MA

A great history of the Paylul lineage of Nyingmpa. Explains how this lineage has remained unbroken to this present day.

Gyatrul Rinpoche is one of a handful of Tibetan masters who have decided to publish certain material usually reserved for "personal transmission." Anyone practicing visualization (so-called "kye rim") according to the nyingma school of buddhism will find this book invaluable help for remembering the many detailed aspects of symbolism involved in this level of practice. The beginner may get bored. Even so, I would recommend you buy it, and wait. You'll need it sooner or later.

This book is very easy to read and presents in easy-to-understand and follow style, what Dr. Wallach espouses in his lectures, "Dead Doctors Don't Lie". If you've listened to his CDs or cassettes, this book is a must read. It contains the references, articles, and recommendations for a healthy and long life. You can pick it up and read one chapter, or read many chapters, in any order. Each are succinctly and independently written.

I read The Grand Scribe's Records vol. 7 with immense pleasure, having worked on translations of several Shiji Memoirs in the past, finally defeated by the immensity of the task and the overwhelming number of obscure historical, geographical and literary references. This is where Nienhauser and his team have excelled: their translations extend beyond the basic text to the abundant notes and commentary generated by centuries of Chinese scholarship on this important work of history. The footnotes cross-reference every name and event that appears in the text to other parts of the Shiji and to other pre-Han texts.

The Shiji or Historical Records (Records of the Historian, Grand Scribe's Records) is the most impressive work of history of its time, on par with the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and with far less speculation than Herodotus. It was a heroic attempt to recover and explain the first millenia of the Chinese world from the scattered remains of documents destroyed by the First Emperor of China. Scholars agree its influence on later Chinese historical writing is profound. The Memoirs translated in this volume are the most readable section of the work, presenting more than a hundred memorable characters in brief thematic biographies.

Nienhauser and his colleagues present a highly readable translation, but offer much more to the general reader and student by explaining obscure references to sacrifices, dating, names, official posts, customs, etc.; by discussing doubtful readings and alternate translations; by identifying place-names and locating them in Tan Qixiang's The Historical Atlas of China; and by identifying passages that have parallels in other contemporary texts. These notes, plus a table of weights and measures, an enlightening discussion of chronology, an excellent bibliography and index, make their work vastly superior to the otherwise excellent English renderings of the Shiji and Zuozhuan [Tso Chuan] by Burton Watson, or of the Zhanguoce [Intrigues of the Warring States] by Crump, or of Lu Buwei's Annals by Knoblock. Only James Legge's translations of the Chinese classics demonstrate a similar commitment to explicating the text, though without the benefit of recent scholarship and archaeological discovery. When all nine volumes are complete, this work will be a classic and an essential text in any historian's library.

[My only complaint: shame on the copy editors for missing two misspellings in the first sentence of the first memoir!]

O'Brien has captured the essence of the mystery, beauty and natural wonders of Cape Cod. This book is essential for anyone who wishes to find the elusive nest of the Gull Winged Shepherdor or to identify the mating call of the migrating Flavell. O'Brien, a Cape Cod naturalists who has study the flora and fauna of Old Cape Cod since 1937, has given us a precious resource with the "Guide to Nature on Cape Cod and the Islands."

This book documents the life of one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Venerable Master Hsing Yun of the Fo Guang Shan (Buddha's Light Mountain) Buddhist Order, Taiwan, has been a Buddhist scholar and writer for more than 55 years. This biography documents his early struggles to survive in China during the Japanese invasion of the late 1930s, through his equally difficult times after coming to Taiwan in 1949, to the development of one of the largest and most influential Chinese Buddhist Orders in today's world.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun is seen as a reformer (if not revolutionary) of Buddhism which in China had for many centuries retreated to the "Mountains and Forests." Through his remarkable resolve and diligent practice, he has brought a renaissance of the essence of original Buddhism to the every day lives of today's laity. Through a system of over 200 temples world-wide and a lay-Buddhist organization (Buddha's Light International Association), millions of people in many countries have been introduced to the teachings of the Buddha. Through his innovative methods as well as compassion, he has popularized the Buddha's teachings in a realistic and practical way for both personal and social transformation. Master Hsing Yun has inspired so many people though his work to "localize" Buddhism for the benefit of all sentient beings. As a caring and pragmatic educator, he continues into his 75th year to be a catalyst to so many people for both personal development and service to this world. The reader will not only clearly understand the causes and conditions out of which Venerable Master Hsing Yun arose, but also the benefits he continues to offer.

Paul Theroux takes a close look at the places and people he visits. He is very discriptive, but yet manages to entertain and capture the reader. Once I started the book, I did not want to put it down. It's a must for everybody who wants to travel to the South Pacific.

It might seem a bit out of order, but what can more we do than believe in love as the source of whatsoever exist

I have,so far, 4 volumes of this large comic book from Comics One, and if you are a fan of Swordfight stories you will really enjoy this. This is NOT KUNGFU, that you see in movies that are dubbed. I don't know if this story was originally told in serial form in daily newspapers in Hong Kong or not, but Louis Cha is a very popular author among Chinese readers. This is a swordfight story which is a totally different genre of storytelling. I guess the closest comparison would be to Stormriders (the movie and Comic with Cheng Ekin and Aaron Kwok, that was originally a comic illustrated and told by Ma Wing Shing. The next closest comparison would be to "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" the movie and comic book and story. Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre is beautifully illustrated and tells,in the first 4 volumes, the story of Wuji, a little boy born to parents from oposing warring clans. It is about his adventures, and how he is influenced by his Father's nobility/righteousness of character (a member of the Wu Tang clan specializing in internal skills) and his love for his mother "a sorceress of the evil sky clan". The first volume tells of how his father and mother meet and it is a dashing romantic story that hooks you and makes you feel you care and want to know more about how the improbable marriage of a beautiful "sorceress" to an idealistic chivalrous young man works out, and the magic and mystery surrounding the heaven sword. There is poetry when Louis Cha (who has written many stories)has the sorceress start falling in love with Wuji's future father when he challenges an enemy with internal skills calligraphy imprinted onto the side of a stonemountain. The second volume deals with their son meeting the consequences of his parents love for each other as they go back home, and face their relatives and clan members. The third volume starts with the adventures of Wuji, and the meeting of a number of people such as an evil healer and a number of different little girls that he ends up meeting again when he is grown up. Many styles of fighting/internal chi and weapons techniques are mentioned throughout, after all, this is a Swordfight comic, and I like every aspect of it. The illustrations are gorgeous, and it is not the wide-eyed comics that you may have seen. Unfortunately, the cover of the 1st volume doesn't really tell about the story, because the first volume is classic chinese romantic stuff with dashing fighting and display of a number of external/internal hard/soft styles of swordfighting. Heaven Sword is also about the intricate complexity of relationships surrounding the heaven sword and dragon sabre. I love it. I believe this will appeal more to mature readers than to those expecting the "kung fu" that they might have been exposed to.

This comic series is great. Especially if you enjoy Wuxia novels and anything Louis Cha has ever written. this is a must for anyone serious about Martial arts fiction.