Robert Thurman - Infinite Life: Awakening to Bliss Within

Praise for Infinite Life

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.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Thurman delivers life-changing lessons.

Snow Lion

Praise for Inner Revolution

An inspiring guide to incorporating Buddhist wisdom into daily life. Thurman shows how self-examination, far from miring the seeker in navel-gazing, can lead to an expanded sense of connection with others.

USA Today

This book, both testimonial and invitational, addresses in a compelling... argument the palpable desires of an exhausted culture eager to go on pilgrimage from me to meaning.

The New York Times Book Review

Part spiritual memoir, part philosophical treatise and part religious history, Thurmans book is a passionate declaration of the possibilities of renewing the world.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Thurmans lucid teachings infuse the concepts of liberty and happiness with cosmic significance and do much to illuminate the reasons for Buddhisms blooming in the West.

Booklist

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ALSO BY ROBERT THURMAN

Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness

The Holy Teaching of Vimalakrti

The Central Philosophy of Tibet

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

Essential Tibetan Buddhism

Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet

(with Marylin Rhie)

Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion

(with Marylin Rhie)

Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment

(with Denise Leidy)

Circling the Sacred Mountain

(with Tad Wise)

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Copyright 2004 by Robert Thurman

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

RIVERHEAD is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

PRINTING HISTORY

First Riverhead hardcover edition: February 2004

First Riverhead trade paperback edition: February 2005

The Library of Congress has catalogued the Riverhead hardcover edition as follows:

Thurman, Robert A. F.

Infinite life : seven virtues for living well / by Robert Thurman.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-101-66445-2

1. Spiritual lifeBuddhism. 2. BuddhismDoctrines. I. Title.

BQ5660.T487 2004 2003047142

294.3444dc21

I deeply bow and sincerely thank all the many wonderful people who have inspired and helped me with this book. My ancestors, foremost my mother, Betsy, and father, Beverly, who gave me my body and cared for it with much love and generosity and intelligence. My spiritual ancestors in the Dharma, foremost the Buddha Shakyamuni and the great archangelic bodhisattvas, Manjushri, Tara, and company, the great sages and siddhas such as Ngrajuna, Aryadeva, Asanga, Chandrakirti, Shantideva, and Dharmakirti, and the immortal lamas, such as Jey Tsong Khapa, who shaped my mind in ways I dont remember in previous lives and ways I somewhat remember in this life, though there seems to be no limit to the growth of my appreciation. My root teachers, formal and informal, foremost His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Venerable Geshe Wangyal, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Serkhong Tsenshap Rinpoche, Tara Tulku, Locho Rinpoche, and good friend Gelek Rinpoche, who continue to instruct me, even when it is only when I remember and belatedly understand some long-past teaching, the depth of which I had not fathomedprobably still dont completely. My kind friends and capable students, such as Joel and Joe, Sarah, Bobo, Lava, and Louise, who always stir my brain and tongue to produce something more meaningful. My beloved close family, Nena, Ganden, Uma, Taya, Dechen, Mipam, Dash, Caroline, Max, Maya, and Levon, who dont even imagine how much they help me just by being there. And all my Mother Sensitive Beings, who have cared for me in countless lives and continue to help me to someday come to share with them the nexus of infinite bliss I have sensed at the core of all, in timeless moments.

On the practical level, my helpful friend Diana, my agent, Lynn Nesbit, my editors, Amy Hertz and Marc Haeringer, my editorial assistant, MeiMei Fox, and all the kind professionals at Riverhead Books.

To all of you, my main thank-you is my effort to reflect your kindness to our Mother Beings by channeling these teachings that come from higher beings while trying to minimize the channels many imperfections. On top of that, I will not forget your kindness, and I say thank you, thank you, thank you!

To Nena

O Noble Lady, no matter how I sought you

I found no truthsubstantiated certainty,

My mindyouth tortured by fabrications

Till you bestowed upon him deep relief

In the forest hut of inexpressibility!...

Transcendent Wisdom, Supreme Mother of Buddhas,

Breathing out and in all that lives and stands,

Natural clear light, forever troublefree, Truth Body Angel

Let us all enjoy the great good fortune of the Noble Lady!

From Pabongka Dechen Nyingpos Swift Path of Great Bliss

THE DALAI LAMA

I am very happy to introduce my old friend Bob Thurmans new book, the title of which he derives from the name of one of the buddhas, known in Tibetan as Tsepamey, meaning Infinite Life, which denotes the qualities that buddha principally embodies. He represents the Mahayana view that perfect enlightenment is not merely a peaceful state of cessation, almost like nonexistence. Buddhahood involves a state of complete awareness that finds blissful expression in a compassion that tirelessly embraces all living beings, manifesting whenever necessary to help them reach their own freedom from suffering.