The notes below are designed to give prospective readers an idea of what to expect from the book, and to aid in making a decision on whether to buy it.
The Jewel Tree of Tibet, Robert Thurman
Below are chapter-by-chapter notes on the book, with some additional notes at the end specifically about Tantra.
Chapter 1
This is the book version of a retreat. Follow a path focused on the tree. Focused on the mind. Increased awareness of individualism.
We need to imagine a jewel tree under which Buddha sat and became enlightened.
Introduce self into unity and increase individuality.
Culture sensitivities, love fully, feel compassion, and become a fountain of cheerfulness.
As you get to be older you are less sure about things.
A noble person and a Buddha perceives things from others’ perspectives.
Do not gain.
Mentor devotion worship.
Emulate until you understand all the aspects of Buddhism.
Nirvana is a bliss state obtained via our understanding of it.
Relax, ease back, where you are is perfect.
You imagine you are the Buddha. Light is all around you.
Buddhism is an awakening of beings’ responses to unamended being wishing to be awakened.
Don’t seek too much bliss.
You are the nexus of everyone on the trees, bliss and the link between them.
Nothing is wrong with the universe. It is already perfect.
Buddha is silent because all is already perfect even if we don’t yet perceive it to be. You are God (you know it, so why do you need to show it?)
Egoism is the path to suffering. We can all be Buddha in this lifetime.
Three types: Buddha the awakened teacher. 2. Dharma “To be held in own reality. 3. Sangha “Community who learn and embody Dhrama.”
We are all dying.
Just go and meditate and don’t analyze it.
Visualize yourself giving the world away. Don’t worry about it.
Om crown (White), Ahh throat (Red), Hum of heart (Blue?).
Chapter 2
Pleasure comes from the compassion we feel for ourselves. Let yourself be free. Imagine yourself on Lake Manosouvar.
Mentors hang as ornaments on the jewel tree. They all fill you with light.
7 steps:
-
Saluting (Socrates, Buddha, etc)
-
Offering (mind, body, thoughts,) Pick up and offer world to them.
-
Repentance. Do not defend. Vow not to repeat.
-
Rejoice, congratulate our own good deeds but ESPECIALLY those of others.
-
Thinking of beings above us. Request rains of Dharma to fall.
-
They don’t need you but know you need them. Invite them in.
-
Dedication: all is interconnected if an idea comes, we can share it.
You are at the top of the world looking down on the lake with the gem tree next to it.
Imagine feeling what all of the others feel. Empathy.
How much time do we want to waste in this body that is running out?
Real self-love vs loving achievement that is never enough.
Bliss - indivisible perfect compassion and perfect wisdom. Meet others where they are.
Live like you are dying because you are.
Transcendent absolute body is Dharma Kaya.
Idea of death saves us all. Only generosity, sensation, taboo, and creativity live. Your belongings do not go. Your body does not go on. You will go to inner happiness.
Karma is evolution: causality or fate.
Several steps:
-
Preciousness of life.
-
Immediacy of death.
-
Integration of life and karma.
-
You are not the one.
We all suffer because we will be unenlightened one day. We are not giving up against the universe. Give up the desire to be all.
Happiness is not a thing, it’s in knowing.
As we meditate the jewel tree dissolves into light; a rainbow.
Chapter 3
Imagine all mentors, dead or alive, at the Jewel Tree. They are there with you. Tara has great compassion.
Motivation of bodhisattva to get to enlightenment. Buddha is the void-ness of compassion. All linked. Emptiness is the womb of compassion. We see sheer bliss in others. Our mind expands to help those who are isolated or suffering.
We are all linked. You are free to help anyone. Anyone may be a previous lives’ mother of yours or someone else.
11 Steps:
-
Meditate on equanimity.
-
Mother recognition.
-
Recall the kindness of your mother.
-
Repay kindness and gratitude.
-
Exchange self for others and them for a loving brother.
-
Universal love—see others’ happiness with no control.
-
Universal compassion—love and compassion are two sides of the same coin.
-
Cherish self and not others. See all the flaws.
-
Think about the advantage of cherishing others. Whenever one is happy the cells divide. We become happy when they become happy.
-
Mission: Cultivate love for mothers who suffer. 3 paths to Buddha 1. Suffer hard and arrive. 2. Pilot flies there. 3. King and Queen would be first. Madness at suffering of others and desire to solve their suffering by being your own Buddha.
