What Makes You Not a Buddhist

By: Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

Narrated by: Devendra Banhart

With a new preface, afterword, and updated material throughout, this iconoclastic and creative Tibetan meditation master clarifies and cuts through “new age,” trendy misconceptions about what it really means to be a Buddhist.

Dzongsar Khyentse describes in accessible language—sometimes even goading and poking fun at us—what it really means to follow the Buddha’s teachings. Khyentse starts by explaining how Buddhists are not just smiling pacifists in robes. He goes from there, cutting through common misperceptions, but the real essence of the book is what a Buddhist is: namely, someone who follows the teachings of Buddha.

Khyentse presents the core teachings using the framework of the Four Seals, a traditional and well-known teaching from the Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma lineage. The Four Seals are: everything is impermanent, emotions are pain, nothing has inherent existence, and nirvana is beyond concepts. These four points are the fundamental tenets of Buddhism and Khyentse goes on to explain what they mean—with the premise that if you don’t understand and believe in these four points, you are not a Buddhist.

This book will appeal to listeners who are interested in getting through all the trappings and finding out what it really means to be Buddhist. Dzongsar Khyentse has a uniquely appealing voice, tending to be edgy, funny, iconoclastic, and critical.

©2007, 2025 Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse (P)2025 Shambhala Publications

Great intro to Buddhism

This book provides a great intro to Buddhism, especially for those who can have a more pessimistic leaning on life. It discusses the four foundational truths of Buddhism: (1) impermanence (2) the inherent unsatisfactoryness of conventional emotions (3) all phenomena is empty of innate, separate essence (4) liberation is free of concepts

Helpful articulation of the Four Truths

Some will likely find his tone harsh at times (he acknowledges as much), but I read him as being authentic, which I deeply appreciated.