Timothy Leary's Psychedelic Experience: A Guide to the Tibetan Book of the Dead

Benjamin D. Dodson: Let me just say if you can find this book with out the introduction from Daniel Pinchbeck get that one instead. Because it seems he didn’t really read the book. It just seems like he wanted to get his name out there for his own books. Talking about global warming and over population in the introduction. Those things are not talked about in the book.

The rest of the book is well written and presented.

United States on Sep 25, 2023

Amazon Customer: Probably a fake printed version. I don't believe Penguin books make such a poor printing work. Haven't seen anything like that before. Anyhow, I was looking forward to reading this book, and it's good to have the opportunity

Germany on Mar 13, 2023

Raphael Geiser: Psychonauten aufgepasst. Super Buch. Wer kein Englisch kann, die heutigen Smartphones können per Camera übersetzen. Es geht wohl viel verloren. Habe es auf englisch und deutsch - übersetzt gelesen. Die Übersetzung vom Handy naja. Der Inhalt trotzdem super klasse auf englisch haha. Also ja Empfehlung.

Germany on Nov 17, 2022

CMWolf: This slim volume should be in the hands of anyone who participates in the psychedelic experience. Altered states of consciousness can sometimes present disturbing and potentially traumatic confrontations with Reality. A little familiarity with ancient wisdom interpreted for contemporary seekers is often all it takes to meet these challenges with a calm and receptive perspective, and resolve possible negative responses.
I'm grateful to have had access to this guidebook when I was young. Being informed by this book has helped me access the wisdom of my experiences and avoid falling into fear when encountering unfamiliar insights.
If you are going to participate in psychedelic travel, enter into it with a little preparation and a few guideposts. This book is a small, inexpensive, and timeless gem for all seekers.

United States on Mar 19, 2022

Jimy: This for me was really quite interesting . Leary et al using a portion of the Tibetan book of the daed to inform a psychedelic experience. It was written in the 60's when the LSD fad was raging. There are insights here but bear in mind that the whole book of the dead was only translated recently. This portion has been what passed for the whole has been around longer is what Leary is using here.
The first bardo of clear light is a far cry from everyday awareness and I am presuming this Harvard crew assumes it in the use of their psychedelic drug of choice that their experience would be or be analogous to the car light state. At any rate that approach is flawed but the intro gives some insight to that. I think the Tibetan aspect was probably inspired by Alpert. Instant enlightenment is of course tempting and that was the religion Leary was selling.

In general its a quite interesting document to the Leary Years and one might even get some insight in Tibetan Buddhism traditions.

United States on Mar 06, 2022

Dr. Daniel Modolo: Sobre o livro:
O livro é uma espécie da manual ao mesmo tempo místico, individual e técnico sobre a experiência de Timothy Leary com substâncias que alteram a consciência. Utilizando o Livro Tibetano dos Mortos como base, a obra se propõe a guiar o entusiasta dos psicodélicos nos diversos estágios da jornada, que Leary argumenta que é estereotipada em "bardos" para a maioria das pessoas e que, por conta disso, se relaciona com o processo de morte descrito pelos tibetanos antigos. Ele ensina como não cair em armadilhas de ego, como não se maravilhar com os visuais e com isso perder a real experiência sensorial completa e no final fornece alguns apêndices que, segundo sua própria instrução, podem ser gravados na voz do próprio psiconauta para ouvir durante a psicodelia, trazendo assim à lembrança os conceitos discutidos de forma racional no livro. Se você é entusiasta deste universo, vale a pena, ainda que não seja uma obra definidora da experiência e que esteja carregada desnecessariamente de alguns simbolismos que podem não ter o mesmo significado para todo mundo. Quatro estrelas!

Brazil on Aug 05, 2020

Cowcow: I work with the ill and dying daily, as well as trippers. When someone I know dies, falls into a comma, comes out of a psychotic episode, or decides to dive into the abyss, I make sure to have this book on me for the recitations- just in case.