-
It takes a Buddha to solve one. I will fully devote myself to be a Buddha.
Love inside out and save others.
Chapter 4
Mind Transformation.
Mediate with the Jewel Tree. “Namo Gurubhyoh Namo Buddihaya. Namo dharmaya. Namo Sughaya.”
Give them the Universe. Apologize for sins, vow to improve. Repent and ask for help. 2 enlightened spirits: Relative spirit: love and compassion on being a Buddha. Absolute spirit: the wisdom of all of the life of origin.
Seven points of Mind Reform by Geshe Chpkawa. Every excuse to seek help of others. To seek not to offend. Enjoy others and enjoy mint. Think of others because already in bliss.
Bodhisattva vow, “I vow to save all being from suffering.
18 downfalls: Praising self, not sharing dharma with those who need it; not forgiving others; abandoning all being; wanting to be free; Abandoning Buddha; Seeking Nihilism; Discouraging others; To claim emptiness.
There is a desire to drop out and rejoin the rat race.
When Buddha enters a new family for all a new life starts.
Bhusuku never has space until gone into the Bodhisattva way of live. Lhag Bsam to take others and give your happiness.
Imagine something filled with people in pain. Dissolve them into feeling bliss. Exhale bright light. Inhale smoke. Do not focus on the benefits to yourself. Dalai Lama says “Best way to be selfish is to 1. Engage Ahimsa. 2. Don’t do actions to help others. 3. Ego.
Avoid: 1. Laziness. 2. Forgetfulness. 3. Malice. 4. Non compassion. 5. Over compassion.
Chapter 5
Role of Wisdom: Liberation via understanding.
Knowledge via internal observation and empiricism not from microscopes and external introspection. Must engage with people around us. Max Weber talked about working all the time.
2 Types of Meditation: Shamatham: one point, merge with the point, calm, silence. Vipassana: Dislodges self-centeredness.
Your gut feeling is often wrong.
Just give to others including the beggar. Results come from giving, not just praying.
Meditate into emptiness. You are empty space below the jewel tree. Delighted when others succeed.
Equanimity for all beings as our mothers in previous lives. Change self-concern to concern for others.
Universal compassion: Transcendent wisdom—understanding the cause of suffering and help others realize it themselves.
All is relative, including emptiness. Meditate on selfishness not nothing. Look at all as being linked, not in isolation.
Buddha says only do it if you prove it and you trust it, not because he said so.
We all melt into light.
Chapter 6
Need qualified mentor and compassion, intelligence, determination, and opportunity for practice.
Visualize Lake Manasarovar.
Give mentors the world. Ask them to stay for all living beings.
Equanimity; all is for the mother.
Free the self. Then help others free themselves.
Don’t memorize but integrate the mind.
I must do it for everyone. I can’t wait. How can we stand by when others are suffering?
Tantra; art of rebuilding the world where ignorance falls. Buddhism has been linked with Tantra for over 1,000 years.
Tantra:
1st Wing: No Escape
2nd Wing: Infinite Compassion
Need to understand the emptiness of self and wisdom. Advance your journey via a Guru who is adept. Open imagination and nervous system and dream lucidity. Greatest treasure of Tibet.
4 types: Outer ritual tantra; inner ritual tantra; yoga tantra; un-exceeded yoga tantra.
Creation Stage—do not fear death but see it as a great transformation.
Perfection Stage—all life created via mutual imagination. You can use all energy to make positive change. Mandala is an area under the jewel tree to keep dreaming and meditate.
Book of the Dead is step by step guidance for dying. No one is dead, just transforming. Mind moves to ‘dream body’ ‘between holy states.’ You go into the next state.
When you die:
You melt, hallucinations and mirage=> smoke in eyes and hot and agitated=> pure internal candle (stillness)=> Subtle wind (vast space, moon light)=>radiance of all light=>Imminence (dark light, lose consciousness)=>Transparency (clear but not bright)—creative and healthy.
Yogi goes through these states 49 days after death. Tibetans do not care about ancestors because no one is dead.
Ancestors are liberating not depressing. At the end meditate on their next journey. Avalokite Shvura; you see 1,000s of arms asking for help.
Om Mani Padme Hum (jewel is in the lotus).
