Welcoming Flowers

From across the Cleansed Threshold of Hope

An Answer to Pope John Paul II's Criticism of Buddhism

Welcoming Flowers is a pointed critique of the Buddhism chapter of Pope John Paul II’s 1994 best seller, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, written by the highly esteemed Buddhist teacher Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, son of HH Dudjom Rinpoche and father of HE Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. In responding to the false charges of Buddhists’ indifference to the world and rejection of reality, Norbu clarifies the Buddhist doctrines of detachment and enlightenment. In addition, he covers the topics of good and evil, human nature, karma, cosmology, and dualistic mind, bringing them into conversation with the Christian perspective as presented by the Pope. Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s approach is not to shoot back arrows in attack of Catholicism but to spread “welcoming flowers”—that is, to present the exalted teachings of the Buddha in all their loveliness and truth. In this sense, the book serves as a helpful introduction to the Buddhist worldview.

Product Details

Paperback: 116 pages
Author: Thinley Norbu
Publisher: Shambhala (2014)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781611801637