None of the negative reviews of this book take into account it's historical importance. The Books of the Dead are still seen today by conventional authorities as Funerary Rituals, which is true, but the funeral the rituals are for is not simply the body, but the ego- which is most likely the "psychedelic experience" referred to in the title. "Psychedelic", I believe it says in the book, is not restricted to drug induced experiences, and drugs are not the only way to suppress and/or kill the ego.
This book is not simply a manual for trippers, hence what I assume is the confusion I see expressed in these reviews. Though it might be thought of, or even marketed that way, that is simply too narrow a view of this work. It is in fact, a manual for the Tibetan Book of the Dead (aka The Tibetan Book of Coming Forth by Day). I see no negative comments here by anyone claiming to have read that book. I definitely suggest read it, and even...

United States on Nov 11, 2017

Sempie: Ersteinmal:
Das Buch ist nicht immer leicht zu lesen. Hier ein tipp: Man muss nicht jedes Wort verstehen. In aller Regel lässt sich der Sinn aus dem Kontext ableiten.
Es hat nur 120 Seiten und hiervon sind knapp 40 Seiten Beiwerk.
Dieses Beiwerk wirkt nicht aufblähend. Es trägt stimmig zur Sache bei und bereitet den Leser auf das folgende "eigentliche" Buch vor.
The Psychedelic Experience will, ganz im Sinne des Tibetanischen Totenbuches, mehrmals gelesen werden.

Es geht Leary nicht darum, das Wissen des Lesers durch den Inhalt des Buches anzureichern.
Vielmehr ist es Learys Absicht, das Bewusstsein des Lesers in einen Zustand zu versetzen, in dem die Psychedelische Erfahrung also solche (also nicht das Buch. Volkstümlich also "der Trip") am sinnvollsten ablaufen kann.
Leary beschreibt verschiedene Phasen die nach Einnahme einer psychedelischen Substanz (LSD, Psilocybin, DMT, Meskalin,..) ablaufen, welche Richtungen zu gehen sind und was eben zu vermeiden ist.
Dabei schafft es Leary die negativen Aspekte in einer Weise anzusprechen, in der man als leser das Negative nicht übernimmt. Man kann es (Das negative, chaos, Ursache des bad trip)...

Germany on Sep 20, 2017

: This 'manual' was initially published back in the early mid sixties- i.e. before the hallucinogens were made illegal. My vague historical understanding of the period has Leary and Huxley arguing for the use of L.S.D. but while Huxley supported usage by an elite of creatives, Leary slowly shifted position from limited use in academic research by the therapeutic community to a much broader use by the community at large and a 'revolution in general cultural consciousness'. The book seems to have been written/published midway by Leary and purports to be an invaluable manual for the safe and serious use of psychedelics (to be read and re-read prior usage and remembered during sessions) for spiritual growth. It contains history, theory, detailed description and explanation, positive suggestions for use in terms of dose, set and setting and also includes 'excerpts' of The Tibetan Book of The Dead to help guide those attempting to experience hallucinogens. The general tone of the book is very positive and reassuring. The darker side of hallucinogenic experience is also discussed on several occasions throughout the text with explanation and remedies for them too.

I found the second...

United Kingdom on Jan 19, 2016

reed savvy: I was there, or you could say now, then. My friends and I took our first hit on sugar cubes in 1963. Just before the book came out . One of my friends ordered it special cause it came out in 1964 so we waited for it by the mail-box daily till it came . When it did, as a group we used it to navigate through the difficult places the book suggest. Seeing the whole structure of the material world on a micro / macro level. Understanding the structure of the mind/brain/personality process. We discovered the clear light and used to say when we saw each other weeks after we took trips together "Are you still where it's at". We could maintain 2-3 days of total awareness of the effects of the L.S.D. At this time that we took it, It was still Legal. It became Illegal in 1966 at which time we stopped taking it. (disclaimer) Ha! Ha!. The book was responsible for changing the way we view the world and our selves. We did loose our ego's. We did experience most of the levels in the book as real to us. Nothing short of a full on Eastern Mystical experience. The real thing only from a drug and an instruction book. With out the book we had no way of labeling our experiences so as to identify them as...

United States on Mar 03, 2015