Visualize a wheel of light meditation every day. Light changes all to love.
Great devotions are not wasted.
Below are chapter-by-chapter notes on the book, with some additional notes at the end specifically about Tantra.
Chapter 1
This is the book version of a retreat. Follow a path focused on the tree. Focused on the mind. Increased awareness of individualism.
We need to imagine a jewel tree under which Buddha sat and became enlightened.
Introduce self into unity and increase individuality.
Culture sensitivities, love fully, feel compassion, and become a fountain of cheerfulness.
As you get to be older you are less sure about things.
A noble person and a Buddha perceives things from others’ perspectives.
Do not gain.
Mentor devotion worship.
Emulate until you understand all the aspects of Buddhism.
Nirvana is a bliss state obtained via our understanding of it.
Relax, ease back, where you are is perfect.
You imagine you are the Buddha. Light is all around you.
Buddhism is an awakening of beings’ responses to unamended being wishing to be awakened.
Don’t seek too much bliss.
You are the nexus of everyone on the trees, bliss and the link between them.
Nothing is wrong with the universe. It is already perfect.
Buddha is silent because all is already perfect even if we don’t yet perceive it to be. You are God (you know it, so why do you need to show it?)
Egoism is the path to suffering. We can all be Buddha in this lifetime.
Three types: Buddha the awakened teacher. 2. Dharma “To be held in own reality. 3. Sangha “Community who learn and embody Dhrama.”
We are all dying.
Just go and meditate and don’t analyze it.
Visualize yourself giving the world away. Don’t worry about it.
Om crown (White), Ahh throat (Red), Hum of heart (Blue?).
Chapter 2
Pleasure comes from the compassion we feel for ourselves. Let yourself be free. Imagine yourself on Lake Manosouvar.
Mentors hang as ornaments on the jewel tree. They all fill you with light.
7 steps:
-
Saluting (Socrates, Buddha, etc)
-
Offering (mind, body, thoughts,) Pick up and offer world to them.
-
Repentance. Do not defend. Vow not to repeat.
-
Rejoice, congratulate our own good deeds but ESPECIALLY those of others.
-
Thinking of beings above us. Request rains of Dharma to fall.
-
They don’t need you but know you need them. Invite them in.
-
Dedication: all is interconnected if an idea comes, we can share it.
You are at the top of the world looking down on the lake with the gem tree next to it.
Imagine feeling what all of the others feel. Empathy.
How much time do we want to waste in this body that is running out?
Real self-love vs loving achievement that is never enough.
Bliss - indivisible perfect compassion and perfect wisdom. Meet others where they are.
Live like you are dying because you are.
Transcendent absolute body is Dharma Kaya.
Idea of death saves us all. Only generosity, sensation, taboo, and creativity live. Your belongings do not go. Your body does not go on. You will go to inner happiness.
Karma is evolution: causality or fate.
Several steps:
-
Preciousness of life.
-
Immediacy of death.
-
Integration of life and karma.
-
You are not the one.
We all suffer because we will be unenlightened one day. We are not giving up against the universe. Give up the desire to be all.
Happiness is not a thing, it’s in knowing.
As we meditate the jewel tree dissolves into light; a rainbow.
Chapter 3
Imagine all mentors, dead or alive, at the Jewel Tree. They are there with you. Tara has great compassion.
Motivation of bodhisattva to get to enlightenment. Buddha is the void-ness of compassion. All linked. Emptiness is the womb of compassion. We see sheer bliss in others. Our mind expands to help those who are isolated or suffering.
We are all linked. You are free to help anyone. Anyone may be a previous lives’ mother of yours or someone else.
11 Steps:
-
Meditate on equanimity.
-
Mother recognition.
-
Recall the kindness of your mother.
-
Repay kindness and gratitude.
-
Exchange self for others and them for a loving brother.
-
Universal love—see others’ happiness with no control.
-
Universal compassion—love and compassion are two sides of the same coin.
-
Cherish self and not others. See all the flaws.
-
Think about the advantage of cherishing others. Whenever one is happy the cells divide. We become happy when they become happy.
-
Mission: Cultivate love for mothers who suffer. 3 paths to Buddha 1. Suffer hard and arrive. 2. Pilot flies there. 3. King and Queen would be first. Madness at suffering of others and desire to solve their suffering by being your own Buddha.
