A Saint in Seattle: The Life of the Tibetan Mystic Dezhung Rinpoche

Rating:
Summary: An inspiring and compelling spiritual biography
Review: A Saint in Seattle is a fascinating book that I did not want to lay aside. The early chapters are devoted to Dhezhung Rinpoche's childhood and early adulthood, and are a wonderful depiction of what intensive spiritual training was like for a gifted lama in early twentieth century Tibet. The brief biographies of his primary teachers are also great to read--both informative and inspiring.

The later chapters focus upon Dhezung Rinpoche's life and teaching activities outside Tibet, primarily in the United States. As one of the very first Tibetan lamas to reside in the United States in the early 1960s, he experienced first hand and helped nurture the gradual spiritual maturing of western students until his death nearly four decades later. This part of the book is filled with anecdotes about dharma in the west--some amusing and some inspiring--that include descriptions of several other famous Tibetan lamas and many Western students. As one of his earlier students, I enjoyed reading about many westerners I have known but had never read about in a publication before who helped to shape Buddhism in the west.

The author, Dr. David Jackson, demonstrates a scholar's attention to detail and accuracy throughout the book that I appreciated. He portrays Dhezhung Rinpoche's many-faceted personality through numerous anecdotes, capturing his great kindness and wisdom, sense of humor, unflagging patience and persistence, seemingly boundless energy, intense focus on meditation throughout all aspects of daily life, amazing breadth of knowledge, and profound humility.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in integrating spiritual practice into everyday life, particularly but not exclusively through the Tibetan Buddhist path. A Saint in Seattle provides spiritual inspiration and a tremendous wealth of information about Tibetan Buddhism as practiced traditionally in Tibet and as transmitted to and practiced by westerners. It is also a wonderfully captivating story of a great spiritual teacher and of the dramatically changing history of Tibetan Buddhism as it migrated west in the 20th century.