Teachings Don Juan : A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge

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Summary: Esoteric teachings from the south american indians.
Review: The serie of Calos Castaneda's books is very interesting if you like esoteric stuff. Even if you don't belive that this story is true, these books won't let you go to sleep, or to eat for that matter, once you have started to read one of them. But remember that it's best to read them in the right order or you won't understand all of the stuff in them. Please be aware of that this teachings might just be made up by the author. Or not... /Mattias Gustafsson

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Summary: A magical and spiritual journey into the mind and soul.
Review: The Teachings of Don Juan is an insightful look at an ancient method of seeking knowledge. Don Juan, a sorcerer and man of knowledge, takes our narrator on a ancient journey into the soul. They encounter the mystical forces of nature and explore other dimensions of reality in this facinating book. Don Juan's teachings are a reminder of the magical world of the native people of the Americas, a world in which we destroyed. Walk with Carlos Casteneda and Don Juan on this philosophical journey into the unknown world of human and natural powers

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Summary: Experiments in syncretism and applied allegory
Review: "In the course of Castaneda's books, the reader may begin to doubt the existence of the Indian Don Juan, and many other things besides. But that has no importance. So much the better if the books are a syncretism rather than an ethnographic study, and the protocol of an experiment rather than an account of an initiation" (Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, pp 161-162).

Why not think of this as an experiment, or a literary lab report? Castaneda's project is to transform threads from Nietzsche and Gurdjieff and folk life into practice. In what way did he turn into a crow? It's for you, dear reader, to decode Castaneda's testimony. I like this kind of reading, myself; the genre of experiment and sly reporting I find quite rewarding. You just can't take it literally. (It's a dumb idea to assume the literal reading of any book is the best reading of all books.)

Other extremely valuable volumes in this clever genre include: Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (Gurdjieff), Matrix of Mystery (H.V. Guenther), Creative Meditation and Multidimensional Consciousness (Govinda), A Thousand Plateaus (quoted above), and most importantly Tarthang Tulku's Time Space Knowledge series and the Shambhala books of Chogyam Trungpa.

Homage to Sukhasiddhi and all true teachers.

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Summary: Worth the Read
Review: Not, understandably for everyone, but an American Classic by now. If you haven't at least read ONE Don Juan book, you are missing something. Truth or fiction... who cares? Why classify it? Kept me reading to the end.

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Summary: I'm sorry, but I do need to lower the overall rating score
Review: I'm sorry, but I do need to lower the overall rating score.

Because I agree with that title from another review and it sums up the book. It's FICTION, people! He made it up! Get with the program, kthx.

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Summary: The First of many Great Castaneda Books
Review: This is the first of the many Carlos Castaneda Books. I was first introduced by my father to Carlos Castaneda's books when I was only 5 years old. I had always heard of the Naguales and the powers they have. This is a great introduction to another form of thinking and consciousness that others have that the every day human does not. If you are in to metaphyiscal things, this is a great book for enlightment.

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Summary: Who cares if it's not a real antrhopological analysis?
Review: People seem to think that this story is terrible only because it is fictional. Just because Carlos Castaneda pretended it was real does not make it a bad story. If anyone's ever read "The Dice Man" by Luke Rhinehart they'll know that it is supposed to be a first hand account by Rhinehart but in reality it is fiction and so is the name Luke Rhinehart which is only a pen name. Still the book is amazing. I think that the people who hate this book are the people who were actually duped into thinking it was a real story and now since they feel so foolish they are mad at Carlos Castaneda for "lying" to them. It's rediculous. This book is amazing because the story is amazing. It's a work of fiction but an amazing one at that. Plus, if people thought it might be a true story I find that impressive. I suggest this book, it is amazing.

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Summary: Sadly, no
Review: From a literary perspective I think this is a well-written book, especially compared with things like The Celestine Prophecy which is a kind of pale echo. But there is no way this is an anthropological record. To me Don Juan seemed transparently a projection of Castaneda's own hallucinogen-inspired reflections and conclusions about consciousness and being. Putting the teachings into the mouth of a wise but unverifiable native sage gave him a credibility he would lack as merely a philosophical young drug abuser. Castaneda's insights aren't necessarily invalid, and maybe some readers feel less discomfort about accepting a liar as a guru than I would, but when he makes miraculous claims I hope most would take it with a big grain of salt. And when he describes his patently dangerous drug experiences, I fervently hope no reader will be tempted to munch peyote like M&Ms.

Personally I'm grateful that as a teenager craving the transcendent experience of reality, I discovered and fell in love with Henry David Thoreau rather than Carlos Castaneda. The luminosity Thoreau discovers within reality, Castaneda chases through hallucinations with a butterfly net.