Rating: 
Summary: Enlightening, bright and fun!
Review: This book was absorbing and easy to read, yet filled with gems of depth, humor and wisdom. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have tried some of the exercizes. This book transformed my life in so many positive ways. I'm grateful to have stumbled upon it. I highly recommend it to anyone who'se not afraid of light, truth and their own enlightenment!
Rating: 
Summary: POWDER!
Review: This is a pretty cool book. Especially if you're a powder junkie. Some reallly weird boarding going on here. But it's cool because there aren't many books on this rad sport out there (which sucks!).
This guy is doing some serious snowboarding. He's making the same trip Jim, Tom Burt and Chris Noble did last year when they snowboarded Mt. Pumori. Some graticious nakked women and dimension travelling (don't ask) too. I liked it. Might check out the other book to.
Thor Stone
Rating:
Summary: Book is great, author was dangerous
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read on Tantic Buddhism. In order to improve mentally you just need to simply meditate and see where it goes unstead of spending your money on book after book on how to improve your life. The strange thing is that the author killed himself in 1998 after it was discovered that he was running a semi-Jim Jones type cult and was responsible for a lot of mind control and sexual exploitation. It is strange that since, he was known to start of with good intentions in the 70's that such a good book came out as late as the ninties when he was in full swing with his cult. One would think that anything of quality would've came out before his ego got the best of him with the money homes and cars.
Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed reading this book...
Review: When I read Surfing the Himalayas a couple of years ago, I was completely inspired to try snowboarding. I had never skied and was a little wary but after the third day of snowboarding I become a snowboarding addict.
I just picked up Snowboarding to Nirvana and was pleased with the progression from Dr. Lenz's first book.
Snowboarding is written in a different style which is much more easy going which makes it that much more fun to read. I loved the combination of Buddhist instruction along with a lot of information about snowboarding which I wasn't aware of.
This is a fun read and although it is no longer snowboarding season, I would still recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing book, but misses the mark.
Review: When I read this book, I thought that I finally found a book that made sense out of buddhism. I was right, but it doesnt tell the full story. The book is about some guy who stumbled upon some enlightened masters who told him what buddhism was really like. What do I mean? Buddhism is a very profound religion. It deals with the causes of suffering and how to get out of it. However, there are contradictions with what Buddha taught and the way some people interpret his teachings. For instance, Buddha taught that Nirvana was within ourselves and that by gaining Nirvana one is free of suffering. If one has gained Nirvana one is free of death, illness, etc. yet we read of those who claim to have gained it... and die! This makes no sense. In this book, and regardless if it is fiction based on reality or not, we have some truth. The masters in this book do amazing things such as levitation, lighting up a mountain and so on. This is consistent with the infinite buddha nature that one has. Master Fwap gives a discourse that says there are many false taoist, buddhist and hindu yoga masters which makes sense. Many of these psuedo teachers and masters have no idea of what enlightenment is and cant even levitate a pencil, much less claim to have endless knowledge, power and freedom from suffering. At least in this book we have some outstanding teachings that are consistent with what Buddha taught. This in stark contrast to the mind numbing vaugeness of most buddhist books and magazines. However there are problems with the book, and this is why I dont give it five stars. The main problem is with Lenzs claim that master fwap and oracle attained Nirvana. According to an excellent book called the 'Questions of King Milinda' someone who has attained Nirvana has ALL his desires fulfilled. In other words he attains immortality, eternal youth, resides in heaven if he wishes, ad infinitum. Yet Master Fwap looks 70 years old. Now unless Master Fwaps nirvanic consciousness assumes the face and body of a 70 year old man, we can dismiss Lenzes claim here. Otherwise this and his previous book are truly great, and give an outstanding insight into this truly wondorous religion.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book, but misses the mark.
