The Jewel Tree of Tibet / My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru

[March 16th, 2005]

^The Jewel Tree of Tibet

By Robert Thurman (Free Press, 288 pages, $25)

In 1997, The New York Times called him "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism." That same year, Time magazine dubbed him one of its most influential Americans. Actress Uma Thurman calls him Dad.

Columbia professor Robert Thurman has been popularizing Buddhism and Tibetan culture in the United States for years. His latest book, The Jewel Tree of Tibet, breaks down the tenets of the complex, centuries-old teachings used by Tibetan masters, centering on the "wish-fulfilling jewel tree," an allegorical image that acts like a mandala to generate bliss and enlightenment, the true goals of Tibetan spirituality.

Jewel Tree attempts to help readers "cultivate the sensitivity and appreciation to love more fully, feel compassion more intensely and become a fountain of cheerfulness for all they meet and know." But Thurman's digressions bounce around the page as if spilled from the word processor of a blissed-out Willy Wonka. The book rolls through dissections of meditational prayers, a lightning-fast history of Buddhism, the author's own spiritual path, and the core of the jewel-tree philosophy in the first chapters alone.

In his effort to break down these esoteric teachings for a Western audience, Thurman cannonballs into the deep end of the enlightenment pool. Newcomers to Buddhism will find themselves rereading paragraphs over and over again. As for the more experienced, Jewel Tree could serve as a playful shove down the road to nirvana. Brandon Hartley

^My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru

By Tim Guest (Harcourt, 320 pages, $14.95)

Remember bumper stickers that read, "Jesus saves; Bhagwan spends"? Then you might recall the chapter in Oregon's history pockmarked with Rolls Royces, orange robes and bioterrorism.

In 1981, the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh moved to a ranch 120 miles southeast of Portland, near Antelope. Young British author Tim Guest grew up in the famed Rajneeshpuram, and other such communes in India, Great Britain and Germany. His memoir illustrates a world in which children are all but forgotten beings, wandering in and out of rooms where adults dance, cry, make love and, occasionally, break each other's bones.

In addition to supplying honest insight into communal life, Guest circuitously provides a nuanced portrait of a guru who was only ever worshipped or demonized. Guest neither forgives nor blames Bhagwan-a man who owned about a hundred Rolls Royces and watched Indian television because he missed home. Rather, My Life reveals Bhagwan's massive following to have been something quite beyond one man's control.

Though any kid growing up under similar circumstances might be able to pawn his memories today, Guest stands out as a writer first and a witness second, matching interesting subject matter with a pure, lyrical style. Since his youth, Guest has recognized the error of those bent on steeping life's subtleties in a single color. He wisely avoids all-encompassing explanations and other forms of enlightenment so bright as to repel examination. Johanna Droubay