Mind Over Matter

Reflections on Buddhism in the West How can the Dharma benefit our lives today?  Drawing upon three decades of experience with Western students,  Tarthang Tulku discusses issues important to everyone interested in the transmission of Buddhism to western lands.   In Mind over Matter, he reviews the differences between traditional and Western views of Dharma study and practice and examines how these difference complicate our efforts to embody the teachings in a meaningful way.  Chapters on the attitudes toward authority, academic presentations of Buddhism, and the therapeutic approach clarify deeply ingrained patterns in Western culture that challenge a successful transmission of the teachings.  Since these patterns can inhibit understanding, is it possible to circumvent them?  Will adopting the outer forms of the. Dharma be sufficient to penetrate the barriers of conditioning?  Are there ways to go to the heart of the matter and encourage the inner meaning of Dharma to emerge organicall