Review: When I read this book, I thought that I finally found a book that made sense out of buddhism. I was right, but it doesnt tell the full story. The book is about some guy who stumbled upon some enlightened masters who told him what buddhism was really like. What do I mean? Buddhism is a very profound religion. It deals with the causes of suffering and how to get out of it. However, there are contradictions with what Buddha taught and the way some people interpret his teachings. For instance, Buddha taught that Nirvana was within ourselves and that by gaining Nirvana one is free of suffering. If one has gained Nirvana one is free of death, illness, etc. yet we read of those who claim to have gained it... and die! This makes no sense. In this book, and regardless if it is fiction based on reality or not, we have some truth. The masters in this book do amazing things such as levitation, lighting up a mountain and so on. This is consistent with the infinite buddha nature that one has. Master Fwap gives a discourse that says there are many false taoist, buddhist and hindu yoga masters which makes sense. Many of these psuedo teachers and masters have no idea of what enlightenment is and cant even levitate a pencil, much less claim to have endless knowledge, power and freedom from suffering. At least in this book we have some outstanding teachings that are consistent with what Buddha taught. This in stark contrast to the mind numbing vaugeness of most buddhist books and magazines. However there are problems with the book, and this is why I dont give it five stars. The main problem is with Lenzs claim that master fwap and oracle attained Nirvana. According to an excellent book called the 'Questions of King Milinda' someone who has attained Nirvana has ALL his desires fulfilled. In other words he attains immortality, eternal youth, resides in heaven if he wishes, ad infinitum. Yet Master Fwap looks 70 years old. Now unless Master Fwaps nirvanic consciousness assumes the face and body of a 70 year old man, we can dismiss Lenzes claim here. Otherwise this and his previous book are truly great, and give an outstanding insight into this truly wondorous religion.
Rating: 
Summary: Little snowboarding, less buddhism, no originality
Review: When I started reading this book, I was expecting snowboarding and mountaineering adventure stories, with a little Buddhist perspective thrown in. The author claims to have been snowboarding the Himalayas, but apparently he didn't even have basic avalanche testing gear with him: shovel, probe, clinometer, etc. The action scenes are basically "I was getting bored so I went snowboarding. When I returned..." Most of the book is dialogue between the author, two prankster gurus and various characters they meet on their wacky, unlikely trek through the Himalayas. I was surprised at the descriptions of spiritual ideas and teachings. I was expecting Buddhism, but all the ideas seemed like generic new-age fluff, and had little to do with Buddhism aside from a lot of borrowed (and misused) terminology. Towards the end, it became apparent that the entire book is a rip-off of Carlos Castaneda's work. The supposed Tantric Buddhist monks even use terminology like the "second attention" that belongs exclusively to Castaneda, and perhaps to Yaqui Native American shamanism. It seems to me the author copied the plot of a Carlos Castaneda book, put Buddhist names on two of the trickster gurus and most of the metaphysical ideas, and then threw in lots of uneducated blather about enlightenment. Even the grand finale, the mystical teleportation of the central characters, is stolen from Castaneda. Aside from that, the writing is poor and the characters are flat. If you liked the new-age spirituality described in this book, go read Carlos Castaneda for a more authentic and thorough description of Yaqui shamanism. If you want Buddhism explained in a simple, entertaining way, go read "Hardcore Zen" by Brad Warner, or "Zen mind, Beginner's mind" by Shunryu Suzuki. If you're looking for snowboarding or mountain adventure books, look somewhere else. This book sucks!
Rating:
Summary: What's all the fuss about? A fine book, that's what...
Review: Whenever I am in the bookstore I inevitably come across one ofLenz's books. For years I have resisted the temptation to buy one.Not easy for a book junkie! Well, I broke down last week and purchased "Snowboarding to Nirvana". I figured with summer coming up and all, I'll have plenty of time to read it...but, to my surprise, it was so interesting that I finished the book in 2 days. There's nothing like reading a book too quickly and feeling that itch for something more. When the sequel appears I'll be first in line...
Rating:
Summary: Advertising works!
Review: While driving to and from work I kept hearing the different ads for Snowboarding to Nirvana on the radio. The ads definitely caught my attention so I decided to go out and see what the book was all about.
To make a short story short, I bought it and really enjoyed the book. Now that snowboarding season is over it took me right back to the mountain which I have been really missing.
Thanks for the trip!
Rating:
Summary: This book is priceless.
Review: With a mischievous sense of humor and a determined refusal to take himself too seriously, Dr. Lenz takes us on a roller coaster ride from the highs of the Himalayas to the lows of smogged-out LA, and leaves us in breathless wonder. I love this book, not only for the purity and beauty of the Buddhist concepts it discusses, but for making them so approachable to a member of Generation X growing up and living in the west. I read this book whenever I need to be reminded that there is more to life than the stressed out world that meets our senses. This book is a breath of fresh air. I recommend it to all spiritual seekers, snowboarders, and people simply seeking new dimensions of light and happiness.
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