Thirty years ago the University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands.
In a series of fascinating dialogues, Castaneda sets forth his partial initiation with don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian shaman from the state of Sonora, Mexico. He describes don Juan's perception and mastery of the "non-ordinary reality" and how peyote along with other plants sacred to the Mexican Indians were used as gateways to the mysteries of "dread," "clarity," and "power." The Teachings of Don Juan is the story of a remarkable journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of more than a million readers around the world.
"For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking breathlessly."--Don Juan
"Carlos Castaneda, under the tutelage of don Juan, takes us through the moment of twilight, through the crack in the universe between daylight and dark into a world not merely other than our own, but of an entirely different order of reality."--Walter Goldschmidt, from the Foreword
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一九六O年夏,美國人類學家卡羅斯‧卡斯塔尼達在墨西哥沙漠的小鎮上偶遇一位印第安巫士––唐望。卡斯塔尼達的動機很單純,只是為了收集論文資料才去接觸唐望,不料唐望卻在奇異的步驟下,決定收他為門徒;於是卡斯塔尼達開始了十餘年的心靈祕境之旅––巫術門徒與人類學家的雙重追尋。
師事唐望期間,唐望半強迫地提供他許多神祕的經驗與觀念,這些教誨帶給斯塔尼達的困擾大於收穫,但他本著學術研究的初衷,鉅細靡遺地記錄下唐望傳授的過程:一個極真實、卻又不可思議的巫術世界。此書是卡斯塔尼達追求巫術知識的起點,讀者既可看見他第一手、不受時間扭曲的神祕經驗書寫,也窺見他一貫堅持的理性,而這卻是追尋精神自由的最大阻礙。
此書的可貴之處,就在於它是一個參考點,一次會被否定、卻有必要的嘗試;也因為有此書的執迷,才使卡斯塔尼達後來的觀念提升,且具有力量。
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