THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD by W.Y. Evans-Wentz

Soft cover, 253 pages, 20cm x 14cm

According to legend, this great work is one of the texts that the honored guru Padma-Sambhava concealed during his visit to Tibet in the late eighth century.  Because Tibetans of that day and age were not yet prepared for such teachings, Padma-Sambhava was forced to hide his books in stones, lakes and pillars.  Now, in the form of the ever-popular Tibetan Book of the Dead, these teachings are constantly being discovered and rediscovered by Western readers of many different backgrounds - a phenomenon which began in 1927 with Oxford's first edition of Dr Evans-Wentz's landmark volume.

While it is traditionally used as a mortuary test, to be read or recited in the presence of a dead or dying person, this book - which relates toe whole experience of death and rebirth in three intermediate states of being - was originally understood as a guide not only for the dead but also for the living.  As a contribution to the science of death and dying as well as to the belief in life after death, The Tibetan Book of the Dead is unique among the sacred texts of the world, for its socio-cultural influence in this regard is without comparison.