Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth Karamapa, Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje | 
| Author: Michele Martin
Publisher: Snow Lion Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $7.12
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New (31) Used (12) Collectible (2) from $7.08
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 588786
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 1559391952
Dewey Decimal Number: 294.3923092
EAN: 9781559391955
ASIN: 1559391952
Publication Date: May 25, 2003
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Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! 2003 Paperback.
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Product Description
Includes with brief biographies of all sixteen previous Karmapas, specially composed for this collection by the highly respected Seventh Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Here, the reader discover the compelling histories of the first Tibetan masters to be recognized as reincarnate lamas.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Remarkable Book, Remarkable Man May 20, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Remarkable book, remarkable man. He will be very important to us in the future.
A deep bow.
 A partisan account March 24, 2008
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
Written by a Tibetan Buddhist of 30 years, a member of the Kagyu sect (the same as the Karmapa's), and a translator for the Karmapa himself, Michele Martin's book reads like an authorized biography - lots of sheen and not a blemish or a stray hair in sight.
In presenting the story of the 17th Karmapa's still young life, Martin proves adequate in presenting the facts. At least those that don't interfere with hagiography. If you read only this book you'd never know there is a rival claimant to the title of the Karmapa, that he lives in India and has been promoted by one of the 16th Karmapa's disciples.
Martin appears to have taken copious notes, or had access to someone's. If you ever wondered who attended what ceremonies, what prayers were said (and in what order), she provides plenty of detail. There is also a long recitation of miracles and miraculous omens, sometimes so many that you begin to wonder how the Tibetan rinpoches, lamas and monks are able to distinguish portents from everyday life. Among the numerous auspicious signs: a sparrow hawk landing near a human dwelling, a cuckoo bird landing on a tent and singing, a dream of a crane offering yogurt, a cup of milk in a meadow, rain of various sorts, rainbows, thunder, a crying child, bad weather turning to good, a yogi carrying a skull cap of nectar, arriving in the morning, a monk appearing suddenly, and unusual and unidentifiable sounds.
For someone who has worked as the Karmapa's translator, there is a surprising and disappointing lack of personal accounts, quotes, observations, or interpretations. There is nothing of Ms Martin to be found in this text, up to and including any way to interpret her descriptions of numerous miracles.
Almost half of this volume is a compendium of teachings and poetry of the 17th Karmapa, none of them particularly inspiring. The teachings provide a summary of some of Tibetan Buddhism's basic themes and concepts. They read like revisions of the Karmapa's lessons - heavy on theory but lacking the personal examples that would make them meaningful to an audience. The poetry, too, seems to be full of cribbed lines and themes, as one might expect from a young man who hasn't yet had much experience outside the monastery or read much beyond Buddhist philosophy.
For anyone that might need convincing, the back cover features quotes recommending the text from none other than Tai Situ Rinpoche, one of the 17th Karmapa's two closest teachers, as well as from Richard Gere. For a more complete account of the Karmapa the reader might like to try Mick Brown's The Dance of 17 Lives.
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 ONLY for true devotees---The Worst Book I have ever Read June 28, 2007
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
I am not a Buddhist but interested in the controversy for a couple reasons and I wanted to get an objective look at how each side views their Karmapa. I bought this book with the hope that I would have a reasonably objective although understandably prejudiced look at this particular Karmapa. 143 pages out of 351 pages of the book deal with the life of the Karmpa and the rest are poems, and writings of the Karmpa. Everything she has to say is rosy, sugary, and unobjective making it difficult to read since every step or statement the "Karmapa" makes from early age to the end of her "story" is seen as the step and words of "god". Her interpretations of every event surrounding "her" Karmapa are seen by her as so "uplifting" with his clairvoyance, memory of past lives, poems and writings even at a young age that I just painfully continued reading. I have read enough elsewhere regarding this controversy to know that she has stretched the truth beyond belief even though I am not in favor of either Karmapa.
The first Karmapa was around 1110 AD in Eastern Tibet and he was also the only one who, before dying, wrote down every detail of his new rebirth, so other Lamas didn't have to find him, they read the letter he left and then they went out and found the child. Unfortunately, the 16th Karmapa didn't leave many clues and now they have this mess and that in light of the fact he knew full well he was dying and that's why he was in Chicago for treatment of his stomach cancer.
DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU ARE TOTALLY DEVOTED TO THIS KARMAPA---NO OBJECTIVITY AT ALL.
Best of Buddhist Writing for 2004 May 18, 2005
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
Underscoring the importance of the Karmapa and the quality of this book about him, excerpts from Music in the Sky were included in the Best of Buddhist Writing for 2004, edited by Melvin McLeod. He is also Editor-in-chief of the Shambhala Sun, which has the largest circulation of all Buddhist magazines. Ziji on-line said that Music in the Sky, "is destined to be a classic," and Richard Gere called it, "profoundly moving." People from other countries have agreed and the book has been translated into six different languages.
Enlightened Reading April 15, 2004
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
Music in the Sky is a thoroughly engaging account of a young Tibetan leader's dangerous escape over the Himalayas to India. This recent, true-life adventure of the fourteen-year-old, Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, underscores the present day realities of the Chinese presence in Tibet. Not only does Michelle Martin's book contain the factual details of his escape, along with wonderful color photographs, but it also includes original teachings given by this extraordinary Tibetan monk. Anyone interested in Tibet and its form of Buddhism will want to include this book in their "must read" list.
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