Robert Thurman--father of Uma, outspoken critic of George Bush's administration and one of the first Westerners to bring popularize Buddhism in America—has written what is arguably his finest book. In Infinite Life he invites readers into a fascinating new way of thinking living and meditating that might do more to save the world than any political act known to humans. In recognizing that our lives and even our moment-to-moment choices choices have eternal ramifications, we are at once free from the burden of petty pursuits yet suddenly saddled with the weight of infinite responsibility. Thurman helps students understand that carrying this weight is the only way we can free ourselves and the rest of the world form suffering. Buddhists recognize this as the path of "the bodhisattva," dedicated to the well-being of all beings. In order to help readers make this quantum shift in awareness, Thurman structure his chapters around the paramitas, or transcendent virtues: wisdom, generosity, patience, contemplation, justice (usually called "discipline"), and creativity ("diligence"). He adds a seventh virtue: art—as in the "art of infinite living." Each chapter includes a lesson on a virtue as well as meditations and life choices that support personal and global transformation. "You can try out a whole new approach to life," he promises. "Then we'll explore how can put your new ideas into practice in the world, turning your thoughts into action. We'll examine the repercussions of your personal change on society and on the fragile, opalescent planet. We'll see how personal transformation is social transformation."

He delivers his promise with political and spiritual punch. Some criticize Thurman for his outspokenness against the current Bush administration. But for those who want to use their spirituality to create political change—this book is filled with excellent meditations and lifestyle suggestions for bringing about global compassion and humanity. --Gail Hudson


From Publishers Weekly
One day more than 40 years ago, when Thurman was a 21-year-old novice monk (the first Western Tibetan Buddhist monk), he had a physical experience that showed him how the idea of reincarnation, so vast and impossible to verify, can transform our lives right here and now. In his follow-up to Inner Revolution, the Columbia University professor describes how he was walking down a road in New Jersey, sent by his Tibetan teacher to buy milk for tea, when he suddenly experienced the lifting or release of a familiar "push-pressure" around his tail bone. "The pressure gone, I immediately saw that I had always been feeling as if I were being pushed along from behind toward my destination, not only to the grocery store on Route 9 but to my destiny in life, my future in general." Taking stock, he realized that under all of his ordinary thoughts, he had been pondering the Buddhist understanding of the "beginninglessness" of life. Here, in a guide that can be read through as daring thought experiment or delved into as a workbook, Thurman seeks to impart a sense of the inner freedom, the literal lightening up, that becomes possible as we begin to understand that we are all participants in an "infinite life." Thurman explores related transcendent virtues: wisdom, generosity, justice, patience, creativity, contemplation and making art in the service of others. He offers meditations but always returns to the larger truth that true enlightenmentâ€"true awakening to the infiniteâ€"is never an escape from life but a state of awareness and compassion for other living beings. Among the riches offered here is the insight that we do not become faceless blobs as we realize our selflessness and the infinite nature of our lives but true individualists. Liberated from a fear of death and isolation, confident that we are in a long-term relationship with life that can never be severed, we can begin to help ourselves and others to happiness. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Thurman, a preeminent Tibetan Buddhist scholar, has long championed the cause of Tibet's liberation and sought to promote Buddhism in the West, writing a number of worthy books, including Inner Revolution (1998). He is also, as his biographical materials note, the father of actress Uma Thurman as well as a "close personal friend of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama," a vague celebrity status that may have inspired the misguided pop approach of this attempt to present Buddhism as a scientific alternative to Western psychology. Thurman begins with the premise that all beings will have an infinite number of lives, and that all are interconnected. He then presents his Buddhist "psychology," and encourages the cultivation of wisdom, generosity, justice, patience, creativity, and contemplation through various meditations. Unfortunately, his attempt to reach a mass audience falls short as the book's breezy conversational tone and uneven prose distract from valid ideas. Jane Tuma
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Tricycle, Spring 2004
With Infinite Life, Robert Thurman...offers what may become his most influential book to date.


Review
“Robert Thurman is a living treasure, one of today’s most provocative spiritual thinkers." —Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence



Book Description
One of Time magazine's 25 Most Influential People in America writes about taking responsibility for our own happiness and our actions.

Robert Thurman is America's most popular and charismatic Buddhist. His first book, Inner Revolution, is an international bestseller and his lectures sell out to thousands.

Infinite Life demonstrates that our every action has infinite consequences for ourselves and others, here and now, and after we are gone. Thurman introduces the Seven Virtues to reconstructing body and mind carefully in order to reduce the negative consequences and cultivate the positive. In his powerful, pragmatic style, Thurman delivers life-changing lessons on the virtues and emotions. He invites us to take responsibility for our actions and their consequences while we revel in the knowledge that our lives are truly infinite. Infinite Life is the ultimate guidebook to understanding our place in the universe and realizing how we can personally succeed while helping others.


About the Author
Robert A. F. Thurman, a college professor and writer for thirty years, holds the first endowed chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in America, at Columbia University. He is the cofounder and president of Tibet House New York, an organization dedicated to preserving the endangered civilization of Tibet. He was the first Western Tibetan Buddhist monk and shares a close, thirty-five-year friendship with the Dalai Lama. END

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Infinite Life, Robert Thurman invites us to examine our assumptions about living and dying and to take into account the possibility that not only are our lives not meaningless, they have tremendous impact. He asks us to consider that instead of having one shot to get it right for either oblivion or eternity, we might indeed have an infinite past and future. And if that is the case, if we are evolving over infinite time, then every action in our lives has infinite consequences for ourselves and others. Therefore, we must take responsibility in the present for our actions and their effects - we must live our immortality now. But balanced against that tremendous responsibility is the opportunity for a life of infinite joy, infinite connection with other beings, and infinite power to do good.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

One day more than 40 years ago, when Thurman was a 21-year-old novice monk (the first Western Tibetan Buddhist monk), he had a physical experience that showed him how the idea of reincarnation, so vast and impossible to verify, can transform our lives right here and now. In his follow-up to Inner Revolution, the Columbia University professor describes how he was walking down a road in New Jersey, sent by his Tibetan teacher to buy milk for tea, when he suddenly experienced the lifting or release of a familiar "push-pressure" around his tail bone. "The pressure gone, I immediately saw that I had always been feeling as if I were being pushed along from behind toward my destination, not only to the grocery store on Route 9 but to my destiny in life, my future in general." Taking stock, he realized that under all of his ordinary thoughts, he had been pondering the Buddhist understanding of the "beginninglessness" of life. Here, in a guide that can be read through as daring thought experiment or delved into as a workbook, Thurman seeks to impart a sense of the inner freedom, the literal lightening up, that becomes possible as we begin to understand that we are all participants in an "infinite life." Thurman explores related transcendent virtues: wisdom, generosity, justice, patience, creativity, contemplation and making art in the service of others. He offers meditations but always returns to the larger truth that true enlightenment-true awakening to the infinite-is never an escape from life but a state of awareness and compassion for other living beings. Among the riches offered here is the insight that we do not become faceless blobs as we realize our selflessness and the infinite nature of our lives but true individualists. Liberated from a fear of death and isolation, confident that we are in a long-term relationship with life that can never be severed, we can begin to help ourselves and others to happiness. (Feb.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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