Der Schreibende gibt in seinem Werk (in langen Jahren) Erlerntes weiter.
Zitat von hier (übersetzt):
"wieviel Sogyal selbst damit [mit dem Buch] zu tun hatte, ist fraglich; nach Angaben derer, die nahe mit dem Projekt verbunden waren, wurde die meiste Arbeit von Ghostwritern geleistet - Sogyals engstem Schüler und nun seiner rechten Hand Patrick Gaffney und dem Autor Andrew Harvey."
("how much Sogyal himself had to do with it is debatable; according to those close to the project, most of the work was done by ghost-writers - Sogyal’s closest student, and now his right-hand man, Patrick Gaffney, and the author Andrew Harvey.")
Einer weiteren Öffentlichkeit ist das - und auch, was sonst im inneren Zirkel Sogyal Lakars so abging - spätestens seit 2011 bekannt, als das Dossier "Behind the Thangkas" erschien. Zitat daraus:
Zitat But there are questions around the authorship of the TBOLD. Rumours that Sogyal did not write the book have been circulating on the internet for years. When approached for comment, the author, academic and mystic Andrew Harvey gave an inconclusive response:
“Sogyal participated totally in every level of the creation of the book and as the representative of his tradition was the indispensable transmitter of its wisdom. The process was a totally mutual collaboration in which Sogyal gave everything and had the final word on every word. It is a very hard process to describe. Any suggestion that Sogyal did not write this book is -I think, absurd and dishonouring of his genius and passion. Both Patrick and I worked tirelessly and I hope, selflessly to honour Sogyal’s brilliance and the wisdom of the tradition. And the book could not exist without the transcripts of Sogyal’s talks that were it’s foundation.”
The ubiquitous Patrick Gaffney and Andrew Harvey are credited as editors – but Harvey’s words do not confirm Sogyal as the author. Grant, a former Rigpa member, recalls spending time with Harvey “when he was writing the book”. Grant adds:
“Could anyone who knows Sogyal imagine him being able to quote the German mystical poet Rainer Maria Rilke? Or the Sufi sage Jalaluddin Rumi? He simply doesn’t have that level of education.”
Andrew Harvey does – and comparisons between The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and Harvey’s own books reveal striking similarities in tone, structure and language. According to a well known American Buddhist teacher:
“Andrew Harvey was very upset at not being credited as co-author.”
The journalist Mary Finnigan is also sceptical:
“When Sogyal was living in London it became obvious that he is barely literate,” she says, “he never read anything except comic books, never wrote letters and spent most of his free time watching television.”
Buddhist teacher Ngakpa Chogyam also has doubts:
“The book was cobbled together from more than a decade of Sogyal’s teachings,” he says, “I worked for a while on transcribing the tapes. There were a fair few mistakes which I corrected as I went along – particularly about Dzogchen and precise definitions of Buddhist doctrine.