I think I can safely speak for most people. There’s a reason this book is used as a textbook. The Grace Notes of every chapter show later dialog between cultural icons (mostly religious, not always) and original texts. One complaint, however, is that the font size is a point or two smaller than a typical book, and this made it slow going at first.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really interested in reading this book but stopped dead in my tracks when on the first page of the book, he says that, "Some four thousand years ago pastoral nomads whose ancestors had sprung from the soil of northeastern Europe entered the Indus Valley of ancient India." What a eurocentric and inaccurate view of the world. Such egregious inaccuracies make it difficult to trust anything the author has to say. Historically and geographically it doesn't make sense unless he regards the Middle East as Europe. I am completely uninterested in reading work by authors that claim that any ancient civilization came from Europe. That is an agenda and not anything that is concerned with truth or furthering knowledge.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a handy reference for some of the most important scriptures in the major world religions of our time. The preface for each is good, although very concise, usually no more than a page or two. Would be nice to have more history on each religious tradition. The book is somewhat short when you factor in several religions into just 400 pages or so. Would be nice to have a few addtl pages for some of the most prominent religions.

Huston Smith is a hero! If you haven't, go on youtube and search for some of his documentaries, tv series and interviews. He was a remarkable man with a remarkable story. He will be deeply missed and revered!

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was used in conjunction with Huston Smith’s World Religions. These books complement each other very well!

When it comes to this text, the individual works are translated and shown in a neutral light and does it’s best to avoid potential bias. There is great variety in the works chosen to be presented in this book and it is a great read if you are looking for authentic stories broken down by region and religion.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good introduction to world religions, but definitely just that: an introduction. It's good for gaining some basic knowledge about 8 faith traditions and for encouraging further reading on the topics. I'm definitely going to look into Eastern and indigenous American traditions more after reading this.

[Amy Broadway · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good beginner text for people interested in religion, but it’s hard not to believe there’s author bias in what excerpts he takes from various religious texts since they are such short snippets without a lot of context.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really displays how weak the ethical and philosophical standings are compared to Islam, Buddhism and the native religions.

[Frank Dobner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book attends the sacred principles to the written text from which it is derived. Great book as entryway to essential teachings sufficient to the novice and advanced initiate.

[Januaris Muindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best book so far

[Lacey Couse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was an additional source for my world religions classes, had a lot of useful information.

[Henry Fiol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great cross-section of religious thought.

[kamila gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

hey religion

[Ingrid Solis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book.
It has key points from some religion's sacred text. When you read passages from this book it really helps to formulate your own opinion on a religion without biased comments. Reading this cleared up some questions I had about women's rights in Islam, Jesus' place in Christianity, or whatever popped into my head about a Religion.
However, while this book did help me find answers to some things, it also clouded my mind a bit when there wasn't a direct answer. But religion is complex so I had to interpret it my own way sometimes. I suggest to not rely on only this book because that can be misleading, but also take into consideration other people's personal experience and knowledge and the actual Bible, Torah, Qur’an, etc.
Overall this was in interesting read.

[Jad El Dib · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read “The World’s Wisdom” while reading Huston Smith’s “The World Religions”. The content of the book is so rich, and the chosen translations are of the highest quality. For example, the Tao Te Ching selections are so poetic and better than any of the other translations that i had read.
Each chapter covers one of the religions described in Huston Smith’s book, and highlights the major religious texts involved.
It is a book that can be revisited over and over again, especially for those interested in comparative religions. I highly recommend.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent companion to Huston Smith's "The World's Religions." Not quite as informative as that volume, but its purpose is different. Contains sacred writings for all the main historical religions. Lots of good stuff in here, and it's not hard to see that there is quite a bit of overlap among different religions.

[Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource for those who are interested in a variety of religions and their respective texts. The 'endnotes' and 'acknowledgements' sections are very useful in helping English speakers locate trustworthy translations of texts in foreign languages.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book! I love the inclusion of original texts. I really felt like I got a good taste of each of these religions. The sections on native religions and Zen were of particular interest to me. The section on Islam seemed to lack a bit of historical context.

[Rebecca Romaneski · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm reading this for my "world religions" class. it contains excerpts from the world's major religions, which is interesting.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though it was for my world religions class, i really enjoyed reading passages from sacred text. Pretty good stuff man.

[Lani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for my "Religions of the world" class. Liked being able to immerse myself in other cultural faiths, very interesting.