-
It takes a Buddha to solve one. I will fully devote myself to be a Buddha.
Love inside out and save others.
Chapter 4
Mind Transformation.
Mediate with the Jewel Tree. “Namo Gurubhyoh Namo Buddihaya. Namo dharmaya. Namo Sughaya.”
Give them the Universe. Apologize for sins, vow to improve. Repent and ask for help. 2 enlightened spirits: Relative spirit: love and compassion on being a Buddha. Absolute spirit: the wisdom of all of the life of origin.
Seven points of Mind Reform by Geshe Chpkawa. Every excuse to seek help of others. To seek not to offend. Enjoy others and enjoy mint. Think of others because already in bliss.
Bodhisattva vow, “I vow to save all being from suffering.
18 downfalls: Praising self, not sharing dharma with those who need it; not forgiving others; abandoning all being; wanting to be free; Abandoning Buddha; Seeking Nihilism; Discouraging others; To claim emptiness.
There is a desire to drop out and rejoin the rat race.
When Buddha enters a new family for all a new life starts.
Bhusuku never has space until gone into the Bodhisattva way of live. Lhag Bsam to take others and give your happiness.
Imagine something filled with people in pain. Dissolve them into feeling bliss. Exhale bright light. Inhale smoke. Do not focus on the benefits to yourself. Dalai Lama says “Best way to be selfish is to 1. Engage Ahimsa. 2. Don’t do actions to help others. 3. Ego.
Avoid: 1. Laziness. 2. Forgetfulness. 3. Malice. 4. Non compassion. 5. Over compassion.
Chapter 5
Role of Wisdom: Liberation via understanding.
Knowledge via internal observation and empiricism not from microscopes and external introspection. Must engage with people around us. Max Weber talked about working all the time.
2 Types of Meditation: Shamatham: one point, merge with the point, calm, silence. Vipassana: Dislodges self-centeredness.
Your gut feeling is often wrong.
Just give to others including the beggar. Results come from giving, not just praying.
Meditate into emptiness. You are empty space below the jewel tree. Delighted when others succeed.
Equanimity for all beings as our mothers in previous lives. Change self-concern to concern for others.
Universal compassion: Transcendent wisdom—understanding the cause of suffering and help others realize it themselves.
All is relative, including emptiness. Meditate on selfishness not nothing. Look at all as being linked, not in isolation.
Buddha says only do it if you prove it and you trust it, not because he said so.
We all melt into light.
Chapter 6
Need qualified mentor and compassion, intelligence, determination, and opportunity for practice.
Visualize Lake Manasarovar.
Give mentors the world. Ask them to stay for all living beings.
Equanimity; all is for the mother.
Free the self. Then help others free themselves.
Don’t memorize but integrate the mind.
I must do it for everyone. I can’t wait. How can we stand by when others are suffering?
Tantra; art of rebuilding the world where ignorance falls. Buddhism has been linked with Tantra for over 1,000 years.
Tantra:
1st Wing: No Escape
2nd Wing: Infinite Compassion
Need to understand the emptiness of self and wisdom. Advance your journey via a Guru who is adept. Open imagination and nervous system and dream lucidity. Greatest treasure of Tibet.
4 types: Outer ritual tantra; inner ritual tantra; yoga tantra; un-exceeded yoga tantra.
Creation Stage—do not fear death but see it as a great transformation.
Perfection Stage—all life created via mutual imagination. You can use all energy to make positive change. Mandala is an area under the jewel tree to keep dreaming and meditate.
Book of the Dead is step by step guidance for dying. No one is dead, just transforming. Mind moves to ‘dream body’ ‘between holy states.’ You go into the next state.
When you die:
You melt, hallucinations and mirage=> smoke in eyes and hot and agitated=> pure internal candle (stillness)=> Subtle wind (vast space, moon light)=>radiance of all light=>Imminence (dark light, lose consciousness)=>Transparency (clear but not bright)—creative and healthy.
Yogi goes through these states 49 days after death. Tibetans do not care about ancestors because no one is dead.
Ancestors are liberating not depressing. At the end meditate on their next journey. Avalokite Shvura; you see 1,000s of arms asking for help.
Om Mani Padme Hum (jewel is in the lotus).
Visualize a wheel of light meditation every day. Light changes all to love.
Great devotions are not wasted.